16-letter words containing a, r, i, m, n, u
- multi-way branch — switch statement
- multidirectional — extending or operating in several directions at the same time; functioning or going in more than one direction: a multidirectional stereo speaker system.
- multifariousness — (uncountable) The characteristic of being multifarious.
- multilinear form — a function or functional of several variables such that when all variables but one are held fixed, the function is linear in the remaining variable.
- multimillionaire — a person who possesses a fortune that amounts to many millions of dollars, francs, etc.
- multiprogramming — multitasking
- munching squares — A display hack dating back to the PDP-1 (ca. 1962, reportedly discovered by Jackson Wright), which employs a trivial computation (repeatedly plotting the graph Y = X XOR T for successive values of T - see HAKMEM items 146--148) to produce an impressive display of moving and growing squares that devour the screen. The initial value of T is treated as a parameter, which, when well-chosen, can produce amazing effects. Some of these, later (re)discovered on the LISP Machine, have been christened "munching triangles" (try AND for XOR and toggling points instead of plotting them), "munching w's", and "munching mazes". More generally, suppose a graphics program produces an impressive and ever-changing display of some basic form, foo, on a display terminal, and does it using a relatively simple program; then the program (or the resulting display) is likely to be referred to as "munching foos". [This is a good example of the use of the word foo as a metasyntactic variable.]
- mutual insurance — insurance in which those insured become members of a company who reciprocally engage, by payment of certain amounts into a common fund, to indemnify one another against loss.
- mutual recursion — recursion
- nash equilibrium — (in game theory) a stable state of a system involving the interaction of two or more players in which no player can gain by a unilateral change of strategy if the strategies of the other players remain unchanged
- natural immunity — immunity that is present without prior immunization.
- neuroepithelioma — Neurocytoma.
- neurotransmitter — any of several chemical substances, as epinephrine or acetylcholine, that transmit nerve impulses across a synapse to a postsynaptic element, as another nerve, muscle, or gland.
- nitrogen mustard — any of the class of poisonous, blistering compounds, as C 5 H 1 1 Cl 2 N, analogous in composition to mustard gas but containing nitrogen instead of sulfur: used in the treatment of cancer and similar diseases; mechlorethamine.
- non-instrumental — serving or acting as an instrument or means; useful; helpful.
- non-remuneration — the act of remunerating.
- non-remunerative — affording remuneration; profitable: remunerative work.
- nonmanufacturing — (economics) Outside of the manufacturing sector.
- norodom sihanouk — Prince Norodom [nawr-uh-dom,, -duh m] /ˈnɔr əˌdɒm,, -dəm/ (Show IPA), 1922–2004, Cambodian statesman: premier 1952–60; chief of state 1960–70 and 1975–76.
- nuclear emulsion — a photographic emulsion in the form of a thick block, used to record the tracks of elementary particles.
- nuclear medicine — diagnostic and therapeutic medical techniques using radionuclides or radioisotopes.
- operating manual — a leaflet of instructions on how to use something (such as an electrical appliance, etc)
- over-communicate — to impart knowledge of; make known: to communicate information; to communicate one's happiness.
- overaccumulation — Accumulation of too much.
- oxidation number — the state of an element or ion in a compound with regard to the electrons gained or lost by the element or ion in the reaction that formed the compound, expressed as a positive or negative number indicating the ionic charge of the element or ion.
- paint-by-numbers — formulaic; showing no original thought or creativity
- painted trillium — a North American trillium, Trillium undulatum, having white flowers streaked with pink or purple.
- pairs tournament — an event in a sport such as tennis or darts open to pairs of competitors
- palmer peninsula — former name of Antarctic Peninsula.
- palomar mountain — mountain in SW Calif., near San Diego: site of an astronomical observatory: 6,140 ft (1,871 m)
- perpetual motion — the motion of a theoretical mechanism that, without any losses due to friction or other forms of dissipation of energy, would continue to operate indefinitely at the same rate without any external energy being applied to it.
- platinum-iridium — (standard) A standard, against which all others of the same category are measured. Usage: silly. The notion is that one of whatever it is has actually been cast in platinum-iridium alloy and placed in the vault beside the Standard Kilogram at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris, as the bar defining the standard metre once was. "This garbage collection algorithm has been tested against the platinum-iridium cons cell in Paris." Compare golden.
- pneumatic trough — a trough filled with liquid, especially water, for collecting gases in bell jars or the like by displacement.
- primary consumer — (in the food chain) an animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore.
- primary industry — an industry, as agriculture, forestry, or fishing, that deals in obtaining natural materials.
- print journalism — journalism as practiced in newspapers and magazines.
- private judgment — personal opinion formed independently of the expressed position of an institution, as in matters of religion or politics.
- proxima centauri — the nearest star to the sun at a distance of 4.3 light-years, part of the Alpha Centauri triple-star system located in the constellation Centaurus.
- punctuation mark — any of a group of conventional marks or characters used in punctuation, as the period, comma, semicolon, question mark, or dash.
- quadrimillennial — Occurring every four thousand years.
- quasi-managerial — pertaining to management or a manager: managerial functions; the managerial class of society.
- radioimmunoassay — a test procedure that integrates immunologic and radiolabeling techniques to measure minute quantities of a substance, as a protein, hormone, or drug, in a given sample of body fluid or tissue.
- radium emanation — (formerly) radon.
- rambunctiousness — difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous: a rambunctious child.
- rating community — an online community based around a website that allows members to rate each other's photographs, qualifications, etc, as well as those of applicants, and which only those approved by existing members are allowed to join
- rectus abdominis — a long flat muscle that extends along the whole length of both sides of the abdomen. It flexes the vertebral column, particularly the lumbar portion; it also tenses the anterior abdominal wall and assists in compressing the abdominal contents
- redemption value — the price at which the issuing company may choose to repurchase a security before its maturity date
- relative minimum — minimum (def 5a).
- romeo and juliet — a tragedy (produced between 1591 and 1596) by Shakespeare.
- run-time library — (operating system, programming, library) A file containing routines which are linked with a program at run time rather than at compile-time. The advantage of such dynamic linking is that only one copy of the library needs to be stored, rather than a copy being included with each executable that refers to it. This can greatly reduce the disk space occupied by programs. Furthermore, it means that all programs immediately benefit from changes (e.g. bug fixes) to the single copy of the library without requiring recompilation. Since the library code is normally classified as read-only to the memory management system, it is possible for a single copy of the library to be loaded into memory and shared by all active programs, thus reducing RAM and virtual memory requirements and program load time.