16-letter words containing c, i, r, u
- magnetic circuit — the closed path described by magnetic flux. It is analogous to the electric circuit with resistance, where flux, reluctance, and magnetomotive force correspond to electric current, resistance, and electromotive force.
- magnetic equator — aclinic line.
- malpractice suit — a lawsuit brought against a professional accused of illegal or unethical practices or neglect of duty
- mari el republic — a constituent republic of W central Russia, in the middle Volga basin. Capital: Yoshkar-Ola. Pop: 728 000 (2002). Area: 23 200 sq km (8955 sq miles)
- marine insurance — ocean marine insurance.
- marriage customs — the acts that are traditionally done in connection with a marriage
- marsh cinquefoil — a variety of cinquefoil, Potentilla palustris, that grows in marshy areas
- mass destruction — devastation on a large scale
- material culture — the aggregate of physical objects or artifacts used by a society.
- maximum-security — designed for or housing prisoners regarded as being very dangerous to society.
- measuring device — gauge
- medium frequency — any frequency between 300 and 3000 kilohertz. Abbreviation: MF.
- mercuric sulfide — a crystalline, water-insoluble, poisonous compound, HgS, occurring as a coarse, black powder (black mercuric sulfide) or as a fine, bright-scarlet powder (red mercuric sulfide) used chiefly as a pigment and as a source of the free metal.
- mercury chloride — mercuric chloride
- meretriciousness — alluring by a show of flashy or vulgar attractions; tawdry.
- mexican fruitfly — a brightly colored fly, Anastrepha ludens, whose larvae are a serious pest chiefly of citrus fruits and mangoes in Mexico, Central America, and southern Texas.
- microcirculation — the movement of blood through the arterioles, capillaries, and venules.
- microconstituent — a microscopically small constituent of a metal or alloy.
- microencapsulate — (transitive) To embed by means of microencapsulation.
- microinstruction — an instruction that defines part of a machine-language instruction in terms of simpler operations.
- microlinguistics — the branch of linguistics that is concerned with the study of languages in the abstract, and that looks at specific linguistic data without consideration of meaning
- micromanipulator — A device, used for micromanipulation, consisting of microscopic needles and instruments viewed through a microscope.
- microminiaturize — (especially of electronic equipment) to make extremely small; subject to microminiaturization.
- microvasculature — the system of tiny blood vessels, including capillaries, venules, and arterioles, that perfuse the body's tissues.
- migratory locust — any of several locusts that migrate in great swarms, especially Locusta migratoria, of Africa and Asia.
- miniature camera — a small camera using film that is 35 millimeters wide or less.
- minimum-security — (of a prison) designed for prisoners regarded as being less dangerous; having fewer restrictions.
- minute secretary — the person responsible for noting the minutes of a meeting
- miraculous fruit — miracle fruit.
- misconfiguration — An incorrect or inappropriate configuration.
- misconstructions — Plural form of misconstruction.
- mispronunciation — (uncountable) The act of mispronouncing.
- missile launcher — system that fires missiles
- molecular weight — the average weight of a molecule of an element or compound measured in units once based on the weight of one hydrogen atom taken as the standard or on 1/16 (0.0625) the weight of an oxygen atom, but after 1961 based on 1/12 (0.083) the weight of the carbon-12 atom; the sum of the atomic weights of all the atoms in a molecule. Abbreviation: mol. wt.
- moulding process — the process of shaping or compacting a material into a frame or mould
- mountain climber — someone who climbs or walks up mountains
- mourning clothes — clothes worn as a symbol of grief at a bereavement, esp black clothes
- multi-way branch — switch statement
- multicellularity — The condition of being multicellular.
- multiculturalism — the state or condition of being multicultural.
- multiculturalist — Pertaining to or advocating multiculturalism.
- multidirectional — extending or operating in several directions at the same time; functioning or going in more than one direction: a multidirectional stereo speaker system.
- multiple factors — polygene.
- multituberculate — a rodentlike mammal of the extinct order Multituberculata, which lived from the late Jurassic Period to the Oligocene Epoch, reaching the size of a woodchuck and having molars with two or three rows of simple pointed cusps.
- munching squares — A display hack dating back to the PDP-1 (ca. 1962, reportedly discovered by Jackson Wright), which employs a trivial computation (repeatedly plotting the graph Y = X XOR T for successive values of T - see HAKMEM items 146--148) to produce an impressive display of moving and growing squares that devour the screen. The initial value of T is treated as a parameter, which, when well-chosen, can produce amazing effects. Some of these, later (re)discovered on the LISP Machine, have been christened "munching triangles" (try AND for XOR and toggling points instead of plotting them), "munching w's", and "munching mazes". More generally, suppose a graphics program produces an impressive and ever-changing display of some basic form, foo, on a display terminal, and does it using a relatively simple program; then the program (or the resulting display) is likely to be referred to as "munching foos". [This is a good example of the use of the word foo as a metasyntactic variable.]
- musical director — A musical director is the same as a music director.
- musique concrete — tape-recorded musical and natural sounds, often electronically distorted, arranged in planned combinations, sequences, and rhythmic patterns to create an artistic work.
- mutual insurance — insurance in which those insured become members of a company who reciprocally engage, by payment of certain amounts into a common fund, to indemnify one another against loss.
- mutual recursion — recursion
- naturalistically — imitating nature or the usual natural surroundings.