22-letter words containing c, o, e, l, i
- collective unconscious — In psychology, the collective unconscious consists of the basic ideas and images that all people are believed to share because they have inherited them.
- colliding-beam machine — a particle accelerator in which positively and negatively charged particles circulate in opposite directions and collide head-on.
- color graphics adapter — (hardware, graphics) (CGA) One of IBM's earliest hardware video display standards for use in IBM PCs. CGA can display 80*25 or 40*25 text in 16 colors, 640*200 pixels of graphics in two colors or 320*200 in four colors (IBM PC video modes 0-6). It is now obsolete.
- command line interface — (operating system) A means of communication between a program and its user, based solely on textual input and output. Commands are input with the help of a keyboard or similar device and are interpreted and executed by the program. Results are output as text or graphics to the terminal. Command line interfaces usually provide greater flexibility than graphical user interfaces, at the cost of being harder for the novice to use. Consequently, some hackers look down on GUIs as designed For The Rest Of Them.
- committee of the whole — (in the US) all the members of the House of Representatives, regarded as a committee
- common external tariff — the common tariff of charges imposed by the members of a customs union on imports from non-members
- common snapping turtle — a large aggressive North American river turtle, Chelydra serpentina, having powerful hooked jaws and a rough shell
- communication channels — the ways in which people communicate
- comparative literature — the comparative study of various national literatures, stressing their influence one upon another, their use of similar forms, their treatment of similar themes, etc.
- comparative musicology — ethnomusicology.
- comparative psychology — the study of the similarities and differences in the behaviour of different species
- complementary medicine — the treatment, alleviation, or prevention of disease by such techniques as osteopathy, homeopathy, aromatherapy, and acupuncture, allied with attention to such factors as diet and emotional stability, which can affect a person's wellbeing
- complete metamorphosis — physical changes in the development of certain insects that include egg, larva, pupa, and adult stages, as in beetles, moths, or bees
- complete quadrilateral — a polygon consisting of four lines and their six points of intersection
- computational geometry — (mathematics) The study of algorithms for combinatorial, topological, and metric problems concerning sets of points, typically in Euclidean space. Representative areas of research include geometric search, convexity, proximity, intersection, and linear programming.
- computational learning — grammatical inference
- congressional district — (in the US) an electoral division of a state, entitled to send one member to the US House of Representatives
- constructive dismissal — If an employee claims constructive dismissal, they begin a legal action against their employer in which they claim that they were forced to leave their job because of the behaviour of their employer.
- contextual advertising — a form of targeted advertising used on websites or other media, such as content displayed in mobile browsers
- continental philosophy — a general term for related philosophical traditions that originated in 20th-century continental Europe, including critical theory, deconstruction, existentialism, hermeneutics, phenomenology, and structuralism (contrasted with analytic philosophy).
- continuous welded rail — a long, continuous rail formed by welding many short rails.
- conversational quality — (in public speaking) a manner of utterance that resembles the spontaneity and informality of relaxed personal conversation.
- convertible loan stock — a stock or bond that can be converted into a stated number of shares at a particular date
- cornell list processor — (CLP) A list processing language, an extension of CORC, used for simulation.
- cosmological principle — the theory that the universe is uniform, homogenous, and isotropic, and therefore appears the same from any position
- cotton-wool generation — the children and teenagers of the early 21st century, viewed as having been overprotected while growing up
- counterrevolutionaries — Plural form of counterrevolutionary.
- criminal investigation — an investigation by the police into a crime
- curly-coated retriever — a strongly built variety of retriever with a tightly curled black or liver-coloured coat
- cycle of reincarnation — A term coined by Ivan Sutherland ca. 1970 to refer to a well-known effect whereby function in a computing system family is migrated out to special-purpose peripheral hardware for speed, then the peripheral evolves toward more computing power as it does its job, then somebody notices that it is inefficient to support two asymmetrical processors in the architecture and folds the function back into the main CPU, at which point the cycle begins again. Several iterations of this cycle have been observed in graphics-processor (blitter) design, and at least one or two in communications and floating-point processors. Also known as "the Wheel of Life", "the Wheel of Samsara" and other variations of the basic Hindu/Buddhist theological idea.
- cyclic redundancy code — cyclic redundancy check
- cylindrical coordinate — Usually, cylindrical coordinates. a member of a system of coordinates for locating a point in space by its polar coordinates and its perpendicular distance to the polar plane.
- dalton's atomic theory — the theory that matter consists of indivisible particles called atoms and that atoms of a given element are all identical and can neither be created nor destroyed. Compounds are formed by combination of atoms in simple ratios to give compound atoms (molecules). The theory was the basis of modern chemistry
- debt collection agency — a company that collects debts on behalf of creditors
- decimal classification — a system of classifying books in libraries by the use of numbers with decimals
- decompartmentalization — the act of decompartmentalizing
- delayed-action shutter — a camera shutter that opens after an interval set by the photographer
- denominational college — a college associated with a particular religious denomination
- denotational semantics — (theory) A technique for describing the meaning of programs in terms of mathematical functions on programs and program components. Programs are translated into functions about which properties can be proved using the standard mathematical theory of functions, and especially domain theory. Compare axiomatic semantics, operational semantics, standard semantics.
- deoxyribonucleoprotein — any of a class of nucleoproteins that yield DNA upon partial hydrolysis.
- descriptive cataloging — the aspect of cataloging concerned with the bibliographic and physical description of a book, recording, or other work, accounting for such items as author or performer, title, edition, and imprint as opposed to subject content.
- dicyclopentadienyliron — ferrocene (def 1).
- digital control system — (systems) (DCS) A digital computer used for real-time control of a dynamic system, usually in an industrial environment, possibly as part of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. A DCS samples feedback from the system under control and modifies the control signals in an attempt to achieve some desired behaviour. Analysis of such digital-analogue feedback systems can involve mathematical methods such as difference equations, Laplace transforms, z transfer functions, state space models and state transition matrices.
- digital video recorder — See DVR.
- dilation and curettage — a surgical method for the removal of diseased tissue or an early embryo from the lining of the uterus by means of scraping.
- direct public offering — A direct public offering is stock offered directly for sale to investors by a company without the use of underwriters or brokers.
- directional derivative — the limit, as a function of several variables moving along a given line from one specified point to another on the line, of the difference in the functional values at the two points divided by the distance between the points.
- directional microphone — a microphone that has a greater sensitivity to sounds coming from a particular area in front of it: used to eliminate unwanted sounds.
- disciplinary committee — a committee charged with examining alleged breaches of discipline within an organization, profession, etc and adjudicating on them
- dishonorable discharge — the discharge of a person from military service for an offense more serious than one for which a bad-conduct discharge is given.