20-letter words containing a, n, t, i, c, l
- multicast addressing — Ethernet addressing scheme used to send packets to devices of a certain type or for broadcasting to all nodes. The least significant bit of the most significant byte of a multi-cast address is one.
- multiple inheritance — (programming) In object-oriented programming, the possibility that a class may have more than one direct superclass in the class hierarchy. The opposite is single inheritance.
- multiplication table — Arithmetic. a tabular listing of the products of any two numbers of a set, usually of the integers 1 through 10 or 1 through 12.
- naturalistic fallacy — the supposed fallacy of inferring evaluative conclusions from purely factual premises
- neapolitan ice cream — variously flavored and colored ice cream and ice mixtures frozen in layers.
- negative electricity — the electricity present in a body or substance that has an excess of electrons, as the electricity developed on a resin when rubbed with flannel.
- net national product — the gross national product less allowance for depreciation of capital goods. Abbreviation: NNP.
- neuropsychiatrically — In terms of neuropsychiatry.
- neutral interconnect — Network infrastructure where network service providers can freely exchange traffic without policy restrictions. Examples are the GIX (Global Internet Exchange) at MAE-East (A Metropolitan Area Ethernet around Washington), and the Ebone (European Backbone). There is currently (November 1993) no UK Neutral Interconnect.
- nickel tetracarbonyl — nickel carbonyl.
- no lack of something — If you say there is no lack of something, you are emphasizing that there is a great deal of it.
- non-sensationalistic — subject matter, language, or style producing or designed to produce startling or thrilling impressions or to excite and please vulgar taste.
- nonaccidental injury — damage, such as a bruise, burn, or fracture, deliberately inflicted on a child or an old person
- noncatalytic reactor — A noncatalytic reactor is a reactor in which no catalyst is used.
- nonrepeating decimal — a decimal representation of any irrational number, having the property that no sequence of digits is repeated ad infinitum.
- nonsense correlation — a correlation supported by data but having no basis in reality, as between incidence of the common cold and ownership of televisions
- normal magnification — the magnification produced by a telescope or microscope such that the diameter of the exit pupil of the instrument is equal to the diameter of the pupil of the eye.
- north american plate — a major tectonic division of the earth's crust, comprising Greenland and the continent of North America and the suboceanic Labrador and North American Basins, and bounded on the east by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, on the south by the Caribbean and South American Plates, and on the west by the San Andreas fault and Aleutian Trench.
- north atlantic drift — an ocean current flowing NE toward the British Isles, formed by the convergence of the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current SE of Newfoundland.
- north celestial pole — the point of intersection of the earth's extended axis and the northern half of the celestial sphere, lying about 1° from Polaris
- north richland hills — a town in N Texas.
- occupational disease — Also called industrial disease. a disease caused by the conditions or hazards of a particular occupation.
- occupational pension — a pension scheme provided for the members of a particular occupation or by a specific employer or group of employers
- occupational therapy — a form of therapy in which patients are encouraged to engage in vocational tasks or expressive activities, as art or dance, usually in a social setting.
- of no/little account — If you say that something is of no account or of little account, you mean that it is very unimportant and is not worth considering.
- olfactory anesthesia — absence or loss of the sense of smell.
- omega-minus particle — a baryon with strangeness −3, isotopic spin 0, and negative charge; predicted from the mathematics of the Eightfold Way and subsequently discovered. Symbol: Ω −.
- ontological argument — an a priori argument for the existence of God, asserting that as existence is a perfection, and as God is conceived of as the most perfect being, it follows that God must exist; originated by Anselm, later used by Duns Scotus, Descartes, and Leibniz.
- open learning centre — an establishment which provides further education on a flexible part-time basis
- operational calculus — a method for solving a differential equation by treating differential operators as ordinary algebraic quantities, thus obtaining a simpler problem.
- optical mark reading — the reading of marks by an optical device whereby the information can be stored in machine-readable form
- oscillating universe — a variant model of the closed universe in which the universe undergoes cycles of expansion and contraction.
- over-intellectualize — to seek or consider the rational content or form of.
- overenthusiastically — With excessive enthusiasm.
- ovo-lacto vegetarian — a vegetarian who eats eggs and dairy products
- ovo-lacto-vegetarian — lacto-ovo-vegetarian.
- oxyacetylene welding — welding using an oxyacetylene burner
- paper qualifications — qualifications gained through official examinations, etc, rather than through experience
- particle beam weapon — a weapon that fires particle beams into the atmosphere or space
- peaceful coexistence — competition without war, or a policy of peace between nations of widely differing political systems and ideologies, especially between Communist and non-Communist nations: peaceful coexistence between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
- peculiar institution — black slavery in the southern U.S. before the Civil War.
- pentose nucleic acid — a nucleic acid containing a pentose.
- peroxyacetyl nitrate — an unstable nitrogen compound, found in certain types of smog, that is an irritant, esp. to the eyes and to plants
- perpendicular gothic — the style of Gothic architecture in England during the 14th and 15th centuries, characterized by tracery having vertical lines, a four-centred arch, and fan vaulting
- photogelatin process — collotype (def 1).
- phthalocyanine green — a pigment used in painting, derived from chlorinated copper phthalocyanine and characterized chiefly by its intense green color and permanence.
- physical examination — an examination, usually by a physician, of a person's body in order to determine his or her state of health or physical fitness, as for military service or participation in a sport.
- pipeline burst cache — (hardware, storage) (PB Cache) A synchronous cache built from pipelined SRAM. A cache in which reading or writing a new location takes multiple cycles but subsequent locations can be accessed in a single cycle. On Pentium systems in 1996, pipeline burst caches are frequently used as secondary caches. The first 8 bytes of data are transferred in 3 CPU cycles, and the next 3 8-byte pieces of data are transferred in one cycle each.
- planetary precession — the small component of the precession of the equinoxes contributed by the motion of the ecliptic, the change in orientation of the plane of the earth's orbit being produced by the gravitational attraction of the planets.
- planning application — In Britain, a planning application is a formal request to a local authority for permission to build something new or to add something to an existing building.