24-letter words containing c, o, s, t, m, a
- emotional roller coaster — a situation or experience that alternates between making you feel excited, exhilarated, or happy and making you feel sad, disappointed, or desperate
- equine infectious anemia — swamp fever (def 2).
- family income supplement — a benefit formerly paid to low-income families
- federal trade commission — FTC.
- free and accepted masons — a member of a widely distributed secret order (Free and Accepted Masons) having for its object mutual assistance and the promotion of brotherly love among its members.
- geographical determinism — the theory that human activity is determined by geographical conditions
- graduated pension scheme — (between 1961 and 1975) an earnings-related pension scheme which was based on the amount of an employee's National Insurance contributions
- incomplete metamorphosis — insect development, as in the grasshopper and cricket, in which the change is gradual and characterized by the absence of a pupal stage. Compare complete metamorphosis.
- international morse code — a form of Morse code used in international radiotelegraphy.
- iterated function system — (graphics) (IFS) A class of fractals that yield natural-looking forms like ferns or snowflakes. Iterated Function Systems use a very easy transformation that is done recursively.
- komi autonomous republic — an autonomous republic in the NW Russian Federation in Europe. 145,221 sq. mi. (376,122 sq. km). Capital: Syktyvkar.
- lab for computer science — MIT. http://lcs.mit.edu/.
- least common denominator — the smallest number that is a common denominator of a given set of fractions.
- leave much to be desired — be inadequate
- liquid components of gas — Liquid components of gas are associated hydrocarbons in natural gas, which include ethane, propane, and butane.
- long-term care insurance — Long-term care insurance is insurance for people who may require long-term health or nursing care, and pays for things such as nursing homes and adult day care.
- look someone in the face — to look directly at a person without fear or shame
- m technology association — (body) The MUMPS User's Group that disbanded some time between 1995 and 2003. Address: 1738 Elton Road, Suite 205, Silver Spring, MD 20903-1725, USA. Telephone: +1 301 431-4070. Fax: +1 301 431-0017.
- macintosh user interface — (operating system) The graphical user interface used by Apple Computer's Macintosh family of personal computers, based on graphical representations of familiar office objects (sheets of paper, files, wastepaper bin, etc.) positioned on a two-dimensional "desktop" workspace. Programs and data files are represented on screen by small pictures (icons). An object is selected by moving a mouse over the real desktop which correspondingly moves the pointer on screen. When the pointer is over an icon on screen, the icon is selected by pressing the button on the mouse. A hierarchical file system is provided that lets a user "drag" a document (a file) icon into and out of a folder (directory) icon. Folders can also contain other folders and so on. To delete a document, its icon is dragged into a trash can icon. For people that are not computer enthusiasts, managing files on the Macintosh is easier than using the MS-DOS or Unix command-line interpreter. The Macintosh always displays a row of menu titles at the top of the screen. When a mouse button is pressed over a title, a pull-down menu appears below it. With the mouse button held down, the option within the menu is selected by pointing to it and then releasing the button. Unlike the IBM PC, which, prior to Microsoft Windows had no standard graphical user interface, Macintosh developers almost always conform to the Macintosh interface. As a result, users are comfortable with the interface of a new program from the start even if it takes a while to learn all the rest of it. They know there will be a row of menu options at the top of the screen, and basic tasks are always performed in the same way. Apple also keeps technical jargon down to a minimum. Although the Macintosh user interface provides consistency; it does not make up for an application program that is not designed well. Not only must the application's menus be clear and understandable, but the locations on screen that a user points to must be considered. Since the mouse is the major selecting method on a Macintosh, mouse movement should be kept to a minimum. In addition, for experienced typists, the mouse is a cumbersome substitute for well-designed keyboard commands, especially for intensive text editing.
- make one's presence felt — If you make your presence felt, you do something which makes people notice you or pay attention to you.
- mari autonomous republic — autonomous republic in the Russian Federation in Europe. 8994 sq. mi. (23,294 sq. km). Capital: Ioshkar-Ola.
- medium-scale integration — MSI.
- meteorological satellite — an artificial satellite that gathers data concerning the earth's atmosphere and surface in order to aid meteorologists in understanding weather patterns and producing weather forecasts.
- motorway service station — an establishment off a motorway where drivers can refuel their vehicles, buy food, drink, etc
- multistation access unit — Media Access Unit
- mutual insurance company — an insurance company owned by the policyholders and not by shareholders
- nonparametric statistics — the branch of statistics that studies data measurable on an ordinal or nominal scale, to which arithmetic operations cannot be applied
- object management system — In an IPSE, the system which maintains information about the system under development.
- open system architecture — (operating system) (OSA) A competitor to IBM's SNA.
- photomechanical transfer — a method of producing photographic prints or offset printing plates from paper negatives by a chemical transfer process rather than by exposure to light
- physiological atmosphere — ecosphere.
- polymer matrix composite — A polymer matrix composite is a material consisting of a composite made stronger by adding fibers or particles to it.
- portable scheme debugger — (PSD) A package for source code debugging of R4RS-compliant Scheme under GNU Emacs by Kellom ?ki Pertti <[email protected]>. Version 1.1. Distributed under GNU GPL. It works with scm, Elk and Scheme->C.
- potassium cobaltinitrite — a yellow, crystalline, slightly water-soluble powder, K 3 Co(NO 2) 6 , used as a pigment in oil and watercolor paints, and for coloring surfaces of glass, porcelain, etc.
- present company excepted — If you are making a general, unfavourable comment about a particular type of person, and you are with people of that type, you can say 'present company excepted' as a way of making your comment sound more polite.
- pyrotraumatic dermatitis — hot spot.
- representative democracy — a person or thing that represents another or others.
- research and development — the part of a commercial company's activity concerned with applying the results of scientific research to develop new products and improve existing ones
- rocky mountain whitefish — mountain whitefish.
- santa coloma de gramanet — a city in NE Spain.
- senegambia confederation — an economic and political union (1982–89) between Senegal and The Gambia
- sequentially compact set — a set in which every sequence has a subsequence that converges to a point of the set.
- sic transit gloria mundi — thus passes the glory of the world
- six nations championship — the annual competition involving national sides representing England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales. Until the admission of Italy in 2000, it was known as the Five Nations Championship
- special development area — an area earmarked for special development by the government
- stab someone in the back — If you say that someone has stabbed you in the back, you mean that they have done something very harmful to you when you thought that you could trust them. You can refer to an action of this kind as a stab in the back.
- stratificational grammar — a grammar based upon the theory that language is made up of successive strata that are interconnected by established rules.
- structural functionalism — functionalism (def 3).
- the last of the mohicans — a historical novel (1826) by James Fenimore Cooper.
- the whole shooting match — everything; the whole lot