20-letter words containing c, r
- angular acceleration — the rate of change of angular velocity
- angular displacement — the angle through which a point, line, or body is rotated about a specific axis in a given direction
- anniversary reaction — a psychological reaction, as depression, occurring at a regularly fixed time and associated with the recollection of an emotionally upsetting past experience, as loss of a loved one.
- anti-corn law league — an organization founded in 1839 by Richard Cobden and John Bright to oppose the Corn Laws, which were repealed in 1846
- anticrepuscular arch — antitwilight arch.
- antidiuretic hormone — vasopressin. Abbreviation: ADH.
- antifriction bearing — a roller bearing or ball bearing.
- antimony oxychloride — a white, water-insoluble powder, SbOCl, used chiefly in the manufacture of antimony salts.
- antony and cleopatra — a tragedy (1606–07?) by Shakespeare.
- aortic insufficiency — abnormal closure of the aortic valve resulting in regurgitation of blood to the left ventricle.
- apothecaries' weight — a system of weights, formerly used in pharmacy, based on the Troy ounce, which contains 480 grains. 1 grain is equal to 0.065 gram
- appalachian dulcimer — dulcimer (def 2).
- apparent candlepower — a measure of the luminous intensity of an extended source of light in terms of the candlepower of a point source of light that has an equivalent luminous intensity when placed at the same distance as the extended source.
- apple computer, inc. — (company) Manufacturers of the Macintosh range of personal computers as well as the earlier Apple I, Apple II and Lisa. Founded on 1 April 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Apples were among the first microcomputers. They originally used the 6502 processor and are still being made (August 1994), now using the 65816. The Apple II line, which includes the Apple I, is the longest existing line of microcomputers. Steve Jobs left Apple (involuntarily) and started NeXT and later returned when Apple bought NeXT in late 1997(?). Quarterly sales $2150M, profits $138M (Aug 1994). http://apple.com/.
- application software — software designed for a specific need or purpose
- applications program — a program that is written and designed for specific needs or purposes
- arches national park — a national park in E Utah: natural arch formations. 114 sq. mi. (295 sq. km).
- archiepiscopal cross — patriarchal cross.
- architectural bronze — a brass alloy of about 57 percent copper, 41 percent zinc, and 2 percent lead.
- aristarchus of samos — 3rd century bc, Greek astronomer who anticipated Copernicus in advancing the theory that the earth revolves around the sun
- armchair quarterback — a person who is not a quarterback (or general, etc.), but offers opinions and criticism on the performance or decisions of those who are
- articulatory feature — a property of a speech sound based on its voicing or on its place or manner of articulation in the vocal tract, as voiceless, bilabial, or stop used in describing the sound (p).
- artificial harmonics — harmonics of a note produced on a stringed instrument by lightly touching a stopped sounded string.
- artificial pacemaker — an electronic device for use in certain cases of heart disease to assume the functions of the natural cardiac pacemaker
- artificial satellite — a man-made device orbiting around the earth, moon, or another planet transmitting to earth scientific information or used for communication
- artificial selection — a process in the breeding of animals and in the cultivation of plants by which the breeder chooses to perpetuate only those forms having certain desirable inheritable characteristics.
- asexual reproduction — reproduction, as budding, fission, or spore formation, not involving the union of gametes.
- assessment procedure — an established method of assessing students or workers
- association of stars — a sparsely populated group of between 10 and 1000 young stars of similar spectral type and common origin that are moving too fast to form a permanent, gravitationally bound system.
- astatic galvanometer — a galvanometer that is unaffected by the earth's magnetic field and is used for measuring small currents.
- asymmetrical warfare — warfare between a powerful military force and a weak guerilla force
- at someone's service — ready to serve or cooperate with someone
- at the crack of dawn — If you say that someone does something at the crack of dawn, you are emphasizing that they do it very early in the morning.
- at two hours' notice — with notification only two hours in advance
- atmospheric pressure — Atmospheric pressure is the pressure of the atmosphere on the Earth's surface.
- attachment parenting — a style of child rearing aimed at developing a strong emotional bond between the child and primary caregiver. See also attachment (def 3a).
- attacks as a service — (security, legal) A kind of cybercrime as a service in which the service provider performs denial of service attacks on behalf of others for money.
- attic salt (or wit) — graceful, piercing wit
- automobile insurance — Automobile insurance is insurance coverage for cars.
- axiomatic set theory — (theory) One of several approaches to set theory, consisting of a formal language for talking about sets and a collection of axioms describing how they behave. There are many different axiomatisations for set theory. Each takes a slightly different approach to the problem of finding a theory that captures as much as possible of the intuitive idea of what a set is, while avoiding the paradoxes that result from accepting all of it, the most famous being Russell's paradox. The main source of trouble in naive set theory is the idea that you can specify a set by saying whether each object in the universe is in the "set" or not. Accordingly, the most important differences between different axiomatisations of set theory concern the restrictions they place on this idea (known as "comprehension"). NBG (von Neumann-Bernays-Goedel) set theory sort of allows comprehension for all formulae without restriction, but distinguishes between two kinds of set, so that the sets produced by applying comprehension are only second-class sets. NBG is exactly as powerful as ZF, in the sense that any statement that can be formalised in both theories is a theorem of ZF if and only if it is a theorem of ZFC. MK (Morse-Kelley) set theory is a strengthened version of NBG, with a simpler axiom system. It is strictly stronger than NBG, and it is possible that NBG might be consistent but MK inconsistent. ML ("Modern Logic") is to NF as NBG is to ZF. (Its name derives from the title of the book in which Quine introduced an early, defective, form of it). It is stronger than ZF (it can prove things that ZF can't), but if NF is consistent then ML is too.
- baccalaureate sermon — a farewell sermon addressed to a graduating class in some U.S. colleges and schools.
- back the wrong horse — to bet on a horse that loses the race
- background radiation — low-intensity radiation from, for example, small amounts of radioisotopes in soil, air, building materials, etc
- backward and forward — If someone or something moves backward and forward, they move repeatedly first in one direction and then in the opposite direction.
- backwards compatible — backward compatibility
- bacteriochlorophylls — Plural form of bacteriochlorophyll.
- baggage reclaim area — the place in an airport to which passengers go to recover their baggage after a flight
- balanced three-phase — A balanced three-phase voltage or current is one in which the size of each phase is the same, and the phase angles of the three phases differ from each other by 120 degrees.
- ballet-wrap cardigan — a cardigan with wrapover fronts which are fastened with wraparound ties
- ballistic trajectory — the path of an unpowered object, as a missile, moving only under the influence of gravity and possibly atmospheric friction and with its surface providing no significant lift to alter the course of flight.