20-letter words containing c, e, l
- occupational therapy — a form of therapy in which patients are encouraged to engage in vocational tasks or expressive activities, as art or dance, usually in a social setting.
- of no/little account — If you say that something is of no account or of little account, you mean that it is very unimportant and is not worth considering.
- official secrets act — law: legislation protecting state secret
- olfactory anesthesia — absence or loss of the sense of smell.
- omega-minus particle — a baryon with strangeness −3, isotopic spin 0, and negative charge; predicted from the mathematics of the Eightfold Way and subsequently discovered. Symbol: Ω −.
- on the factory floor — in a factory; as a factory worker
- ontological argument — an a priori argument for the existence of God, asserting that as existence is a perfection, and as God is conceived of as the most perfect being, it follows that God must exist; originated by Anselm, later used by Duns Scotus, Descartes, and Leibniz.
- open learning centre — an establishment which provides further education on a flexible part-time basis
- operational calculus — a method for solving a differential equation by treating differential operators as ordinary algebraic quantities, thus obtaining a simpler problem.
- optical mark reading — the reading of marks by an optical device whereby the information can be stored in machine-readable form
- oscillating universe — a variant model of the closed universe in which the universe undergoes cycles of expansion and contraction.
- ousterhout's fallacy — Ousterhout's dichotomy
- over-intellectualize — to seek or consider the rational content or form of.
- overenthusiastically — With excessive enthusiasm.
- ovo-lacto vegetarian — a vegetarian who eats eggs and dairy products
- ovo-lacto-vegetarian — lacto-ovo-vegetarian.
- oxyacetylene welding — welding using an oxyacetylene burner
- packed like sardines — If you say that a crowd of people are packed like sardines, you are emphasizing that they are sitting or standing so close together that they cannot move easily.
- pale western cutworm — the larva of a noctuid moth, Agrotis orthogonia, of the western U.S. and Canada, that seriously damages grains, beets, potatoes, alfalfa, etc., by feeding underground on roots and stems.
- paper qualifications — qualifications gained through official examinations, etc, rather than through experience
- para-dichlorobenzene — a white, crystalline, volatile, water-insoluble solid, C 6 H 4 Cl 2 , of the benzene series, having a penetrating odor: used chiefly as a moth repellent.
- parametric amplifier — a device, as an electron tube or transistor, that amplifies a high-frequency input signal by sinusoidally varying the reactance of the circuit.
- parametric equalizer — an electronic device for cutting or boosting selected frequencies by continuous narrowing or widening of the frequencies to be filtered
- particle accelerator — accelerator (def 7).
- particle beam weapon — a weapon that fires particle beams into the atmosphere or space
- particulate scrubber — A particulate scrubber is a scrubber in which a liquid is mixed with the gas to collect solids.
- peaceful coexistence — competition without war, or a policy of peace between nations of widely differing political systems and ideologies, especially between Communist and non-Communist nations: peaceful coexistence between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
- peasecod breastplate — a breastplate having a long central ridge terminating in a raised area overhanging the waistline.
- peculiar institution — black slavery in the southern U.S. before the Civil War.
- pedro juan caballero — a city in E central Paraguay.
- pentose nucleic acid — a nucleic acid containing a pentose.
- people's paths cross — If you cross someone's path or if your paths cross, you meet them by chance.
- peremptory challenge — a formal objection to the service of a juror by a party to a criminal prosecution or a civil action that requires no showing of cause.
- permonosulfuric acid — persulfuric acid (def 1).
- peroxyacetyl nitrate — an unstable nitrogen compound, found in certain types of smog, that is an irritant, esp. to the eyes and to plants
- peroxysulphuric acid — a white hygroscopic crystalline unstable oxidizing acid. Formula: H2SO5
- perpendicular gothic — the style of Gothic architecture in England during the 14th and 15th centuries, characterized by tracery having vertical lines, a four-centred arch, and fan vaulting
- personal cleanliness — physical cleanliness; the cleanliness of a person's body and habits
- pessimising compiler — /pes'*-mi:z"ing k*m-pi:l"r/ (Antonym of "optimising compiler") A compiler that produces object code that is worse than the straightforward or obvious hand translation. The implication is that the compiler is actually trying to optimise the program, but through excessive cleverness is doing the opposite. A few pessimizing compilers have been written on purpose, however, as pranks or burlesques.
- pest control officer — a person who gets rid of pests such as rats and mice
- phenylpropyl acetate — a colorless, water-insoluble liquid, C 1 0 H 1 2 O 2 , used chiefly in perfumery.
- phillips screwdriver — a screwdriver that has a cross at the tip that is intended to be used with Phillips screws
- phillips-screwdriver — a screw head having two partial slots crossed at right angles, driven by a special screwdriver (Phillips screwdriver)
- photoconductive cell — Electronics. a photocell whose resistance varies according to the intensity of light falling on it.
- photoelectric effect — the phenomenon in which the absorption of electromagnetic radiation, as light, of sufficiently high frequency by a surface, usually metallic, induces the emission of electrons from the surface.
- photogelatin process — collotype (def 1).
- phthalocyanine green — a pigment used in painting, derived from chlorinated copper phthalocyanine and characterized chiefly by its intense green color and permanence.
- physical double star — two stars that appear as one if not viewed through a telescope with adequate magnification, such as two stars that are separated by a great distance but are nearly in line with each other and an observer (optical double star) or those that are relatively close together and comprise a single physical system (physical double star)
- physical examination — an examination, usually by a physician, of a person's body in order to determine his or her state of health or physical fitness, as for military service or participation in a sport.
- physical meteorology — the branch of meteorology dealing with the study of optical, electrical, acoustical, and thermodynamic phenomena in the atmosphere, including the physics of clouds and precipitation.