18-letter words containing a, n, y, t
- mobility allowance — an allowance paid by the government to help people who have limited mobility
- monetary aggregate — a measure of the money in circulation.
- monophosphorylated — (biochemistry) phosphorylated with a single unit of phosphoric acid.
- montgomery village — a city in central Maryland.
- mountain cranberry — cowberry
- multifunctionality — The condition of being multifunctional.
- natural philosophy — natural science.
- nebular hypothesis — the theory that the solar system evolved from a mass of nebular matter: prominent in the 19th century following its precise formulation by Laplace.
- neo-pythagoreanism — a philosophical system, established in Alexandria and Rome in the second century b.c., consisting mainly of revived Pythagorean doctrines with elements of Platonism and Stoicism.
- neuroophthalmology — the branch of ophthalmology that deals with the optic nerve and other nervous system structures involved in vision.
- neutrino astronomy — the branch of astronomy dealing with the detection and measurement of neutrinos emitted by the sun and other celestial objects.
- new storage system — (storage) (NSS) A major Multics implementation project during the 1970s. The initial Multics file system design had evolved from the one-huge-disk world of CTSS. When multiple disk units were used they were just assigned increasing ranges of disk addresses, so a segment could have pages scattered over all disks on the system. This provided good I/O parallelism but made crash recovery expensive. NSS redesigned the lower levels of the file system, introducing the concepts of logical volume and physical volume and a mapping from a Multics directory branch to a VTOC entry for each file. The new system had much better recovery performance in exchange for a small space and performance cost.
- nobiliary particle — a preposition forming part of a title of nobility or surname, as French de or German von.
- non-accountability — the state of being accountable, liable, or answerable.
- nonvolatile memory — computer memory that can retain stored information even when not powered, for example read-only memory
- normally aspirated — A normally aspirated or naturally aspirated engine breathes air at atmospheric pressure.
- northeast by north — a point on the compass 11°15′ north of northeast. Abbreviation: NEbN.
- not a pretty sight — If you say that someone or something is not a pretty sight, you mean that it is not pleasant to look at.
- not by a long shot — absolutely not
- not take kindly to — not welcome
- now you're talking — at last you're saying something agreeable
- nuclear capability — If a country has nuclear capability, it is able to produce nuclear power and usually nuclear weapons.
- numerical identity — the relation that holds between two relata when they are the selfsame entity, that is, when the terms designating them have the same reference
- numerical taxonomy — classification of organisms by a comparison of large numbers of observable characteristics that are given equal value instead of being weighted according to possible evolutionary significance.
- nursery facilities — places where young children are looked after
- octachlorobiphenyl — (organic compound) Either of twelve isomers of the polychlorinated biphenyl containing eight chlorine atoms.
- on a sticky wicket — in an awkward situation
- one way or another — somehow, by some means
- open heart surgery — surgery performed on the exposed heart while a heart-lung machine pumps and oxygenates the blood and diverts it from the heart.
- open-heart surgery — surgery performed on the exposed heart while a heart-lung machine pumps and oxygenates the blood and diverts it from the heart.
- organic solidarity — social cohesiveness that is based on division of labor and interdependence and is characteristic of complex, industrial societies.
- oriental cat's-eye — a chatoyant variety of chrysoberyl, used as a gem.
- owen stanley range — a mountain range in SE New Guinea. Highest peak: Mount Victoria, 4073 m (13 363 ft)
- palaeoanthropology — the branch of anthropology concerned with primitive man
- paraglyph printing — the printing of the positive and negative of a radiograph superimposed in slight misalignment to give the effect of a relief.
- parathyroid glands — any of several small oval glands usually lying near or embedded in the thyroid gland.
- pathologic anatomy — the branch of pathology dealing with the morphologic changes in tissues.
- pay one's respects — a particular, detail, or point (usually preceded by in): to differ in some respect.
- payment by results — a system of wage payment whereby all or part of the wage varies systematically according to the level of work performance of an employee
- payment in advance — If a business asks for payment in advance, the payment must be received in full before the goods or services are delivered.
- pellitory of spain — a small Mediterranean plant, Anacyclus pyrethrum, the root of which contains an oil formerly used to relieve toothache: family Asteraceae (composites)
- pennsylvania dutch — the descendants of 17th- and 18th-century settlers in Pennsylvania from southwest Germany and Switzerland.
- perlocutionary act — the action of affecting someone by uttering certain words
- phanerocrystalline — (of a rock) having the principal constituents in the form of crystals visible to the naked eye.
- phantasmagorically — having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination.
- phase-shift keying — (communications) (PSK) A digital modulation scheme that conveys data by changing the phase of a carrier wave. The data can either determine the absolute phase relative to the unmodulated carrier or reference signal ("coherent phase-shift keying", CPSK) or the change in phase ("differential phase-shift keying", DPSK). The number of different phases used determines the amount of data that can be transmitted in each cycle. Each cycle can be considered to constitute one "symbol", e.g. with two possible phases, each cycle carries one bit. The more phases that are used, the less tollerant to noise the transmissions becomes. Alternatives to PSK are amplitude-shift keying (ASK) and frequency-shift keying (FSK).
- phenylacetaldehyde — a colorless, oily, water-insoluble liquid, C 3 H 1 4 O, having a hyacinthlike odor: used chiefly in perfumery.
- phosphatidylserine — any of a class of phospholipids occurring in biological membranes and fats
- phthalic anhydride — a white, crystalline, slightly water-soluble solid, C 8 H 4 O 3 , used chiefly in the manufacture of dyes, alkyd resins, and plasticizers.
- physical education — systematic instruction in sports, exercises, and hygiene given as part of a school or college program.