19-letter words containing a, r, i, s
- credit default swap — a contract in which the parties exchange the exposure to loss should a creditor fail to make a payment when it comes due back
- creeping bent grass — a grass, Agrostis stolonifera, grown as a pasture grass in Europe and North America: roots readily from the stem
- creeping featuritis — (jargon) /kree'ping fee'-chr-i:`t*s/ A variant of creeping featurism, with its own spoonerism: "feeping creaturitis". Some people like to reserve this form for the disease as it actually manifests in software or hardware, as opposed to the lurking general tendency in designers' minds. -ism means "condition" or "pursuit of", whereas -itis usually means "inflammation of".
- criminal psychology — study of criminals' minds
- cross-fertilization — fertilization by the fusion of male and female gametes from different individuals of the same species
- crystallized fruits — fruits that are covered in sugar which is melted and then allowed to harden
- crystallized ginger — sugar-coated ginger
- cudgel one's brains — to think hard about a problem
- cult of personality — a cult promoting adulation of a living national leader or public figure, as one encouraged by Stalin to extend his power.
- cultivated mushroom — an edible mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) with a pale cap and stalk: the most common food mushroom
- cultural relativism — a concept that cultural norms and values derive their meaning within a specific social context. Also called cultural relativism. Compare ethnocentrism (def 2).
- cultural-relativism — a concept that cultural norms and values derive their meaning within a specific social context. Also called cultural relativism. Compare ethnocentrism (def 2).
- cup-and-saucer vine — a woody, Mexican vine, Cobaea scandens, of the phlox family, having bell-shaped, violet-colored or greenish-purple flowers with an inflated, leaflike calyx and long, curved stamens.
- current liabilities — business liabilities maturing within a year
- customs declaration — a form declaring the nature and value of goods, etc, for customs purposes
- customs regulations — the regulations relating to customs in a particular country
- daisy-wheel printer — a type of printer that uses a daisywheel
- datatron 200 series — (computer) A family of computers produced by Burroughs that included the Datatron 204 and Datatron 220.
- de-militarised zone — (networking) (DMZ) (From the military term for an area between two opponents where fighting is prevented) DMZ Ethernets connect networks and computers controlled by different bodies. They may be external or internal. External DMZ Ethernets link regional networks with routers to internal networks. Internal DMZ Ethernets link local nodes with routers to the regional networks. Compare red zone.
- declare an interest — to make known one's connection, esp a prejudicial connection, with an affair
- deflate compression — deflate
- deflationary spiral — Geometry. a plane curve generated by a point moving around a fixed point while constantly receding from or approaching it.
- deindustrialisation — Alternative spelling of deindustrialization.
- deindustrialization — the decline in importance of manufacturing industry in the economy of a nation or area
- demonstration model — a nearly new product, such as a car or washing machine, that has been used only to demonstrate its performance by a dealer and is offered for sale at a discount
- dental receptionist — a receptionist working in a dental surgery
- departmentalisation — Alternative spelling of departmentalization.
- descriptive grammar — an approach to grammar that is concerned with reporting the usage of native speakers without reference to proposed norms of correctness or advocacy of rules based on such norms.
- design in real time — (programming) (Dirt) A user interface builder for the X Window System by R. Hesketh.
- devil's coach-horse — a large black rove beetle, Ocypus olens, with large jaws and ferocious habits
- devils-on-horseback — a savoury of prunes wrapped in bacon slices and served on toast
- diamond anniversary — a 60th, or occasionally 75th, anniversary
- dictionary of names — a dictionary of given names that indicates whether a name is usually male, female, or unisex and often includes origins as well as meanings; for example, as by indicating that Evangeline, meaning “good news,” comes from Greek. Used primarily as an aid in selecting a name for a baby, dictionaries of names may also include lists of famous people who have shared a name and information about its current popularity ranking.
- dielectric constant — Electricity. the ratio of the flux density produced by an electric field in a given dielectric to the flux density produced by that field in a vacuum.
- dig one's own grave — If you say that someone is digging their own grave, you are warning them that they are doing something foolish or dangerous that will cause their own failure.
- digital electronics — (electronics) The implementation of two-valued logic using electronic logic gates such as and gates, or gates and flip-flops. In such circuits the logical values true and false are represented by two different voltages, e.g. 0V for false and +5V for true. Similarly, numbers are normally represented in binary using two different voltages to represented zero and one. Digital electronics contrasts with analogue electronics which represents continuously varying quantities like sound pressure using continuously varying voltages. Digital electronics is the foundation of modern computers and digital communications. Massively complex digital logic circuits with millions of gates can now be built onto a single integrated circuit such as a microprocessor and these circuits can perform millions of operations per second.
- dimethylnitrosamine — a yellow, water-soluble carcinogenic liquid, C 2 H 6 N 2 O, found in tobacco smoke and certain foods: known to be a potent carcinogen. Abbreviation: DMN, DMNA.
- direct grant school — (in Britain, formerly) a school financed by endowment, fees, and a state grant conditional upon admittance of a percentage of nonpaying pupils nominated by the local education authority
- disaster capitalism — the practice (by a government, regime, etc) of taking advantage of a major disaster to adopt liberal economic policies that the population would be less likely to accept under normal circumstances
- disciplinary action — punishment or caution
- discretionary trust — a trust in which the beneficiaries' shares are not fixed in the trust deed but are left to the discretion of other persons, often the trustees
- discriminated union — (theory) The discriminated union of two sets A and B is A + B = {(inA, a) | a in A} U {(inB, b)| b in B} where inA and inB are arbitrary tags which specify which summand an element originates from. A type (especially an algebraic data type) might be described as a discriminated union if it is a sum type whose objects consist of a tag to say which part of the union they belong to and a value of the corresponding type.
- disenfranchisements — Plural form of disenfranchisement.
- 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
- displaced homemaker — a woman recently divorced, separated, or widowed after many years as a homemaker.
- display advertising — display ads taken collectively.
- disseminated cancer — a cancerous tumour that has spread from the site of original growth to a secondary site
- distance university — a degree-granting institution operating wholly or mainly by correspondence courses for students not resident on or within commuting distance of the campus.
- distinctive feature — a feature of the sound system of a language that serves as the crucial distinguishing mark between two phonemes, as the distinctive feature of voicing, which distinguishes b from p in English, or nasality, which distinguishes m from b and p.