22-letter words containing a, n, t, i, c
- compulsory liquidation — the liquidation of a business in order to settle its debts
- compuserve corporation — (company) The parent organisation of CompuServe Information Service, CompuServe Network Services and CompuServe Remote Computing Services. CompuServe was owned by H.R. Block but is now (1999) owned by America On-Line.
- computational geometry — (mathematics) The study of algorithms for combinatorial, topological, and metric problems concerning sets of points, typically in Euclidean space. Representative areas of research include geometric search, convexity, proximity, intersection, and linear programming.
- computational learning — grammatical inference
- concentration gradient — the gradual difference in concentration of a dissolved substance in a solution between a region of high density and one of lower density.
- congressional district — (in the US) an electoral division of a state, entitled to send one member to the US House of Representatives
- conservation of charge — the principle that the total charge of any isolated system is constant and independent of changes that take place within the system
- conservation of energy — the principle that the total energy of any isolated system is constant and independent of any changes occurring within the system
- conservation of matter — the principle that matter is neither created nor destroyed during any physical or chemical change
- conservation of parity — the principle that the parity of the total wave function describing a system of elementary particles is conserved. In fact it is not conserved in weak interactions
- conservative extension — a formal theory that includes among its theorems all the theorems of a given theory
- constitutional monarch — the sovereign in a constitutional monarchy
- constructive dismissal — If an employee claims constructive dismissal, they begin a legal action against their employer in which they claim that they were forced to leave their job because of the behaviour of their employer.
- consummatory behaviour — any behaviour that leads directly to the satisfaction of an innate drive, e.g. eating or drinking
- contextual advertising — a form of targeted advertising used on websites or other media, such as content displayed in mobile browsers
- continental philosophy — a general term for related philosophical traditions that originated in 20th-century continental Europe, including critical theory, deconstruction, existentialism, hermeneutics, phenomenology, and structuralism (contrasted with analytic philosophy).
- contingent beneficiary — a person who becomes the beneficiary if the primary beneficiary dies or is otherwise disqualified.
- continuous welded rail — a long, continuous rail formed by welding many short rails.
- contradiction in terms — a term, phrase, or phenomenon containing self-contradictory parts
- conversational quality — (in public speaking) a manner of utterance that resembles the spontaneity and informality of relaxed personal conversation.
- convertible loan stock — a stock or bond that can be converted into a stated number of shares at a particular date
- coronary heart disease — any heart disorder caused by disease of the coronary arteries
- cotton-wool generation — the children and teenagers of the early 21st century, viewed as having been overprotected while growing up
- counterinterpretations — Plural form of counterinterpretation.
- counterrevolutionaries — Plural form of counterrevolutionary.
- crankshaft end bearing — The crankshaft end bearing is the bearing between the connecting rod and the crankshaft of an internal combustion engine.
- crime against humanity — repeated actions undertaken by, or condoned by, a government, deemed to infringe human dignity and safety, such as rape, torture, murder, etc
- criminal investigation — an investigation by the police into a crime
- critical path analysis — a technique for planning complex projects by analysing alternative systems with reference to the critical path, which is the sequence of stages requiring the longest time
- curriculum coordinator — a member of a teaching staff with a largely administrative function whose job is to ensure that a curriculum is effectively taught
- curvature of the spine — a condition in which the spine is abnormally curved
- cycle of reincarnation — A term coined by Ivan Sutherland ca. 1970 to refer to a well-known effect whereby function in a computing system family is migrated out to special-purpose peripheral hardware for speed, then the peripheral evolves toward more computing power as it does its job, then somebody notices that it is inefficient to support two asymmetrical processors in the architecture and folds the function back into the main CPU, at which point the cycle begins again. Several iterations of this cycle have been observed in graphics-processor (blitter) design, and at least one or two in communications and floating-point processors. Also known as "the Wheel of Life", "the Wheel of Samsara" and other variations of the basic Hindu/Buddhist theological idea.
- cylindrical coordinate — Usually, cylindrical coordinates. a member of a system of coordinates for locating a point in space by its polar coordinates and its perpendicular distance to the polar plane.
- cytidine monophosphate — a nucleotide constituent of ribonucleic acids; a phosphoric acid ester of cytidine. Abbreviation: CMP.
- d'alembert's principle — the principle that for a moving body the external forces are in equilibrium with the inertial forces; a generalization of Newton's third law of motion
- dalton's atomic theory — the theory that matter consists of indivisible particles called atoms and that atoms of a given element are all identical and can neither be created nor destroyed. Compounds are formed by combination of atoms in simple ratios to give compound atoms (molecules). The theory was the basis of modern chemistry
- debt collection agency — a company that collects debts on behalf of creditors
- decimal classification — a system of classifying books in libraries by the use of numbers with decimals
- decompartmentalization — the act of decompartmentalizing
- delayed-action shutter — a camera shutter that opens after an interval set by the photographer
- denominational college — a college associated with a particular religious denomination
- denotational semantics — (theory) A technique for describing the meaning of programs in terms of mathematical functions on programs and program components. Programs are translated into functions about which properties can be proved using the standard mathematical theory of functions, and especially domain theory. Compare axiomatic semantics, operational semantics, standard semantics.
- denying the antecedent — the fallacy of inferring the falsehood of the consequent of a conditional statement, given the truth of the conditional and the falsehood of its antecedent, as if there are five of them, there are more than four: there are not five, so there are not more than four
- descriptive cataloging — the aspect of cataloging concerned with the bibliographic and physical description of a book, recording, or other work, accounting for such items as author or performer, title, edition, and imprint as opposed to subject content.
- diachronic linguistics — historical linguistics.
- dicyclopentadienyliron — ferrocene (def 1).
- digital control system — (systems) (DCS) A digital computer used for real-time control of a dynamic system, usually in an industrial environment, possibly as part of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. A DCS samples feedback from the system under control and modifies the control signals in an attempt to achieve some desired behaviour. Analysis of such digital-analogue feedback systems can involve mathematical methods such as difference equations, Laplace transforms, z transfer functions, state space models and state transition matrices.
- dilation and curettage — a surgical method for the removal of diseased tissue or an early embryo from the lining of the uterus by means of scraping.
- directional derivative — the limit, as a function of several variables moving along a given line from one specified point to another on the line, of the difference in the functional values at the two points divided by the distance between the points.
- directional microphone — a microphone that has a greater sensitivity to sounds coming from a particular area in front of it: used to eliminate unwanted sounds.