19-letter words containing a, p, i, n
- department chairman — the chairman of a university department
- departmentalisation — Alternative spelling of departmentalization.
- departmentalization — to divide into departments.
- depletion allowance — a tax allowance granted in certain industries, such as the oil and gas industries, to compensate for the depletion of the oil, gas, etc owned by the company
- diamond-point spoon — a spoon having a handle terminating in a polygonal, pointed knob.
- differential backup — (operating system) A kind of backup that copies all files that have changed since the last full backup. Each differential backup will include all files in previous differential backups since the full backup so to restore a version of a file, you only need to search the full backup and the relevant differential backup. Some systems support differential backup by associating an "Archive" flag with each file and setting this flag whenever the file is modified to indicate that it should be included in the next backup. A differential backup does not change this flag, whereas an incremental backup resets it.
- diffraction pattern — the phenomenon exhibited by wave fronts that, passing the edge of an opaque body, are modulated, thereby causing a redistribution of energy within the front: it is detectable in light waves by the presence of a pattern of closely spaced dark and light bands (diffraction pattern) at the edge of a shadow.
- digital linear tape — (storage) (DLT) A kind of magnetic tape drive originally developed by DEC and now marketed by Quantum. DLT drives implement the Digital Lempel Ziv 1 (DLZ1) compression algorithm in a combination of hardware and firmware. They use a popular chip by Stac (now hi/fn) to do the string searching. Counting, sorting and Huffman coding are done in firmware (with hardware support for the Huffman algorithm?). In April 1997 DLT drives can transfer 5 megabytes per second and can store 35 gigabytes on a single cartridge. Compression might roughly double these figures.
- diplomatic immunity — exemption from taxation, searches, arrest, etc., enjoyed by diplomatic officials and their dependent families under international law, and usually on a reciprocal basis.
- directional coupler — (communications) (tap) A passive device used in cable systems to divide and combine radio frequency signals. A directional coupler has at least three ports: line in, line out, and the tap. The signal passes between line in and line out ports with loss referred to as the insertion loss. A small portion of the signal power applied to the line in port passes to the tap port. A signal applied to the tap port is passed to the line in port less the tap attenuation value. The tap signals are isolated from the line out port to prevent reflections. A signal applied to the line out port passes to the line in port and is isolated from the tap port. Some devices provide more than one tap output line (multi-taps).
- disambiguation page — a page on a website that lists various websites or web pages that have or could have the same title. The user is able to select from the list that page, site etc that he or she actually wants
- disciplinary action — punishment or caution
- dispatch department — the department of an organization responsible for the dispatch of orders
- dispersion relation — the relationship between the angular frequency (ω;) of a wave and the magnitude of its wave vector (k). Thus the wave's speed is ω/k
- displacement engine — any engine employing the rectilinear motion of one or more pistons in cylinders.
- display advertising — display ads taken collectively.
- diversional therapy — the structured use of leisure time in recreation and play as a form of or supplement to conventional therapy
- dobsonian telescope — a relatively inexpensive Newtonian telescope, suitable for visual but not photographic use, in which the tube assembly slips freely in the lower base.
- duplicating machine — a duplicator, especially one for making identical copies of documents, letters, etc.
- dynamic positioning — Dynamic positioning is the use of computers to control the position of a semi-submersible rig.
- electrode potential — the potential difference developed when an electrode of an element is placed in a solution containing ions of that element
- electron micrograph — a photograph or image of a specimen taken using an electron microscope
- electronic graphics — (on television) the production of graphic designs and text by electronic means
- elementary particle — any of several entities, such as electrons, neutrons, or protons, that are less complex than atoms and are regarded as the constituents of all matter
- employment tribunal — (in England, Scotland, and Wales) a tribunal that rules on disputes between employers and employees regarding unfair dismissal, redundancy, etc
- english toy spaniel — breed of dog
- entitlement program — a government program providing defined sectors of the population with social benefits
- equal opportunities — Equal opportunities refers to the policy of giving everyone the same opportunities for employment, pay and promotion, without discriminating against particular groups.
- european commission — the executive body of the European Union formed in 1967, which initiates action in the EU and mediates between member governments
- european parliament — law: assembly in Strasbourg
- evaporative cooling — a method of reducing temperature that uses evaporation
- expeditionary force — An expeditionary force is a group of soldiers who are sent to fight in a foreign country.
- expressionistically — In an expressionistic manner.
- extreme programming — a discipline of software engineering following a specific structure, designed to simplify and speed up the development process
- family practitioner — medical specialization in general practice, requiring training beyond that of general practice and leading to board certification.
- female impersonator — a male performer who dresses as and impersonates women.
- feynman, richard p. — Richard P. Feynman
- first person plural — a grammatical category of pronouns and verbs used by the speaker to refer to or talk about himself together with others
- flat-joint pointing — pointing having flush joints of common mortar.
- floating-point unit — (hardware) (FPU) A floating-point accelerator, usually in a single integrated circuit, possible on the same IC as the central processing unit.
- flowering raspberry — a shrub, Rubus ordoratus, of eastern North America, having loose clusters of showy purplish or rose-purple flowers and inedible, dry, red fruit.
- forensic psychiatry — the use of psychiatric knowledge and techniques in questions of law, as in determining legal insanity.
- fractal compression — (algorithm) A technique for encoding images using fractals.
- franco-prussian war — the war between France and Prussia, 1870–71.
- free alongside ship — (of a shipment of goods) delivered to the dock without charge to the buyer, but excluding the cost of loading onto the vessel
- gallipoli peninsula — peninsula in S European Turkey, forming the NW shore of the Dardanelles: c. 55 mi (89 km) long
- gedanken experiment — thought experiment.
- general partnership — a partnership in which each of the partners is fully liable for the firm's debts.
- general post office — (in the U.S. postal system) the main post office of a city, county, etc., that also has branch post offices. Abbreviation: G.P.O., GPO.
- generic programming — (programming) A programming technique which aims to make programs more adaptable by making them more general. Generic programs often embody non-traditional kinds of polymorphism; ordinary programs are obtained from them by suitably instantiating their parameters. In contrast with normal programs, the parameters of a generic programs are often quite rich in structure. For example they may be other programs, types or type constructors or even programming paradigms.