21-letter words containing c, o, n, t
- astronomical distance — the distance from one celestial body to another, measured in astronomical units, light-years, or parsecs.
- astronomical latitude — the angle between the direction of gravity at the observer's position and the plane of the celestial equator
- astronomical triangle — the spherical triangle formed by the great circles connecting a celestial object, the zenith, and the celestial pole.
- astronomical twilight — the period of time during which the sun is 18° below the horizon
- atmospheric inversion — inversion (def 12).
- atmospheric-inversion — an act or instance of inverting.
- atomic disintegration — a process resulting in the change of a radioactive nucleus, either by emission of an alpha, beta, or gamma ray or by fission, and producing a change in the original mass, atomic number, or energy
- atomic unit of length — (in the Bohr atom) the radius of the electron orbit having the lowest energy.
- atrioventricular node — a small mass of muscular fibers at the base of the wall between the atria, conducting impulses received from the sinoatrial node by way of the atrioventricular bundles and, under certain conditions, functioning for the sinoatrial node as pacemaker of the heart. Abbreviation: A-V node.
- australian cattle dog — a compact strongly-built dog of a breed with pricked ears and a smooth bluish-grey coat, often used for controlling and moving cattle
- automatic hyphenation — (text) A feature of some word processors which can insert hyphens into words which would otherwise extend beyond the right hand margin of the page. More advanced word processors may have options to control the position of the hyphen, to restrict certain words from being hyphenated, and to allow custom dictionaries of hyphenation points to be built up.
- aversive conditioning — a type of behavior conditioning in which noxious stimuli are associated with undesirable or unwanted behavior that is to be modified or abolished, as the use of nausea-inducing drugs in the treatment of alcoholism.
- axiom of countability — the property satisfied by a topological space in which the neighborhood system of each point has a base consisting of a countable number of neighborhoods (first axiom of countability) or the property satisfied by a topological space that has a base for its topology consisting of a countable number of subsets of the space (second axiom of countability)
- background projection — the projection from the rear of previously photographed material on a translucent screen, used as background for a television or motion-picture shot.
- bad conduct discharge — a discharge of a person from military service for an offense less serious than one for which a dishonorable discharge is given.
- baja california norte — a state of NW Mexico, in the N part of the Lower California peninsula. Capital: Mexicali. Pop: 2 487 700 (2000). Area: about 71 500 sq km (27 600 sq miles)
- balance sheet account — A balance sheet account is an account in the chart of accounts that is reported on the balance sheet.
- ball-and-socket joint — a coupling between two rods, tubes, etc, that consists of a spherical part fitting into a spherical socket, allowing free movement within a specific conical volume
- banach-tarski paradox — (mathematics) It is possible to cut a solid ball into finitely many pieces (actually about half a dozen), and then put the pieces together again to get two solid balls, each the same size as the original. This paradox is a consequence of the Axiom of Choice.
- barrier contraceptive — any form of contraceptive that prevents impregnation by physically preventing the sperm from reaching the egg
- basis of articulation — a configuration of the speech tract that represents the most neutral articulatory configuration for a given language.
- baton de commandement — an antler object found in Upper Palaeolithic sites from the Aurignacian period onwards, consisting of a rod, often ornately decorated, with a hole through the thicker end
- baudouin de courtenay — Jan Ignacy Niecisław [yahn ig-nah-tsi nye-tsis-lahf] /yɑn ɪgˈnɑ tsɪ ˈnyɛ tsɪsˌlɑf/ (Show IPA), 1845–1929, Polish linguist: pioneer in modern phonology.
- be flat on one's back — the rear part of the human body, extending from the neck to the lower end of the spine.
- behavior modification — a technique that seeks to modify animal and human behavior through application of the principles of conditioning, in which rewards and reinforcements, or punishments, are used to establish desired habits, or patterns of behavior
- behavioural contagion — the spread of a particular type of behaviour, such as crying, through a crowd or group of people
- benzethonium chloride — a colorless, water-soluble, crystalline solid, ammonium chloride derivative, (C 27 H 42 O 2 N)Cl⋅H 2 O, used chiefly as an antiseptic.
- bibliographic control — the identification, description, analysis, and classification of books and other materials of communication so that they may be effectively organized, stored, retrieved, and used when needed.
- binomial nomenclature — a system for naming plants and animals by means of two Latin names: the first indicating the genus and the second the species to which the organism belongs, as in Panthera leo (the lion)
- blot on the landscape — If you describe something such as a building as a blot on the landscape, you mean that you think it is very ugly and spoils an otherwise attractive place.
- boiling-water reactor — a nuclear reactor using water as coolant and moderator, steam being produced in the reactor itself: enriched uranium oxide cased in zirconium is the fuel
- box-office attraction — something or something that persuades people to buy tickets for a film or play
- british north america — (formerly) Canada or its constituent regions or provinces that formed part of the British Empire
- bryan-chamorro treaty — a treaty (1914) between the U.S. and Nicaragua by which the U.S. secured exclusive rights to build a canal across Nicaragua, to connect the Atlantic and Pacific.
- built-in obsolescence — a method of stimulating consumer demand by designing products that wear out or become outmoded after limited use.
- burroughs corporation — (company) A company which merged with Sperry Univac to form Unisys Corporation. They produced the Datatron 200 series among other computers.
- butterfly common lisp — A parallel version of Common LISP for the BBN Butterfly computer.
- byte-code interpreter — (software) A program that executes a byte code program. An example is the Java Virtual Machine.
- cancellation deadline — A cancellation deadline is a date before which you must cancel a hotel reservation without paying any money.
- canticle of canticles — another name for the Song of Solomon, used in the Douay Bible
- cantilever foundation — a building foundation supporting its load partly or wholly upon cantilevers.
- cartesian coordinates — a system of representing points in space in terms of their distance from a given origin measured along a set of mutually perpendicular axes. Written (x,y,z) with reference to three axes
- casing collar locator — A casing collar locator is a tool that is placed down the borehole to allow depths to be measured by detecting the position of the casing collar.
- castellon de la plana — a port in E Spain. Pop: 160 714 (2003 est)
- cat on a hot tin roof — a play (1955) by Tennessee Williams.
- catch one flat footed — having flatfeet.
- category merchandiser — A category merchandiser is a person whose job is to maintain stocks, manage displays and promote sales of a certain product category such as footwear.
- catherine of braganza — 1638–1705, wife of Charles II of England, daughter of John IV of Portugal
- caviar to the general — a thing appealing only to a highly cultivated taste: Hamlet II, ii
- central european time — the standard time adopted by Western European countries one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, corresponding to British Summer Time