17-letter words containing a, r, u
- pyrosulfuric acid — a strong, crystalline acid, H2S2O7, prepared commercially as a heavy, oily, fuming liquid: used in making explosives and dyes, as a sulfating agent, etc.
- quadratic formula — the formula for determining theroots of a quadratic equation from its coefficients: .
- quadratic residue — a number x that is relatively prime to a given integer y and for which a number z exists whose square gives the same remainder as x when divided by y.
- quality assurance — a system for ensuring a desired level of quality in the development, production, or delivery of products and services: Quality assurance for nursing homes begins with a set of standards. Abbreviation: QA.
- quality newspaper — a more serious newspaper which gives detailed accounts of world events, as well as reports on business, culture, and society
- quality paperback — a softbound book that is usually larger and more expensive than a mass market paperback and is sold primarily in bookstores as a trade book.
- quantity surveyor — A quantity surveyor is a person who calculates the cost and amount of materials and workers needed for a job such as building a house or a road.
- quantum cell wire — (electronics, computing) (Or "quantum wire", "binary wire") Quantum cells arranged in a line to carry signals. Adjacent cells with the same orientation are at a low energy state and a change of orientation at one end of a quantum wire propagates along the wire, transmitting a signal. However, unlike conventional wire, since only the orientation of charge pairs changes, no current flows. Circuits created using quantum cell wires are referred to as Quantum-dot Wireless Digital Circuits, see quantum dot, Quantum-dot Cellular Automata.
- quantum chemistry — the application of quantum mechanics to the study of chemical phenomena.
- quarterback sneak — a play in which the quarterback charges into the middle of the line, usually immediately after receiving the ball from the center.
- quasiexperimental — (medicine) Describing a trial in which the assignment to a group is based upon an experimental condition.
- quatercentenaries — Plural form of quatercentenary.
- quattuordecillion — a cardinal number represented in the U.S. by 1 followed by 45 zeros, and in Great Britain by 1 followed by 84 zeros.
- quick on the draw — having fast reflexes
- radiative capture — the capture of a particle, as a neutron, by a nucleus, inducing the emission of electromagnetic radiation, as a gamma ray.
- radioluminescence — luminescence induced by nuclear radiation.
- rational function — a function that can be written as the quotient of two polynomials with integral coefficients.
- raynaud's disease — a vascular disorder of unknown cause, characterized by recurrent episodes of blanching and numbness of the fingers and toes and sometimes the tip of the nose and ears, usually triggered by stress or exposure to cold.
- recreation ground — an open space for public recreation, esp one in a town, with swings and slides, etc, for children
- recreational drug — drug taken for pleasure
- recurring decimal — Mathematics. repeating decimal.
- recursion formula — a formula for determining the next term of a sequence from one or more of the preceding terms.
- recursive acronym — (convention) A hackish (and especially MIT) tradition is to choose acronyms and abbreviations that refer humorously to themselves or to other acronyms or abbreviations. The classic examples were two MIT editors called EINE ("EINE Is Not Emacs") and ZWEI ("ZWEI Was EINE Initially"). More recently, there is a Scheme compiler called LIAR (Liar Imitates Apply Recursively), and GNU stands for "GNU's Not Unix!" - and a company with the name CYGNUS, which expands to "Cygnus, Your GNU Support". See also mung.
- red-billed quelea — any of several African weaverbirds of the genus Quelea, especially Q. quelea (red-billed quelea) noted for its vast flocks that destroy grain crops.
- reduction formula — a formula, such as sin (90° ± A) = cos A, expressing the values of a trigonometric function of any angle greater than 90° in terms of a function of an acute angle
- reflection nebula — a cloud of interstellar gas and dust that reflects the light of neighboring stars.
- refuse a proposal — If an insurer refuses a proposal, it does not agree to underwrite a risk proposed by a potential client.
- regulated tenancy — (in Britain) the letting of a dwelling by a nonresident private landlord, usually at a registered fair rent, from which the landlord cannot evict the tenant without a possession order from a court
- relative aperture — the ratio of the diameter of a lens, especially a camera lens, to the focal length; the reciprocal of the f number or focal ratio of the lens.
- relative humidity — the amount of water vapor in the air, expressed as a percentage of the maximum amount that the air could hold at the given temperature; the ratio of the actual water vapor pressure to the saturation vapor pressure. Abbreviation: RH, rh.
- replacement value — insurance: sum required to replace sth
- republic of china — People's Republic of, a country in E Asia. 3,691,502 sq. mi. (9,560,990 sq. km). Capital: Beijing.
- republic of korea — a former country in E Asia, on a peninsula SE of Manchuria and between the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea: a kingdom prior to 1910; under Japanese rule 1910–45; now divided at 38° N into North Korea and South Korea. Compare Korean War.
- republic of palau — a republic comprising a group of islands in the W Pacific, in the W Caroline Islands; administratively part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands 1947–87; entered into an agreement of free association with the US (1980); became fully independent in 1994. Chief island: Babelthuap. Capital: Ngerulmud on Babelthuap (functions moved from Koror in 2006). Pop: 21 108 (2013 est). Area: 476 sq km (184 sq miles)
- republic-of-china — People's Republic of, a country in E Asia. 3,691,502 sq. mi. (9,560,990 sq. km). Capital: Beijing.
- request programme — a programme on the radio where listeners can request certain songs or tracks
- res ipsa loquitur — the rule that an injury is due to the defendant's negligence when that which caused it was under his or her control or management and the injury would not have happened had proper management been observed.
- rescue operations — operations or organized procedures to bring people or a person out of danger, attack, harm, etc
- reticulate python — a python, Python reticulatus, of southeastern Asia and the East Indies, sometimes growing to a length of 32 feet (10 meters): usually considered to be the largest snake in the world.
- return of capital — A return of capital is a situation in which you receive back money that was previously invested.
- return on capital — A return on capital is any earnings that you receive from the capital that you have invested.
- revascularization — the restoration of the blood circulation of an organ or area, achieved by unblocking obstructed or disrupted blood vessels or by surgically implanting replacements.
- revolutionary war — American Revolution.
- rheumatic disease — any of a group of diseases of the connective tissue, of uncertain causes, including rheumatoid arthritis, gout, and rheumatic fever
- rheumatoid factor — an antibody that is found in the blood of many persons afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis and that reacts against globulins in the blood.
- rhodope mountains — a mountain range in SE Europe, in the Balkan Peninsula extending along the border between Bulgaria and Greece. Highest peak: Golyam Perelik (Bulgaria), 2191 m (7188 ft)
- rich site summary — (web, standard) (RSS, blog, feed) A family of standard web document types containing regularly updated, short articles or news items. RSS documents (generally called "RSS feeds", "news feeds" or just "feeds") can be read with an RSS reader like BottomFeeder or Feedly. These are sometimes called "aggregators" because they combine multiple RSS feeds which the user can browse as a single list. The RSS reader tracks which articles the use has read, and is typically set to show only new articles, hence the idea of a "feed" or flow of new items. Most RSS feeds are based on RDF. RDF is a structured document format for describing textual resources such as news articles available on the web. RSS originally stood for "RDF Site Summary" as it was designed to provide short descriptions of (changes to) a website. Because it provides a standard way to deliver, or "syndicate", news or updates from one site to another, RSS is sometimes expanded as "Really Simple Syndication". It is closely associated with blogs, most of which provide an RSS feed of articles.
- ring-tailed lemur — a Madagascan prosimian primate, Lemur catta, with a long black and white ringed tail
- rio grande do sul — a state in S Brazil. 107,923 sq. mi. (279,520 sq. km). Capital: Pôrto Alegre.
- road construction — the building of roads