17-letter words containing a, l, n, c
- general semantics — a philosophical approach to language, developed by Alfred Korzybski, exploring the relationship between the form of language and its use and attempting to improve the capacity to express ideas.
- genetic algorithm — (GA) An evolutionary algorithm which generates each individual from some encoded form known as a "chromosome" or "genome". Chromosomes are combined or mutated to breed new individuals. "Crossover", the kind of recombination of chromosomes found in sexual reproduction in nature, is often also used in GAs. Here, an offspring's chromosome is created by joining segments choosen alternately from each of two parents' chromosomes which are of fixed length. GAs are useful for multidimensional optimisation problems in which the chromosome can encode the values for the different variables being optimised.
- gigaelectron volt — one billion electron-volts. Abbreviation: GeV, Gev.
- glastonbury chair — a folding chair having legs crossed front-to-back and having arms connected to the back and to the front seat rail.
- glove compartment — a compartment in the dashboard of an automobile for storing small items.
- glycosaminoglycan — any of a class of polysaccharides derived from hexosamine that form mucins when complexed with proteins: formerly called mucopolysaccharide.
- graafian follicle — one of the small vesicles containing a developing ovum in the ovary of a mammal.
- grand climacteric — Physiology. a period of decrease of reproductive capacity in men and women, culminating, in women, in the menopause.
- grand union canal — a canal in S England linking London and the Midlands: opened in 1801
- grandfather clock — a pendulum floor clock having a case as tall as or taller than a person; tall-case clock; long-case clock.
- grandmother clock — a pendulum clock similar to a grandfather's clock but shorter.
- greater celandine — celandine (def 1).
- greenland current — the ocean current flowing clockwise around S Greenland.
- greenwich village — a section of New York City, in lower Manhattan: inhabited and frequented by artists, writers, and students.
- guglielmo marconi — Guglielmo [goo-lyel-maw] /guˈlyɛl mɔ/ (Show IPA), Marchese, 1874–1937, Italian electrical engineer and inventor, especially in the field of wireless telegraphy: Nobel Prize in physics 1909.
- gunboat diplomacy — diplomatic relations involving the use or threat of military force, especially by a powerful nation against a weaker one.
- haematocrystallin — Alternative form of hematocrystallin.
- hairline fracture — a very fine crack in a bone
- half-round chisel — a cold chisel with a semicircular cutting edge used for making narrow channels
- hall of residence — Halls of residence are buildings with rooms or flats, usually built by universities or colleges, in which students live during the term.
- hamiltonian cycle — Hamiltonian problem
- hammer and sickle — the emblem of the Soviet Union, adopted in 1923 and consisting of an insignia of a hammer with its handle across the blade of a sickle and a star above.
- harmonic analysis — the calculation of Fourier series and their generalization.
- harmonic interval — an intervening period of time: an interval of 50 years.
- haroun-al-raschid — Harun al-Rashid.
- heimlich maneuver — an emergency rescue procedure for application to someone choking on a foreign object, in which the rescuer places a fist between the victim's lower ribs or upper abdomen from behind and exerts sudden pressure in the form of thrusts of sufficient force to help eject the object from the windpipe.
- helicopter parent — a style of child rearing in which an overprotective mother or father discourages a child's independence by being too involved in the child's life: In typical helicopter parenting, a mother or father swoops in at any sign of challenge or discomfort.
- henry cabot lodge — Henry Cabot, 1850–1924, U.S. public servant and author: senator 1893–1924.
- high-carbon steel — steel containing between 0.5 and 1.5 per cent carbon
- histamine blocker — any of various substances that act at a specific receptor site to block certain actions of histamine.
- ho chi minh trail — a network of jungle paths winding from North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam, used as a military route by North Vietnam to supply the Vietcong during the Vietnam War.
- hollandaise sauce — a sauce of egg yolks, butter, lemon juice, and seasonings.
- homeland security — national defence
- homovanillic acid — the end product of dopamine metabolism, C 9 H 10 O 4 , found in human urine.
- hubble's constant — the ratio of the recessional velocity of galaxies to their distance from the sun, with current measurements of its value ranging from 50 to 100 km/sec per megaparsec.
- hyaline cartilage — the typical, translucent form of cartilage, containing little fibrous tissue.
- hydrofluorocarbon — Any of a class of partly chlorinated and fluorinated hydrocarbons, used as an alternative to chlorofluorocarbons in foam production, refrigeration, and other processes.
- hyperbolic secant — a hyperbolic function that is the reciprocal of cosh; sech
- hyperchlorination — Chemistry. to combine or treat with chlorine. to introduce chlorine atoms into an organic compound by an addition or substitution reaction.
- hyperintellectual — appealing to or engaging the intellect: intellectual pursuits.
- hypochondriacally — In a hypochondriacal manner.
- i will/can manage — You say 'I can manage' or 'I'll manage' as a way of refusing someone's offer of help and insisting on doing something by yourself.
- idiosyncratically — pertaining to the nature of idiosyncrasy, or something peculiar to an individual: The best minds are idiosyncratic and unpredictable as they follow the course of scientific discovery.
- ignoratio elenchi — the fallacy of offering proof irrelevant to the proposition in question.
- illocutionary act — an act performed by a speaker by virtue of uttering certain words, as for example the acts of promising or of threatening
- illusionistically — In an illusionistic manner.
- impracticableness — The state of being impracticable; impracticability.
- incandescent lamp — a lamp that emits light due to the glowing of a heated material, especially the common device in which a tungsten filament enclosed within an evacuated glass bulb is rendered luminous by the passage of an electric current through it.
- incline one's ear — to listen favourably (to)
- income inequality — a situation in which there is great disparity in income within a society