13-letter words containing c, a, n, t
- auto-injector — An auto-injector is a hypodermic syringe that you can use to inject yourself with a liquid.
- autochthonous — (of rocks, deposits, etc) found where they and their constituents were formed
- autoinfection — infection by a pathogenic agent already within the body or infection transferred from one part of the body to another
- automechanism — an automatic mechanical system or component, especially a device that operates automatically under predetermined conditions.
- autonomically — autonomous.
- autumn crocus — a liliaceous plant, Colchicum autumnale, of Europe and N Africa having pink or purplish autumn flowers
- averruncation — the act of averting or turning away
- avocationally — in one's leisure time
- baby snatcher — a person who steals a baby from its pram
- back mutation — the reversion of a mutant to the original phenotype
- back to front — If you are wearing something back to front, you are wearing it with the back of it at the front of your body. If you do something back to front, you do it the wrong way around, starting with the part that should come last.
- back-stabbing — Back-stabbing consists of unkind and disloyal actions or remarks that are likely to harm someone such as a friend or colleague.
- backbone site — A key Usenet, electronic mail and/or Internet site; one that processes a large amount of third-party traffic, especially if it is the home site of any of the regional coordinators for the Usenet maps. Notable backbone sites as of early 1993 include uunet and the mail machines at Rutgers University, UC Berkeley, DEC's Western Research Laboratories, Ohio State University and the University of Texas. Compare rib site, leaf site.
- backformation — Alternative spelling of back-formation.
- backing light — Also called backing striplight, backing strip. Theater. a striplight providing diffused illumination for the background of a stage set.
- backing store — a computer storage device, usually a disk, that provides additional storage space for information so that it can be accessed and referred to when required and may be copied into the processor if needed
- backing track — a recorded instrumental or vocal accompaniment for a pop singer or pop number
- backstitching — Present participle of backstitch.
- backwardation — the difference between the spot price for a commodity, including rent and interest, and the forward price
- bacteriogenic — Caused by bacteria.
- bacteriolysin — an antibody which, when it combines with bacterial cells, causes lysis of those cells, thus destroying them
- bacteriotoxin — any toxin that kills bacteria
- bacterization — subjection to bacterial action
- badminton cup — a long refreshing drink of claret with soda water and sugar
- bag-snatching — theft that involves snatching women's handbags
- balance shaft — a shaft in a vehicle engine that is designed to reduce the amount of vibration from other moving parts as it rotates
- balance sheet — A balance sheet is a written statement of the amount of money and property that a company or person has, including amounts of money that are owed or are owing. Balance sheet is also used to refer to the general financial state of a company.
- balance staff — a pivoted axle or shaft on which the balance is mounted.
- balanced diet — a diet consisting of the proper quantities and proportions of foods needed to maintain health or growth.
- balanced step — any of a series of staircase winders so planned that they are nearly as wide at the inside of the stair as the adjacent fliers.
- balanced tree — (algorithm) An optimisation of a tree which aims to keep equal numbers of items on each subtree of each node so as to minimise the maximum path from the root to any leaf node. As items are inserted and deleted, the tree is restructured to keep the nodes balanced and the search paths uniform. Such an algorithm is appropriate where the overheads of the reorganisation on update are outweighed by the benefits of faster search. A B-tree is a kind of balanced tree that can have more than two subtrees at each node (i.e. one that is not restricted to being a binary tree).
- balancing act — If you perform a balancing act, you try to deal successfully with two or more people, groups, or situations that are in opposition to each other.
- ballet dancer — a man or woman who takes part in ballet dancing, usually professionally
- band spectrum — a spectrum consisting of a number of bands of closely spaced lines that are associated with emission or absorption of radiation by molecules
- bandicoot rat — any of three burrowing rats of the genera Bandicota and Nesokia, of S and SE Asia: family Muridae
- banister back — a back of a chair or the like, usually having semicircular spindles between the top rail and the cross rail or seat.
- bank discount — interest on a loan deducted from the principal amount when the loan is made and based on the loan's face value
- banzai attack — a mass attack of troops, without concern for casualties, as practised by the Japanese in World War II
- baritone clef — an F clef locating F below middle C on the third line of the staff.
- baroclinicity — a common state of fluid stratification in which surfaces of constant pressure and others of constant density are not parallel but intersect.
- baseline cost — the projected cost for an undertaking at the time it is budgeted
- basement-rock — the undifferentiated assemblage of rock (basement rock) underlying the oldest stratified rocks in any region: usually crystalline, metamorphosed, and mostly, but not necessarily, Precambrian in age.
- basic fortran — (language) A subset of Fortran.
- bass clarinet — a clarinet with the lowest range, in the octave below the B-flat clarinet
- bathylimnetic — (of an organism) living in the depths of lakes and marshes
- batrachotoxin — a steroidal alkaloid, C31H42N2O6, found in the skin of certain Neotropical frogs (genus Phyllobates) and used on poison arrows: one of the most powerful natural neurotoxins known
- beacon status — a ranking awarded by the government to an organization, rendering it eligible for extra funding, and aimed at encouraging organizations to share good practice with each other
- beatification — a beatifying or being beatified
- bench warrant — a warrant issued by a judge or court directing that an offender be apprehended
- benedictional — a book of benedictions or blessings