15-letter words containing c, h, o, p
- comprehensively — Something that is done comprehensively is done thoroughly.
- comprehensivize — to make (an educational system) comprehensive
- comptrollership — controller (def 1).
- computer ethics — (philosophy) Ethics is the field of study that is concerned with questions of value, that is, judgments about what human behaviour is "good" or "bad". Ethical judgments are no different in the area of computing from those in any other area. Computers raise problems of privacy, ownership, theft, and power, to name but a few. Computer ethics can be grounded in one of four basic world-views: Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism, or Existentialism. Idealists believe that reality is basically ideas and that ethics therefore involves conforming to ideals. Realists believe that reality is basically nature and that ethics therefore involves acting according to what is natural. Pragmatists believe that reality is not fixed but is in process and that ethics therefore is practical (that is, concerned with what will produce socially-desired results). Existentialists believe reality is self-defined and that ethics therefore is individual (that is, concerned only with one's own conscience). Idealism and Realism can be considered ABSOLUTIST worldviews because they are based on something fixed (that is, ideas or nature, respectively). Pragmatism and Existentialism can be considered RELATIVIST worldviews because they are based or something relational (that is, society or the individual, respectively). Thus ethical judgments will vary, depending on the judge's world-view. Some examples: First consider theft. Suppose a university's computer is used for sending an e-mail message to a friend or for conducting a full-blown private business (billing, payroll, inventory, etc.). The absolutist would say that both activities are unethical (while recognising a difference in the amount of wrong being done). A relativist might say that the latter activities were wrong because they tied up too much memory and slowed down the machine, but the e-mail message wasn't wrong because it had no significant effect on operations. Next consider privacy. An instructor uses her account to acquire the cumulative grade point average of a student who is in a class which she instructs. She obtained the password for this restricted information from someone in the Records Office who erroneously thought that she was the student's advisor. The absolutist would probably say that the instructor acted wrongly, since the only person who is entitled to this information is the student and his or her advisor. The relativist would probably ask why the instructor wanted the information. If she replied that she wanted it to be sure that her grading of the student was consistent with the student's overall academic performance record, the relativist might agree that such use was acceptable. Finally, consider power. At a particular university, if a professor wants a computer account, all she or he need do is request one but a student must obtain faculty sponsorship in order to receive an account. An absolutist (because of a proclivity for hierarchical thinking) might not have a problem with this divergence in procedure. A relativist, on the other hand, might question what makes the two situations essentially different (e.g. are faculty assumed to have more need for computers than students? Are students more likely to cause problems than faculty? Is this a hold-over from the days of "in loco parentis"?).
- computer-phobia — a person who distrusts or is intimidated by computers.
- connected graph — (mathematics) A graph such that there is a path between any pair of nodes (via zero or more other nodes). Thus if we start from any node and visit all nodes connected to it by a single edge, then all nodes connected to any of them, and so on, then we will eventually have visited every node in the connected graph.
- connoisseurship — a person who is especially competent to pass critical judgments in an art, particularly one of the fine arts, or in matters of taste: a connoisseur of modern art.
- conservatorship — the legal status of a person appointed by a court to protect the interests of someone, such as a child, who is unable to manage his or her own affairs
- copenhagen blue — a greyish-blue colour
- copper sulphate — a copper salt found naturally as chalcanthite and made by the action of sulphuric acid on copper oxide. It usually exists as blue crystals of the pentahydrate that form a white anhydrous powder when heated: used as a mordant, in electroplating, and in plant sprays. Formula: CuSO4
- copying machine — a machine that makes copies of original documents, especially by xerography.
- copyright block — a block of four or more U.S. stamps that includes, in the selvage of the sheet, the copyright mark of the U.S. Postal Service.
- corn-leaf aphid — a green aphid, Rhopalosiphum maidis, widely distributed in the U.S.: a pest of corn and other grasses.
- corn-root aphid — an aphid, Anuraphis maidiradicis, that lives as a symbiont in colonies of cornfield ants and feeds on the roots of corn: an agricultural pest.
- counterpunching — Present participle of counterpunch.
- counterpurchase — barter, especially of products or materials between international companies or importers and exporters.
- coup de theatre — a dramatic turn of events, esp in a play
- couples therapy — a counseling procedure that attempts to improve the adaptation and adjustment of two people who form a conjugal unit.
- craftswomanship — The body of skills, techniques, and expertise of (a) feminine craft(s).
- crash programme — a short intensive programme to learn a skill, language, etc
- cricopharyngeal — of, relating to, or involving the cricoid cartilage and the pharynx.
- cricopharyngeus — (anatomy) Part of the inferior pharyngeal constrictor, arising from the cricoid cartilage.
- cross-ownership — ownership of two or more similar or related businesses, as communications media, especially in the same locality: to forbid cross-ownership of newspapers and TV or radio stations in the same city.
- cryptographical — the science or study of the techniques of secret writing, especially code and cipher systems, methods, and the like. Compare cryptanalysis (def 2).
- crystallography — the science concerned with the formation, properties, and structure of crystals
- cushion capital — a capital, used in Byzantine, Romanesque, and Norman architecture, in the form of a bowl with a square top
- cytophotometers — Plural form of cytophotometer.
- cytophotometric — of or relating to cytophotometry
- cytotrophoblast — the thickened, inner part of the mammalian placenta nearest to the fetus, covering the chorion during early pregnancy
- dadchelor party — a party primarily attended by men and held to honour and present gifts to a prospective father
- demographically — of or relating to demography, the science of vital and social statistics.
- dephlogisticate — to reduce or remove inflammation from
- dermatoglyphics — the lines forming a skin pattern, esp on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet
- diastrophically — in a diastrophic fashion
- dolichocephalic — long-headed; having a cephalic index of 75 and under.
- drying-up cloth — a tea towel
- durchkomponiert — having a different tune for each section rather than having repeated melodies
- dysmorphophobic — relating to or affected with dysmorphophobia
- dystrophication — the process by which a body of water becomes dystrophic.
- echocardiograph — an instrument employing reflected ultrasonic waves to examine the structures and functioning of the heart.
- electromyograph — A device used in electromyography to generate electromyograms.
- electrophoreses — Plural form of electrophoresis.
- electrophoresis — The movement of charged particles in a fluid or gel under the influence of an electric field.
- electrophoretic — Of, pertaining to, or produced by electrophoresis.
- eleutherophobic — afraid of freedom
- encephalization — (biology) the amount of brain mass exceeding that related to an animal's total body mass.
- encephalography — Any of various techniques for recording the structure or electrical activity of the brain.
- encephalopathic — Relating to encephalopathy.
- epichlorohydrin — an organic compound used as a solvent in resin-making
- ethnopsychology — The scientific study of psychological concepts as they exist across different ethnic groups.