17-letter words containing a, l, t, i
- psychoeducational — designating or of psychological methods, as intelligence tests, used in evaluating learning ability
- public accountant — an accountant whose services are available to the public at large, in contrast to one employed on a full-time basis by a company.
- public assistance — government aid to the poor, disabled, or aged or to dependent children, as financial assistance or food stamps.
- quadratic formula — the formula for determining theroots of a quadratic equation from its coefficients: .
- quality assurance — a system for ensuring a desired level of quality in the development, production, or delivery of products and services: Quality assurance for nursing homes begins with a set of standards. Abbreviation: QA.
- quality newspaper — a more serious newspaper which gives detailed accounts of world events, as well as reports on business, culture, and society
- quality paperback — a softbound book that is usually larger and more expensive than a mass market paperback and is sold primarily in bookstores as a trade book.
- quantum cell wire — (electronics, computing) (Or "quantum wire", "binary wire") Quantum cells arranged in a line to carry signals. Adjacent cells with the same orientation are at a low energy state and a change of orientation at one end of a quantum wire propagates along the wire, transmitting a signal. However, unlike conventional wire, since only the orientation of charge pairs changes, no current flows. Circuits created using quantum cell wires are referred to as Quantum-dot Wireless Digital Circuits, see quantum dot, Quantum-dot Cellular Automata.
- quasi-legislative — having the function of making laws: a legislative body.
- quasiexperimental — (medicine) Describing a trial in which the assignment to a group is based upon an experimental condition.
- quasquicentennial — pertaining to or marking a period of 125 years.
- quattuordecillion — a cardinal number represented in the U.S. by 1 followed by 45 zeros, and in Great Britain by 1 followed by 84 zeros.
- racial harassment — persecution on the basis of race
- radial (ply) tire — a motor vehicle tire having a foundation of plies of rubberized cords running at right angles to the center line of the tread: it provides better handling, etc. than a bias ply tire
- radial keratotomy — a surgical technique for correcting nearsightedness by making a series of spokelike incisions in the cornea to change its shape and focusing properties.
- radio in the loop — Wireless Local Loop
- rail detector car — a car equipped with special instruments and used to locate defects in rails.
- railway timetable — a list of railway journeys arranged according to the time when they begin and end
- rainbow coalition — a political grouping together by several minority parties
- rat-tailed maggot — the aquatic larva of any of several syrphid flies of the genus Eristalis, that breathes through a long, thin tube at the posterior end of its body.
- rational function — a function that can be written as the quotient of two polynomials with integral coefficients.
- re-entering angle — an interior angle of a polygon that is greater than 180°.
- reality principle — the motivating force or mechanism by which the child, who has previously sought immediate gratification of all wishes, realizes that gratification must sometimes be deferred or forgone.
- receiving blanket — a small blanket, usually of cotton, for wrapping an infant, especially following a bath.
- recoil escapement — anchor escapement.
- recreational drug — drug taken for pleasure
- recreationalist's — recreationist.
- recrystallization — to become crystallized again.
- rectangle slinger — polygon pusher
- reduction formula — a formula, such as sin (90° ± A) = cos A, expressing the values of a trigonometric function of any angle greater than 90° in terms of a function of an acute angle
- reflection nebula — a cloud of interstellar gas and dust that reflects the light of neighboring stars.
- rehospitalization — the act, process, or state of being hospitalized.
- relative aperture — the ratio of the diameter of a lens, especially a camera lens, to the focal length; the reciprocal of the f number or focal ratio of the lens.
- relative humidity — the amount of water vapor in the air, expressed as a percentage of the maximum amount that the air could hold at the given temperature; the ratio of the actual water vapor pressure to the saturation vapor pressure. Abbreviation: RH, rh.
- relative majority — the excess of votes or seats won by the winner of an election over the runner-up when no candidate or party has more than 50 per cent
- relative pathname — (file system) A path relative to the working directory. Its first character can be anything but the pathname separator.
- relativistic mass — the mass of a body in motion relative to the observer: it is equal to the rest mass multiplied by a factor that is greater than 1 and that increases as the magnitude of the velocity increases.
- rental collection — a group of books, in a public or other free library, for which a borrower must pay a fee.
- repeating decimal — a decimal numeral that, after a certain point, consists of a group of one or more digits repeated ad infinitum, as 2.33333 …. or 23.0218181818 ….
- res ipsa loquitur — the rule that an injury is due to the defendant's negligence when that which caused it was under his or her control or management and the injury would not have happened had proper management been observed.
- reticulate python — a python, Python reticulatus, of southeastern Asia and the East Indies, sometimes growing to a length of 32 feet (10 meters): usually considered to be the largest snake in the world.
- return of capital — A return of capital is a situation in which you receive back money that was previously invested.
- return on capital — A return on capital is any earnings that you receive from the capital that you have invested.
- revascularization — the restoration of the blood circulation of an organ or area, achieved by unblocking obstructed or disrupted blood vessels or by surgically implanting replacements.
- revolutionary war — American Revolution.
- rhetorical stress — stress required by the meaning of a line, as distinguished from that required by the meter.
- rhode island bent — a European pasture grass, Agrostis tenuis, naturalized in North America, having red flower clusters.
- rift valley fever — a highly infectious viral disease of humans and animals, transmitted by mosquitoes and other insects, occurring in Africa and characterized in humans by headache, fever, eye discomfort, and muscle aches, progressing in some cases to encephalitis, blindness, or internal bleeding.
- right-to-work law — a state law making it illegal to refuse employment to a person for the sole reason that he or she is not a union member.
- ring-tailed lemur — a Madagascan prosimian primate, Lemur catta, with a long black and white ringed tail