17-letter words containing a, s, c, e, n, t
- cutaneous quittor — a purulent infection of horses and other hoofed animals, characterized by an acute inflammation of soft tissue above the hoof and resulting in suppuration and sloughing of the skin and usually lameness.
- dagestan republic — a constituent republic of S Russia, on the Caspian Sea: annexed from Persia in 1813; rich mineral resources. Capital: Makhachkala. Pop: 2 584 200 (2002). Area: 50 278 sq km (19 416 sq miles)
- data service unit — (communications) (DSU or "data service unit") A device used in digital transmission for connecting a CSU (Channel Service Unit) to Data Terminal Equipment (a terminal or computer), in the same way that a modem is used for connection to an analogue medium. A DSU provides a standard interface to a user's terminal which is compatible with modems and handles such functions as signal translation, regeneration, reformatting, and timing. The transmitting portion of the DSU processeses the customers' signal into bipolar pulses suitable for transmission over the digital facility. The receiving portion of the DSU is used both to extract timing information and to regenerate mark and space information from the received bipolar signal.
- de facto standard — A widespread consensus on a particular product or protocol which has not been ratified by any official standards body, such as ISO, but which nevertheless has a large market share. The archetypal example of a de facto standard is the IBM PC which, despite is many glaring technical deficiencies, has gained such a large share of the personal computer market that it is now popular simply because it is popular and therefore enjoys fierce competition in pricing and software development.
- de-specialization — the act of specializing, or pursuing a particular line of study or work: Medical students with high student loans often feel driven into specialization.
- decriminalisation — (chiefly, British) Alternative form of decriminalization.
- defence secretary — the member of a government who is responsible for the country's armed forces
- dehistoricization — The process or result of dehistoricizing.
- delay instruction — delayed control-transfer
- dephlogisticating — Present participle of dephlogisticate.
- despotic monarchy — absolute monarchy.
- desynchronisation — (British spelling) Alternative form of desynchronization.
- desynchronization — to cause to indicate the same time, as one timepiece with another: Synchronize your watches.
- deterministically — the doctrine that all facts and events exemplify natural laws.
- diatonic semitone — the pitch difference between certain adjacent degrees of the diatonic scale
- discreditableness — Quality of being discreditable.
- disidentification — The act of disidentifying, or rejecting a personal or group identity.
- displacement hull — a hull that displaces a significant volume of water when under way.
- disruptive action — action performed by protestors, workers, etc that causes the disruption of a service
- distance learning — education in which students receive instruction over the Internet, from a video, etc., instead of going to school.
- distance teaching — teaching via correspondence or the internet, where students are not physically present in a classroom
- district attorney — an officer who acts as attorney for the people or government within a specified district.
- dollars-and-cents — considered strictly in terms of money: from a dollars-and-cents viewpoint.
- dutch east indies — a former name of the Republic of Indonesia.
- eastern red cedar — red cedar (def 1).
- eastern-red-cedar — Also called eastern red cedar, savin. an American, coniferous tree, Juniperus virginiana, yielding a fragrant, reddish wood used for making lead pencils, etc.
- egyptian brackets — (programming, humour) A humourous term for K&R indent style, referring to the "one hand up in front, one down behind" pose which popular culture inexplicably associates with Egypt.
- elastic stockings — something made of elastic which you wear on your legs to aid circulation
- electric constant — the permittivity of free space, which has the value 8.854 187 × 10–12 farad per metre
- electroanesthesia — Anesthesia induced by cranial electrotherapy stimulation.
- elementary school — primary school
- elliptical spring — An elliptical spring is a spring that is made from two springs in the shape of elongated ovals laid cut in half and back-to-back.
- emergency rations — food and drink that is designated for use in an emergency: for example, in a famine, after a plane crash, when hill-walkers or mountaineers are stranded, etc.
- encephalomyelitis — Inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, typically due to acute viral infection.
- escaping tendency — a property of a gas, related to its partial pressure, that expresses its tendency to escape or expand, given by d(log ef) = dμ/ RT, where μ is the chemical potential, R the gas constant, and T the thermodynamic temperature
- executive mansion — the White House (in Washington, D.C.), official home of the President of the U.S.
- factory inspector — a person who inspects factories
- facts and figures — details; precise information
- fairness doctrine — a policy mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, requiring radio and television stations to grant equal time to a political candidate, group, etc., to present an opposing viewpoint to one already aired.
- fancy dress party — a party at which the guests wear fancy dress
- female chauvinist — a female who patronizes, disparages, or otherwise denigrates males in the belief that they are inferior to females and thus deserving of less than equal treatment or benefit.
- female-chauvinist — a person who is aggressively and blindly patriotic, especially one devoted to military glory.
- financial futures — futures in a stock-exchange index, currency exchange rate, or interest rate enabling banks, building societies, brokers, and speculators to hedge their involvement in these markets
- first commandment — “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”: first of the Ten Commandments.
- first performance — the first time that a play or concert is performed
- flat as a pancake — without any curves or bumps
- foreign secretary — foreign minister.
- foundation course — A foundation course is a course that you do at some colleges and universities in order to prepare yourself for a longer or more advanced course.
- fractal dimension — (mathematics) A common type of fractal dimension is the Hausdorff-Besicovich Dimension, but there are several different ways of computing fractal dimension. Fractal dimension can be calculated by taking the limit of the quotient of the log change in object size and the log change in measurement scale, as the measurement scale approaches zero. The differences come in what is exactly meant by "object size" and what is meant by "measurement scale" and how to get an average number out of many different parts of a geometrical object. Fractal dimensions quantify the static *geometry* of an object. For example, consider a straight line. Now blow up the line by a factor of two. The line is now twice as long as before. Log 2 / Log 2 = 1, corresponding to dimension 1. Consider a square. Now blow up the square by a factor of two. The square is now 4 times as large as before (i.e. 4 original squares can be placed on the original square). Log 4 / log 2 = 2, corresponding to dimension 2 for the square. Consider a snowflake curve formed by repeatedly replacing ___ with _/\_, where each of the 4 new lines is 1/3 the length of the old line. Blowing up the snowflake curve by a factor of 3 results in a snowflake curve 4 times as large (one of the old snowflake curves can be placed on each of the 4 segments _/\_). Log 4 / log 3 = 1.261... Since the dimension 1.261 is larger than the dimension 1 of the lines making up the curve, the snowflake curve is a fractal. [sci.fractals FAQ].
- fraternal society — a club or other association, usually of men, having a limited membership and devoted to professional, religious, charitable, or social activities.