16-letter words containing a, n, f, r, c, t
- face recognition — the ability of a computer to scan, store, and recognize human faces for use in identifying people
- fahrenheit scale — Gabriel Daniel [German gah-bree-el dah-nee-el] /German ˈgɑ briˌɛl ˈdɑ niˌɛl/ (Show IPA), 1686–1736, German physicist: devised a temperature scale and introduced the use of mercury in thermometers.
- father confessor — confessor (def 2).
- feather merchant — a person who avoids responsibility and effort; loafer.
- feedback control — (electronics) A control system which monitors its effect on the system it is controlling and modifies its output accordingly. For example, a thermostat has two inputs: the desired temperature and the current temperature (the latter is the feedback). The output of the thermostat changes so as to try to equalise the two inputs. Computer disk drives use feedback control to position the read/write heads accurately on a recording track. Complex systems such as the human body contain many feedback systems that interact with each other; the homeostasis mechanisms that control body temperature and acidity are good examples.
- feel constrained — If you feel constrained to do something, you feel that you must do it, even though you would prefer not to.
- feeping creature — [feeping creaturism] An unnecessary feature; a bit of chrome that, in the speaker's judgment, is the camel's nose for a whole horde of new features.
- feulgen reaction — a reaction in which an aldehyde combines with a modified Schiff's reagent to produce a purplish compound: used especially to test for the presence of DNA
- finance director — financial manager
- finance minister — a member of a government in charge of the financial affairs of a state etc
- fingertip search — When the police carry out a fingertip search of a place, they examine it for evidence in a very detailed way.
- flat-bed scanner — a type of optical scanner having a flat, stationary surface on which a page is scanned by a moving head.
- flight indicator — artificial horizon (def 3).
- floridean starch — the storage polysaccharide of red algae.
- flotation collar — an inflatable device worn around the neck to keep the wearer afloat when in danger of drowning
- fluorescent lamp — a tubular electric discharge lamp in which light is produced by the fluorescence of phosphors coating the inside of the tube.
- food intolerance — an intolerance of a specific type of food, causing an adverse reaction
- forced vibration — Forced vibration is a type of vibration in which a force is repeatedly applied to a mechanical system.
- formation packer — A formation packer is a substance that is used as a seal between the casing and the borehole so that part of the hole can be tested.
- forward contract — a contract to buy or sell an asset at a point in the future at a previously agreed price
- francis townsend — Francis Everett, 1867–1960, U.S. physician and proposer of the Townsend plan.
- frankfurt school — a school of thought, founded at the University of Frankfurt in 1923 by Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse and others, derived from Marxist, Freudian, and Hegelian theory
- free association — the uncensored expression of the ideas, impressions, etc., passing through the mind of the analysand, a technique used to facilitate access to the unconscious.
- friction gearing — wheels or disks transmitting power by means of frictional contact.
- front and center — If a topic or question is front and center, a lot of attention is being paid to it or a lot of people are talking about it.
- functional group — a group of atoms responsible for the characteristic behavior of the class of compounds in which the group occurs, as the hydroxyl group in alcohols.
- functional water — water containing additives that provide extra nutritional value
- funeral director — a person, usually a licensed embalmer, who supervises or conducts the preparation of the dead for burial and directs or arranges funerals.
- general factotum — a person who does all sorts of jobs; general assistant
- haptic interface — (interface, hardware) A touch interface to a computer that provides feedback, such as a data glove.
- hawthorne effect — a positive change in the performance of a group of persons taking part in an experiment or study due to their perception of being singled out for special consideration.
- hay-scented fern — a fern, Dennstaedtia punctilobula, of eastern North America, having brittle, yellow-green fronds.
- heat of reaction — the heat evolved or absorbed when one mole of a product is formed at constant pressure
- information pack — a set of leaflets giving information about something
- interfacial area — The interfacial area is the total area of contact between two liquids in a liquid-liquid operation.
- intrinsic factor — a glycoprotein, secreted by the gastric mucosa, that is involved in the intestinal absorption of vitamin B 12 .
- maintenance-free — requiring little or no maintenance: a maintenance-free swimming pool.
- manufactured gas — a gaseous fuel created from coal, oil, etc., as differentiated from natural gas.
- mexican fruitfly — a brightly colored fly, Anastrepha ludens, whose larvae are a serious pest chiefly of citrus fruits and mangoes in Mexico, Central America, and southern Texas.
- misconfiguration — An incorrect or inappropriate configuration.
- narcotraffickers — Plural form of narcotrafficker.
- narcotrafficking — the buying and selling of illegal drugs.
- no-fault divorce — a divorce granted without anyone being found guilty of marital misconduct
- non-confirmation — the act of confirming.
- non-confirmatory — serving to confirm; corroborative.
- non-manufactured — the making of goods or wares by manual labor or by machinery, especially on a large scale: the manufacture of television sets.
- nonmanufacturing — (economics) Outside of the manufacturing sector.
- nuclear transfer — the procedure used to produce the first cloned mammals, in which the nucleus of a somatic cell is transferred into an egg cell whose own nucleus has been removed. This cell is then stimulated by an electric shock to divide and form an embryo
- of a certain age — of an unspecified age, but no longer young
- of it own accord — If something happens of its own accord, it seems to happen by itself, without anyone making it happen.