16-letter words containing c, e, n, o, t, a
- labrador current — a cold ocean current flowing southwards off the coast of Labrador and meeting the warm Gulf Stream, causing dense fogs off the coast of Newfoundland
- labtech notebook — (tool, product) Commercial data aquisition software.
- lacto-vegetarian — a vegetarian whose diet includes dairy produce and eggs
- lactovegetarians — Plural form of lactovegetarian.
- laplace equation — the second-order partial differential equation indicating that the Laplace operator operating on a given function results in zero. Compare harmonic (def 4c).
- lattice constant — a parameter, either a measure of length or angle, that defines the size and shape of the unit cell of a crystal lattice.
- lawson criterion — (in a hypothetical nuclear fusion reactor) the requirement that in order for the energy produced by fusion to exceed the energy expended in causing the fusion, the product of the density of the fuel and the time during which it is confined at that density (Lawson product) must be greater than a certain number that depends on the kind of fuel used.
- legal dictionary — a specialized dictionary covering terms used in the various branches of the legal profession, as civil law, criminal law, and corporate law. A comprehensive legal dictionary adds to its body of standard English entries many words and phrases that have made their way into modern legal practice from law French and Latin and are rarely found in a general English monolingual dictionary. Such a specialized dictionary is useful not only for law students and for attorneys themselves, but for members of the lay public who require legal services. Legal dictionaries published in print follow the normal practice of sorting entry terms alphabetically, while electronic dictionaries, such as the online Dictionary of Law on Dictionary.com, allow direct, immediate access to a search term.
- lenticular cloud — a very smooth, round or oval, lens-shaped cloud that is often seen, singly or stacked in groups, near a mountain ridge.
- lethal injection — dose of deadly chemical into a vein
- like cat and dog — quarrelling savagely
- limited monarchy — a monarchy that is limited by laws and a constitution.
- limited-monarchy — a limited train, bus, etc.
- local government — the administration of the civic affairs of a city, town, or district by its inhabitants rather than by the state or country at large.
- logical relation — A relation R satisfying f R g <=> For all a, b, a R b => f a R g b This definition, by Plotkin, can be used to extend the definition of a relation on the types of a and b to a relation on functions.
- lorenz attractor — (mathematics) (After Edward Lorenz, its discoverer) A region in the phase space of the solution to certain systems of (non-linear) differential equations. Under certain conditions, the motion of a particle described by such as system will neither converge to a steady state nor diverge to infinity, but will stay in a bounded but chaotically defined region. By chaotic, we mean that the particle's location, while definitely in the attractor, might as well be randomly placed there. That is, the particle appears to move randomly, and yet obeys a deeper order, since is never leaves the attractor. Lorenz modelled the location of a particle moving subject to atmospheric forces and obtained a certain system of ordinary differential equations. When he solved the system numerically, he found that his particle moved wildly and apparently randomly. After a while, though, he found that while the momentary behaviour of the particle was chaotic, the general pattern of an attractor appeared. In his case, the pattern was the butterfly shaped attractor now known as the Lorenz attractor.
- low-carbon steel — steel containing between 0.04 and 0.25 per cent carbon
- machine operator — someone who operates mechanical equipment
- macpherson strut — an automobile suspension-system component that consists of a strut combined with a spring and shock absorber and connects the wheel to the frame of the vehicle.
- macroenvironment — (biology) The large-scale and long-term environment and conditions that affect an organism.
- macrorestriction — In physical gene mapping, the digestion of DNA of high molecular weight with a restriction enzyme having a low number of restriction sites.
- magazine section — a magazinelike section in the Sunday editions of many newspapers, containing articles rather than news items and often letters, reviews, stories, puzzles, etc.
- magnesiochromite — (mineral) A chromite species with the formula MgCr2O4.
- magnetic anomaly — a departure from the normal magnetic field of the earth.
- magnetic compass — a compass having a magnetized needle generally in line with the magnetic poles of the earth.
- magnetic equator — aclinic line.
- magneto-electric — of or relating to the induction of electric current or electromotive force by means of permanent magnets.
- magnetoacoustics — (used with a singular verb) the branch of physics studying the effects of magnetism on acoustics or their interaction.
- magnetochemistry — the study of magnetic and chemical phenomena in their relation to one another.
- magnetoreceptors — Plural form of magnetoreceptor.
- magnetostriction — a change in dimensions exhibited by ferromagnetic materials when subjected to a magnetic field.
- magnetostrictive — Of or pertaining to magnetostriction.
- maine coon (cat) — any of a breed of domestic cat, thought to have been developed in Maine, with a thick, smooth, silky coat and a bushy tail
- make a complaint — If a guest makes a complaint, they express their dissatisfaction with something.
- malcontentedness — not satisfied or content with currently prevailing conditions or circumstances.
- man of the cloth — a clergyman or other ecclesiastic.
- maritime command — the naval branch of the Canadian armed forces
- mass destruction — devastation on a large scale
- mechanochemistry — the field of chemistry that deals with the direct conversion of chemical into mechanical energy.
- mechanoreception — The action of a mechanoreceptor.
- mechanoreceptive — Responsive to mechanical stimuli such as sound and touch.
- mechanoreceptors — Plural form of mechanoreceptor.
- megacorporations — Plural form of megacorporation.
- melodic interval — an intervening period of time: an interval of 50 years.
- memoria technica — a method or device for assisting the memory
- mercator sailing — sailing according to rhumb lines, which appear as straight lines on a Mercator chart.
- merchant account — A merchant account is a type of bank account that allows a company to accept credit cards.
- mexican standoff — a stalemate or impasse; a confrontation that neither side can win.
- microcrystalline — minutely crystalline; composed of microscopic crystals.
- microencapsulate — (transitive) To embed by means of microencapsulation.