20-letter words containing a, i, t, o
- counterrevolutionary — Counterrevolutionary activities are activities intended to reverse the effects of a previous revolution.
- craniosacral therapy — a form of therapy for various disorders in which the therapist manipulates the bones of the skull
- creative imagination — the faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses.
- crossword dictionary — a dictionary that lists common clues found in crossword puzzles with potential answer words. In books, the lists are usually sorted by the number of letters in the answer, while an online crossword dictionary, such as the Dictionary.com Crossword Solver, is able to analyze queries electronically, examining either the clue or the number and pattern of letters already filled in to arrive at suggested answers.
- crude oil evaluation — Crude oil evaluation is the process of assessing the chemical and physical properties of crude oil, against particular standards.
- curry favour with sb — If one person tries to curry favour with another, they do things in order to try to gain their support or co-operation.
- cut the gordian knot — to find a quick, bold solution for a perplexing problem
- cytosine arabinoside — cytarabine.
- data dictionary file — (database) (DDF) A set of files describing the structure of a database file. DDFs define database tables and include information about file locations, field layouts and indexes. DDFs are the standard method for defining field and index characteristics for Btrieve files.
- database transaction — (database) A set of related changes applied to a database. The term typically implies that either all of the changes should be applied or, in the event of an error, none of them, i.e. the transaction should be atomic. Atomicity is one of the ACID properties a transaction can have, another is isolation - preventing interference between processes trying to access the database cocurrently. This is usually achieved by some form of locking - where one process takes exclusive control of a database table or row for the duration of the transaction, preventing other processes from accessing the locked data. The canonical example of a transaction is transferring money between two bank accounts by subtracting it from one and adding it to the other. Some relational database management systems require the user to explicitly start a transaction and then either commit it (if all the individual steps are successful) or roll it back (if there are any errors).
- de facto segregation — racial, ethnic, or other segregation resulting from societal differences between groups, as socioeconomic or political disparity, without institutionalized legislation intended to segregate.
- de la madrid hurtado — Miguel [mee-gel] /miˈgɛl/ (Show IPA), 1934–2012, Mexican political leader: president 1982–88.
- death of ivan ilyich — a short novel (1884) by Leo Tolstoy.
- debt-to-equity ratio — A company's debt-to-equity ratio is a measure of leverage that is calculated by dividing total liabilities by shareholders' equity.
- decaffeinated coffee — Decaffeinated coffee is coffee that does not contain caffeine.
- decompartmentalizing — Present participle of decompartmentalize.
- deinstitutionalizing — Present participle of deinstitutionalize.
- democratic socialism — socialism, or a modified form of socialism, achieved by a gradual transition by and under democratic political processes.
- demographic timebomb — a predicted shortage of school-leavers and consequently of available workers, caused by an earlier drop in the birth rate, resulting in an older workforce
- denali national park — a national park in S central Alaska, including Denali (mountain). 3030 sq. mi. (7850 sq. km).
- deontological ethics — the branch of ethics dealing with right action and the nature of duty, without regard to the goodness or value of motives or the desirability of the ends of any act.
- depreciation expense — A depreciation expense is the amount deducted from gross profit to allow for a reduction in the value of something because of its age or how much it has been used.
- descriptive notation — a method of denoting the squares on the chessboard in which each player names the files from the pieces that stand on them at the opening and numbers the ranks away from himself
- desmopressin acetate — a vasopressin analogue, C 46 H 64 N 14 O 12 S 2 , used in the treatment of diabetes insipidus.
- deterritorialization — The eradication of social, political, or cultural practices from their native places and populations.
- developing-out paper — a sensitized printing paper requiring development in order to bring out the image. Abbreviation: D.O.P.
- development planning — the planning of the development of an area of land
- devil's bit scabious — a similar and related Eurasian marsh plant, Succisa pratensis
- diabetic retinopathy — a disorder of the blood vessels of the retina occurring as a complication of poorly controlled diabetes mellitus and often leading to blindness.
- dialectical theology — a form of neoorthodox theology emphasizing the infinite tensions, paradoxes, and basic ambiguities inherent in Christian existence, and holding, against rationalism, that God is unknowable to humans except through divine grace and revelation.
- diammonium phosphate — a white, crystalline, water-soluble compound, (NH 4) 2 HPO 4 , used as fertilizer, in fire extinguishers, etc.
- diamond in the rough — a diamond in its natural state
- diamondback terrapin — any edible North American terrapin of the genus Malaclemys, esp M. terrapin, occurring in brackish and tidal waters and having diamond-shaped markings on the shell: family Emydidae
- dichloroethyl formal — a colorless liquid, C 5 H 10 O 2 Cl 2 , used chiefly as a solvent and in the manufacture of certain synthetic rubbers.
- dickless workstation — (abuse) Extremely pejorative hackerism for "diskless workstation".
- dictionary catalogue — a catalogue of the authors, titles, and subjects of books in one alphabetical sequence
- diels-alder reaction — the reaction in which a conjugated diene combines with a double or triple bond of a given compound to form a ring of six carbon atoms.
- differential housing — the casing that houses the differential of a motor vehicle
- diisobutyl phthalate — a clear, colorless liquid, C 14 H 26 O 4 , used chiefly as a plasticizer for nitrocellulose.
- diophantine analysis — any of several methods for finding integral solutions for equations with more than one variable whose coefficients are integers.
- diophantine equation — an equation involving more than one variable in which the coefficients of the variables are integers and for which integral solutions are sought.
- diplomatic secretary — secretary (def 5).
- diplomatic-secretary — secretary (def 5).
- dirac delta function — delta function.
- direct memory access — (architecture) (DMA) A facility of some architectures which allows a peripheral to read and write memory without intervention by the CPU. DMA is a limited form of bus mastering.
- directional drilling — a method of drilling for oil in which the well is not drilled vertically, as when a number of wells are to be drilled from a single platform to reach different areas of an oil field
- directory assistance — a telephone company service that furnishes telephone directory information over the telephone.
- directory user agent — (DUA) The software that accesses the X.500 Directory Service on behalf of the directory user. The directory user may be a person or another software element.
- disability allowance — an amount of money paid by the government to people who are unable to work because of a disability. This is a general term or, in the UK, a shorter way of referring to what is officially called the Disability Living Allowance
- discounted cash flow — a technique for appraising an investment that takes into account the different values of future returns according to when they will be received