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16-letter words containing a, t, f

  • feedback control — (electronics)   A control system which monitors its effect on the system it is controlling and modifies its output accordingly. For example, a thermostat has two inputs: the desired temperature and the current temperature (the latter is the feedback). The output of the thermostat changes so as to try to equalise the two inputs. Computer disk drives use feedback control to position the read/write heads accurately on a recording track. Complex systems such as the human body contain many feedback systems that interact with each other; the homeostasis mechanisms that control body temperature and acidity are good examples.
  • feel constrained — If you feel constrained to do something, you feel that you must do it, even though you would prefer not to.
  • feel the draught — to be short of money
  • feel-good factor — When journalists refer to the feel-good factor, they mean that people are feeling hopeful and optimistic about the future.
  • feeping creature — [feeping creaturism] An unnecessary feature; a bit of chrome that, in the speaker's judgment, is the camel's nose for a whole horde of new features.
  • feira de santana — a city in BahÍa state, E Brazil.
  • fellow traveller — a companion on a journey
  • feme-sole trader — a married woman who is entitled to carry on business on her own account and responsibility, independently of her husband.
  • fermat's theorem — the theorem that an integer raised to a prime power leaves the same remainder as the integer itself when divided by the prime.
  • ferrous sulphate — an iron salt with a saline taste, usually obtained as greenish crystals of the heptahydrate, which are converted to the white monohydrate above 100°C: used in inks, tanning, water purification, and in the treatment of anaemia. Formula: FeSO4
  • fertile material — material which can be converted into a fissile material by a neutron-induced nuclear reaction, as uranium-238 or thorium-232
  • fertility factor — a sex-determining chromosome or gene.
  • feulgen reaction — a reaction in which an aldehyde combines with a modified Schiff's reagent to produce a purplish compound: used especially to test for the presence of DNA
  • fictionalisation — Alternative spelling of fictionalization.
  • fictionalization — to make into fiction; give a somewhat imaginative or fictional version of: to fictionalize a biography.
  • fifth-generation — denoting developments in computer design to produce machines with artificial intelligence
  • filter cigarette — a cigarette with a filter tip
  • filterable virus — a virus particle small enough to pass through a filter of diatomaceous earth or porcelain, which will not pass bacteria: chiefly historical or an informal indicator of size, as synthetic membrane filters now permit passage of the smallest virus.
  • finance director — financial manager
  • finance minister — a member of a government in charge of the financial affairs of a state etc
  • financialization — (economics) Conversion of intangible value into financial instruments.
  • find favour with — to be approved of by someone
  • fingertip search — When the police carry out a fingertip search of a place, they examine it for evidence in a very detailed way.
  • finite automaton — Finite State Machine
  • fire regulations — rules intended to make sure that people and property stay safe in the event of a fire
  • first balkan war — Balkan War (def 1).
  • first derivative — the derivative of a function: Velocity is the first derivative of distance with respect to time.
  • first generation — 1.   (architecture)   first generation computer. 2.   (language)   first generation language.
  • first lieutenant — an officer ranking next above second lieutenant and next below a captain.
  • first-aid worker — someone who is trained to give immediate medical help in an emergency
  • first-generation — being the first generation of a family to be born in a particular country.
  • fish or cut bait — any of various cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrates, having gills, commonly fins, and typically an elongated body covered with scales.
  • fisherman's knot — a knot for joining two ropes of equal thickness consisting of an overhand knot or double overhand knot by each rope round the other, so that the two knots jam when pulled tight
  • fit like a glove — fit perfectly
  • flabbergastation — (colloquial) Bewildered shock or surprise; the state or condition of being flabbergasted.
  • flabbergastingly — Surprisingly, astonishingly or amazingly.
  • flame cultivator — an implement that kills weeds by scorching them with a directed flow of flaming gas.
  • flash eliminator — a device fitted to the muzzle of a firearm to reduce the flash made by the ignited propellant gases
  • flash in the pan — a brief, sudden burst of bright light: a flash of lightning.
  • flash photolysis — the study of photochemical reaction mechanisms in gases by analyzing spectroscopically the reaction products in a gas mixture irradiated with a powerful light flash.
  • flat-bed plotter — a mechanized drafting device, usually computer driven, incorporating a moving pen whose horizontal and vertical range in two dimensions is limited only by the size of the bed of the device.
  • flat-bed scanner — a type of optical scanner having a flat, stationary surface on which a page is scanned by a moving head.
  • flat-felled seam — a seam on the face of a garment, as on the outside of the legs of blue jeans, made by overlapping or interlocking one seam allowance with the other and top-stitching them together onto the garment with two parallel rows of stitches.
  • flat-track bully — a sportsperson who dominates inferior opposition, but who cannot beat top-level opponents
  • flathead catfish — a yellow and brown catfish, Pylodictus olivaris, common in the central U.S., having a flattened head and a projecting lower jaw.
  • flatheaded borer — the larva of a metallic wood-boring beetle, having an expanded and flattened anterior end.
  • flight attendant — an airline employee who serves meals, attends to passengers' comfort, etc., during a flight.
  • flight formation — an arrangement of two or more airplanes flying together in a group, usually in a predetermined pattern.
  • flight indicator — artificial horizon (def 3).
  • flight simulator — a device used in pilot and crew training that provides a cockpit environment and sensations of flight under actual conditions.
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