21-letter words containing a, s, r
- dissociative disorder — a mental disorder, as multiple personality, characterized by sudden temporary alteration in consciousness, identity, or motor behavior.
- distant early warning — a US radar detection system to warn of missile attack
- distinctiveness ratio — the ratio of the relative frequency of some event in a given sample to that in the general population or another relevant sample
- distributed smalltalk — ["The Design and Implementation of Distributed Smalltalk", J. Bennett, SIGPLAN Notices 22(12):318-330 (Dec 1980)].
- double predestination — the doctrine that God has foreordained both those who will be saved and those who will be damned.
- double spanish burton — a tackle having one standing block and two running blocks, giving a mechanical advantage of five, neglecting friction.
- draft once reuse many — (jargon) (DORUM) Reusing parts of a document to produce parts of an entirely new document. The term normally refers to text documents but the practise is equally common in programming.
- drop in someone's lap — give someone the responsibility of
- dumfries and galloway — a region in S Scotland. 2460 sq. mi. (6371 sq. km).
- dusky seaside sparrow — a species of sparrow, Ammospiza maritima, existing in two subspecies, one (Cape Sable seaside sparrow) having dark olive-drab plumage with a lighter breast and underbelly, and the other (dusky seaside sparrow) having bold black and white markings on the breast and underbelly: the dusky seaside sparrow is almost extinct.
- dwarf japanese quince — a low, shrubby, Japanese flowering quince, Chaenomeles japonica, of the rose family, having salmon-to-orange flowers and yellow fruit.
- easier said than done — difficult to do
- eastern daylight time — a time zone applicable to many eastern areas of the United States during the summer months, being a daylight-saving variant of Eastern Standard Time
- eastern european time — a standard time used by some countries in Eastern Europe, such as Finland, Romania, etc and also some countries of the Middle East and North Africa
- eastern standard time — See under standard time.
- eccles-jordan circuit — flip-flop
- electric displacement — the electric flux density when an electric field exists in free space into which a dielectric is introduced
- electroencephalograms — Plural form of electroencephalogram.
- electromagnetic pulse — a surge of electromagnetic radiation, esp one resulting from a nuclear explosion, which can disrupt electronic devices and, occasionally, larger structures and equipment
- electronystagmography — A diagnostic test to record involuntary movements of the eye caused by a condition known as nystagmus. It can also be used to diagnose the cause of vertigo, dizziness or balance dysfunction by testing the vestibular system.
- embarras de richesses — a superfluous abundance of options, from which one finds it difficult to select
- emotional correctness — pressure on an individual to be seen to feel the same emotion as others
- empire state building — New York City skyscraper
- endoplasmic reticulum — an extensive intracellular membrane system whose functions include synthesis and transport of lipids and, in regions where ribosomes are attached, of proteins
- entrance requirements — the grades in school examinations required for admission to university
- environmental studies — a university course studying the environment and related issues
- epidermolysis bullosa — type of genetic skin disorder
- ethics of the fathers — a treatise of the Mishnah that comprises six chapters and consists chiefly of proverbs, aphorisms, and principles of ethics, law, and religion.
- european space agency — an organization dedicated to space exploration with 18 European countries as members
- every dog has his day — one's luck will come
- exposure compensation — the act of overriding a camera's automatic exposure in order to achieve a particular effect or due to difficult lighting conditions
- extensible vax editor — (text, tool) (EVE) A DEC product implemented using DEC's Text Processing Utility (TPU).
- fall all over oneself — to drop or descend under the force of gravity, as to a lower place through loss or lack of support.
- false memory syndrome — a psychological condition in which a person believes that he or she remembers events that have not actually occurred.
- false-memory syndrome — a psychological condition in which a person believes that he or she remembers events that have not actually occurred.
- federal reserve board — a U.S. federal banking system that is under the control of a central board of governors (Federal Reserve Board) with a central bank (Federal Reserve Bank) in each of 12 districts and that has wide powers in controlling credit and the flow of money as well as in performing other functions, as regulating and supervising its member banks.
- feline leukemia virus — a retrovirus, mainly affecting cats, that depresses the immune system and leads to opportunistic infections, lymphosarcoma, and other disorders. Abbreviation: FeLV, FLV.
- fermat's last theorem — the unproved theorem that the equation xn + yn = zn has no solution for x, y, z nonzero integers when n is greater than 2.
- ferric sodium oxalate — an emerald-green, crystalline, extremely water-soluble salt, used in photography and blueprinting.
- first baron ashburton — Alexander, 1st Baron Ashburton, 1774–1848, British statesman.
- first consonant shift — the consonant shift described by Grimm's law, which distinguishes Germanic languages from other Indo-European languages.
- first-dollar coverage — insurance that provides payment for the full loss up to the insured amount with no deductibles.
- first-round financing — First round financing is the first time a new company raises money from investors.
- fluorophosphoric acid — any of three acids containing fluorine and phosphorus, HPF 6 , HPO 2 F 2 , or H 2 PO 3 F.
- food conversion ratio — a ratio expressing the weight of food required to produce a unit gain in the live weight of an animal
- food standards agency — the full form of FDA
- forensic anthropology — the branch of physical anthropology in which anthropological data, criteria, and techniques are used to determine the sex, age, genetic population, or parentage of skeletal or biological materials in questions of civil or criminal law.
- fort lesley j. mcnair — a military reservation in SW Washington, D.C., on the Potomac River, SW of the Capitol.
- framing specification — A specification of the "protocol bits" that surround the "data bits" on a communications channel to allow the data to be "framed" into chunks, like start and stop bits in EIA-232. It allows a receiver to synchronize at points along the data stream.
- franco-belgian system — French system.