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21-letter words containing a, l, p, i

  • completing the square — a method, usually of solving quadratic equations, by which a quadratic expression, as x 2 − 4 x + 3, is written as the sum or difference of a perfect square and a constant, x 2 − 4 x + 4 + 3 − 4 = (x − 2) 2 − 1, by addition and subtraction of appropriate constant terms.
  • componential analysis — the analysis of a set of related linguistic items, especially word meanings, into combinations of features in terms of which each item may be compared with every other, as in the analysis of man into the semantic features “male,” “mature,” and “human,” woman into “female,” “mature,” and “human,” girl into “female,” “immature,” and “human,” and bull into “male,” “mature,” and “bovine.”.
  • conditional operation — a step in a computer program that determines which of two or more instructions or instruction sequences to execute next, depending on whether or not one or more specified conditions have been met.
  • confidence and supply — denoting an arrangement in a hung parliament in which an opposition party agrees not to vote against a minority government in votes of confidence or budgetary matters but reserves the right to oppose other legislation
  • conspiracy of silence — If there is a conspiracy of silence about something, people who know about it have agreed that they will not talk publicly about it, although it would probably be a good thing if people in general knew about it.
  • corporate hospitality — Corporate hospitality is the entertainment that a company offers to its most valued clients, for example by inviting them to sporting events and providing them with food and drink.
  • corpuscular radiation — radiation consisting of atomic and subatomic particles, as alpha particles, beta particles, and neutrons.
  • crystallographic axis — one of the imaginary reference lines passing through the center of an ideal crystal, designated a, b, or c.
  • cyclical unemployment — unemployment caused by fluctuations in the level of economic activity inherent in trade cycles
  • cyclomatic complexity — (programming, testing)   A measure of the number of linearly independent paths through a program module. Cyclomatic complexity is a measure for the complexity of code related to the number of ways there are to traverse a piece of code. This determines the minimum number of inputs you need to test all ways to execute the program.
  • dark-field microscope — ultramicroscope
  • deep scattering layer — any of the stratified zones in the ocean which reflect sound during echo sounding, usually composed of marine organisms which migrate vertically from c. 250 to 800 m (c. 820 to 2,625 ft)
  • demand-pull inflation — inflation in which rising demand results in a rise in prices.
  • deprovincialization's — to make provincial in character.
  • designated employment — (in Britain) any of certain kinds of jobs reserved for handicapped workers under the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944
  • development education — an area of study that aims to give pupils an understanding of their involvement in world affairs
  • developmental biology — the study of the development of multicellular organisms, including the study of the earliest stages of embryonic structure and tissue differentiation
  • diapason normal pitch — a standard of pitch in which A above middle C is established at 435 vibrations per second.
  • differential operator — a function, usually expressed as a polynomial, that indicates linear combinations of the derivatives of the expression on which it operates.
  • differential topology — the branch of topology that studies the properties of differentiable manifolds that remain invariant under diffeomorphisms.
  • displacement activity — a behavior performed out of its usual context and apparently irrelevant to the prevailing situation, as eating when an unknown individual approaches, tending to occur when appropiate behaviors, as attacking or fleeing, are in conflict or obstructed.
  • display advertisement — an advertisement designed to attract attention by using devices such as conspicuous or elegant typefaces, graphics, etc
  • double predestination — the doctrine that God has foreordained both those who will be saved and those who will be damned.
  • double spanish burton — a tackle having one standing block and two running blocks, giving a mechanical advantage of five, neglecting friction.
  • drop in someone's lap — give someone the responsibility of
  • electric displacement — the electric flux density when an electric field exists in free space into which a dielectric is introduced
  • electric polarization — Electric polarization is the type of polarization of electricity that occurs in a dielectric.
  • electromagnetic pulse — a surge of electromagnetic radiation, esp one resulting from a nuclear explosion, which can disrupt electronic devices and, occasionally, larger structures and equipment
  • electromyographically — By means of, or in terms of, electromyography.
  • empire state building — New York City skyscraper
  • empirical probability — a measure or estimate of the degree of confidence one may have in the occurrence of an event, defined as the proportion observed in a sample
  • endoplasmic reticulum — an extensive intracellular membrane system whose functions include synthesis and transport of lipids and, in regions where ribosomes are attached, of proteins
  • epidemic encephalitis — any type of widespread encephalitis caused by various viruses
  • epidermolysis bullosa — type of genetic skin disorder
  • equiangular hyperbola — a hyperbola with transverse and conjugate axes equal to each other.
  • ethernet private line — (networking)   (EPL) A data service defined by the Metro Ethernet Forum, providing a point-to-point Ethernet connection between a pair of dedicated User-Network Interfaces (UNIs), with a high degree of transparency.
  • euro-commercial paper — commercial paper issued in a eurocurrency
  • flotation compartment — in a boat, an enclosed section filled with air or gas to give buoyancy
  • fluorophosphoric acid — any of three acids containing fluorine and phosphorus, HPF 6 , HPO 2 F 2 , or H 2 PO 3 F.
  • forensic anthropology — the branch of physical anthropology in which anthropological data, criteria, and techniques are used to determine the sex, age, genetic population, or parentage of skeletal or biological materials in questions of civil or criminal law.
  • forward compatibility — (jargon)   The ability to accept input from later versions of itself. Forward compatibility is harder to achieve than backward compatibility, since, in the backward case, the input format is know whereas a forward compatible system needs to cope gracefully with unknown future features. An example of future compatibility is the stipulation that a web browser should ignore HTML tags it does not recognise. See also extensible.
  • fuming sulphuric acid — a mixture of pyrosulphuric acid, H2S2O7, and other condensed acids, made by dissolving sulphur trioxide in concentrated sulphuric acid
  • functional dependency — (database)   Given a relation R (in a relational database), attribute Y of R is functionally dependent on attribute X of R and X of R functionally determines Y of R (in symbols R.X -> R.Y) if and only if each X in R has associated with it precisely one Y in R (at any one time). Attributes X and Y may be composite. This is very close to a function in the mathematical sense.
  • functional imperative — a requirement for the survival of any social system, as communication, control of conflict, or socialization.
  • generic type variable — (programming)   (Also known as a "schematic type variable"). Different occurrences of a generic type variable in a type expression may be instantiated to different types. Thus, in the expression let id x = x in (id True, id 1) id's type is (for all a: a -> a). The universal quantifier "for all a:" means that a is a generic type variable. For the two uses of id, a is instantiated to Bool and Int. Compare this with let id x = x in let f g = (g True, g 1) in f id This looks similar but f has no legal Hindley-Milner type. If we say f :: (a -> b) -> (b, b) this would permit g's type to be any instance of (a -> b) rather than requiring it to be at least as general as (a -> b). Furthermore, it constrains both instances of g to have the same result type whereas they do not. The type variables a and b in the above are implicitly quantified at the top level: f :: for all a: for all b: (a -> b) -> (b, b) so instantiating them (removing the quantifiers) can only be done once, at the top level. To correctly describe the type of f requires that they be locally quantified: f :: ((for all a: a) -> (for all b: b)) -> (c, d) which means that each time g is applied, a and b may be instantiated differently. f's actual argument must have a type at least as general as ((for all a: a) -> (for all b: b)), and may not be some less general instance of this type. Type variables c and d are still implicitly quantified at the top level and, now that g's result type is a generic type variable, any types chosen for c and d are guaranteed to be instances of it. This type for f does not express the fact that b only needs to be at least as general as the types c and d. For example, if c and d were both Bool then any function of type (for all a: a -> Bool) would be a suitable argument to f but it would not match the above type for f.
  • genetic amplification — an increase in the frequency of replication of a DNA segment.
  • give place to someone — to make room for or be superseded by someone
  • give someone a leg up — to help someone to climb an obstacle by pushing upwards
  • glacier national park — a national park in NW Montana: glaciers; lakes; forest reserve. 1534 sq. mi. (3970 sq. km).
  • glyceryl tripalmitate — palmitin.
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