18-letter words containing d, a, l, n
- common-law husband — a man considered to be a woman's husband after the couple have cohabited for several years
- condensation trail — contrail.
- conditional access — the encryption of television programme transmissions so that only authorized subscribers with suitable decoding apparatus may have access to them
- conditionalization — the derivation from an argument of a conditional statement with the conjunction of the premises as antecedent and the conclusion as consequent. If the argument is valid, conditionalization yields a truth
- considered harmful — (programming, humour) A type of phrase based on the title of Edsger W. Dijkstra's famous note in the March 1968 Communications of the ACM, "Goto Statement Considered Harmful", which fired the first salvo in the structured programming wars. Amusingly, the ACM considered the resulting acrimony sufficiently harmful that it will (by policy) no longer print articles taking so assertive a position against a coding practice. In the ensuing decades, a large number of both serious papers and parodies bore titles of the form "X considered Y". The structured-programming wars eventually blew over with the realisation that both sides were wrong, but use of such titles has remained as a persistent minor in-joke.
- consolato del mare — a code of maritime law compiled in the Middle Ages: it drew upon ancient law and has influenced modern law.
- consolidation loan — a single loan which is taken out to pay off several separate existing loans
- constitutionalized — Simple past tense and past participle of constitutionalize.
- content data model — (standard, documentation, language) (CDM) An SGML-based specification for interactive maintenance manuals, developed by the Air Force Human Resourceas Laboratory (AFHRL) with assistance from RJO Enterprises, Incorporated. CDM models data hierachically and data are identified by their content structure with SGML mark-up used to identify information classes such as "system information", "functions", "tasks" and "steps".
- continental divide — the watershed of a continent, esp (often caps.) the principal watershed of North America, formed by the Rocky Mountains
- continental shield — any of the large, low-lying areas in the Earth's crust that are composed of Precambrian crystalline rocks
- controlled-release — A controlled-release drug or preparation is released into the body in specified amounts over a specified period of time.
- cooling degree-day — a degree-day above the standard temperature of 75°F (24°C), used in estimating the energy requirements for air conditioning and refrigeration.
- cordillera central — a mountain range in Colombia: part of the Andes. Highest peak, Huila, 18,700 feet (5700 meters).
- couldn't care less — If you say that you couldn't care less about someone or something, you are emphasizing that you are not interested in them or worried about them. In American English, you can also say that you could care less, with the same meaning.
- credibility rating — a supposed measure of how far a person can be believed or trusted
- cross-disciplinary — linking two or more fields of study
- crude oil fraction — A crude oil fraction is a component of crude oil, which has its own particular molecular composition, weight, and boiling point.
- cultural diffusion — act of diffusing; state of being diffused.
- cumberland plateau — division of the W Appalachians, extending from S W.Va. to N Ala.
- custodial sentence — a sentence given by a court that involves a term of imprisonment
- daisywheel printer — (printer) A kind of impact printer where the characters are arranged on the ends of the spokes of a wheel (resembling the petals on a daisy). The wheel (usually made of plastic) is rotated to select the character to print and then an electrically operated hammer mechanism bends the selected spoke forward slightly, sandwiching an ink ribbon between the character and the paper, as in a typewriter. One advantage of this arrangement over that of a typewriter is that different wheels may be inserted to produce different typefaces.
- data flow analysis — (programming) A process to discover the dependencies between different data items manipulated by a program. The order of execution in a data driven language is determined solely by the data dependencies. For example, given the equations 1. X = A + B 2. B = 2 + 2 3. A = 3 + 4 a data-flow analysis would find that 2 and 3 must be evaluated before 1. Since there are no data dependencies between 2 and 3, they may be evaluated in any order, including in parallel. This technique is implemented in hardware in some pipelined processors with multiple functional units. It allows instructions to be executed as soon as their inputs are available, independent of the original program order.
- daytime television — television broadcasts that are shown during the daytime rather than in the evening
- dead as a doornail — completely dead
- dead-stick landing — Aeronautics, Aerospace. a landing of an airplane or space vehicle with the engine cut off.
- dear john (letter) — a letter from one's fiancée or girlfriend breaking off an engagement or love affair, or from one's wife asking for a divorce
- debt consolidation — the process of taking out a new loan (often secured on one's property) in order to pay off a number of existing debts
- decachlorobiphenyl — (organic compound) The fully chlorinated polychlorinated biphenyl containing ten chlorine atoms.
- declaration of war — a formal statement made by one country to another that a state of war now exists between them
- decompartmentalize — to remove excessive compartmentalization from (an organization)
- defense calculator — IBM 701
- definitive plumage — the plumage of a bird that, once attained, does not change significantly in color or pattern for the rest of the bird's life.
- deinstitutionalize — to discharge (a patient) as from a mental institution
- delmarva peninsula — a peninsula of the northeast US, between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic
- demand liabilities — the assets of a financial institution that are demandable by depositors
- demilitarized zone — an area from which military presence or function has been removed
- departmental store — a department store.
- dependent variable — a variable in a mathematical equation or statement whose value depends on that taken on by the independent variable
- desalination plant — a factory where salt is removed from salt water in order to make the water suitable for drinking and irrigation
- devil's paintbrush — a perennial European hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum) with leafless flower stalks bearing a cluster of orange-red heads: now a common weed in N U.S. and Canada
- diaminofluorescein — (organic compound) A fluorescein into which two amino groups have been substituted.
- diamondback turtle — any edible North American terrapin of the genus Malaclemys, esp M. terrapin, occurring in brackish and tidal waters and having diamond-shaped markings on the shell: family Emydidae
- dictionary catalog — a library catalog having all its entries, including authors, titles, subjects, etc., in one general alphabetical sequence.
- didaskaleinophobia — The fear of going to school.
- dielectric heating — the heating of a nonconducting substance caused by dielectric loss when the material is placed in a variable electric field.
- dietary supplement — a substance taken in addition to what you eat in order to promote health
- digital humanities — (used with a singular verb) the study of literature, philosophy, etc., as facilitated by computer technology or digital media: Digital humanities uses data analysis to find patterns in large bodies of text. the set of methodologies used in such scholarship.
- digital signatures — digital signature
- digital technology — the branch of scientific or engineering knowledge that deals with the creation and practical use of digital or computerized devices, methods, systems, etc.: advances in digital technology.