15-letter words containing a, n, d
- cardinal points — the four main points of the compass: north, south, east, and west
- cardinal spider — a large house spider, Tegenaria parietina
- cardinal system — a system of coding navigational aids by shape, color, and number, according to their positions relative to navigational hazards.
- cardinal virtue — anything considered to be an important or characteristic virtue: Tenacity is his cardinal virtue.
- cardinal vowels — a set of theoretical vowel sounds, based on the shape of the mouth needed to articulate them, that can be used to classify the vowel sounds of any speaker in any language
- carding machine — card2 (defs 1, 2).
- cardiopulmonary — of, relating to, or affecting the heart and lungs
- cartesian diver — a glass vessel partially filled with water and covered with an airtight membrane, containing a hollow object that is open at the bottom and contains just enough air to allow it to float. Pressing on the membrane compresses the air in the vessel and forces water into the object, causing it to sink; releasing the membrane causes it to rise.
- cartesian doubt — willful suspension of all interpretations of experience that are not absolutely certain: used as a method of deriving, by elimination of such uncertainties, axioms upon which to base theories.
- casement-window — a window sash opening on hinges that are generally attached to the upright side of its frame.
- cast around for — If you cast around for something or cast about for it, you try to find it or think of it.
- castel gandolfo — a village in central Italy, 15 miles (24 km) SE of Rome: papal palace serving as the summer residence of the pope.
- castellated nut — a nut that has indentations similar to battlements
- catalina island — Santa Catalina.
- catchment board — a public body concerned with the conservation and organization of water supply from a catchment area
- cattle breeding — the science or business of breeding and raising cattle
- celandine poppy — a poppy, Stylophorum diphyllum, of the east-central U.S., having one pair of deeply lobed leaves and yellow flowers.
- centipede grass — a slow-growing grass, Eremochloa ophiuroides, introduced into the U.S. from China and used for lawns in warm areas.
- central sudanic — a group of languages belonging to the Nilo-Saharan family, spoken in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northern Uganda, southern Sudan, Chad, and the Central African Republic, and including Mangbetu.
- chandler period — the period of the oscillation (Chandler wobble) of the earth's axis, varying between 416 and 433 days.
- chandler wobble — a slight, irregular nutation of the earth's rotational axis with a period of c. 428 days
- channel islands — a group of islands in the English Channel, off the NW coast of France, consisting of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Brechou or Brecqhou, Sark, Herm, Jethou, and Lihou (all between them representing the British Kingdom Crown Dependencies of the Bailiwick of Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey) - the only part of the duchy of Normandy remaining to Britain - and the Roches Douvres and the Îles Chausey (which belong to France). Pop: 149 878 (2001). Area: 194 sq km (75 sq miles)
- chanson d'amour — love song.
- character dance — a style of balletic folk dance that intends to give a sense of national character and color.
- charles dickens — Charles (John Huf·fam) [huhf-uh m] /ˈhʌf əm/ (Show IPA), ("Boz") 1812–70, English novelist.
- chatham islands — a group of islands in the S Pacific Ocean, forming a county of South Island, New Zealand: consists of the main islands of Chatham, Pitt, and several rocky islets. Chief settlement: Waitangi. Pop: 609 (2006 est). Area: 963 sq km (372 sq miles)
- chenopodiaceous — belonging to the Chenopodiaceae, formerly the goosefoot family, now considered part of the amaranth family of plants.
- chesterfieldian — of or like Lord Chesterfield; suave; elegant; polished
- chicken-and-egg — of or relating to a paradoxical situation, question, etc. involving two factors, each of which in turn causes or leads to the other
- chicken-hearted — easily frightened; cowardly
- child abduction — the crime of removing a child from its rightful home
- child battering — child abuse in the form of battering
- child restraint — a device used to protect a child in a motor vehicle
- child-battering — the physical abuse of a child by a parent or guardian, as by beating.
- child-resistant — that resists being opened, tampered with, or damaged by a child; childproof: a child-resistant medicine cabinet.
- chinese mustard — brown mustard.
- chondrosarcomas — Plural form of chondrosarcoma.
- chop and change — When people chop and change, they keep changing their minds about what to do or how to act.
- chopped almonds — almonds cut into small pieces
- chorda tendinea — any of the tendons extending from the papillary muscles to the atrioventricular valves and preventing the valves from moving into the atria during ventricular contraction.
- christadelphian — a member of a Christian millenarian sect founded in the US about 1848, holding that only the just will enter eternal life, that the wicked will be annihilated, and that the ignorant, the unconverted, and infants will not be raised from the dead
- chromosome band — any of the transverse bands that appear on a chromosome after staining. The banding pattern is unique to each type of chromosome, allowing characterization
- chronic disease — long-term illness
- church calendar — ecclesiastical calendar (def 2).
- church-calendar — a calendar based on the lunisolar cycle, used by many Christian churches in determining the dates for the movable feasts.
- cinderella book — (publication) "Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation", by John Hopcroft and Jeffrey Ullman, (Addison-Wesley, 1979). So called because the cover depicts a girl (putatively Cinderella) sitting in front of a Rube Goldberg device and holding a rope coming out of it. On the back cover, the device is in shambles after she has (inevitably) pulled on the rope. See also book titles.
- cinematographed — a motion-picture projector.
- cineradiography — the filming of motion pictures through a fluoroscope or x-ray machine.
- circumnavigated — Simple past tense and past participle of circumnavigate.
- clamp down (on) — to become more strict (with)