17-letter words containing d, e, c, r, t
- fendalton tractor — a four-wheel drive recreational vehicle
- finite difference — difference (def 9c).
- first commandment — “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”: first of the Ten Commandments.
- first-aid classes — classes which teach people how to give immediate medical help in an emergency
- first-order logic — (language, logic) The language describing the truth of mathematical formulas. Formulas describe properties of terms and have a truth value. The following are atomic formulas: True False p(t1,..tn) where t1,..,tn are terms and p is a predicate. If F1, F2 and F3 are formulas and v is a variable then the following are compound formulas: The "order" of a logic specifies what entities "For all" and "Exists" may quantify over. First-order logic can only quantify over sets of atomic propositions. (E.g. For all p . p => p). Second-order logic can quantify over functions on propositions, and higher-order logic can quantify over any type of entity. The sets over which quantifiers operate are usually implicit but can be deduced from well-formedness constraints. In first-order logic quantifiers always range over ALL the elements of the domain of discourse. By contrast, second-order logic allows one to quantify over subsets.
- flagrante delicto — Law. in the very act of committing the offense.
- forced convection — Forced convection is convection in which the movement of fluid does not happen naturally but is helped by a device such as a fan or pump.
- foundation course — A foundation course is a course that you do at some colleges and universities in order to prepare yourself for a longer or more advanced course.
- fractal dimension — (mathematics) A common type of fractal dimension is the Hausdorff-Besicovich Dimension, but there are several different ways of computing fractal dimension. Fractal dimension can be calculated by taking the limit of the quotient of the log change in object size and the log change in measurement scale, as the measurement scale approaches zero. The differences come in what is exactly meant by "object size" and what is meant by "measurement scale" and how to get an average number out of many different parts of a geometrical object. Fractal dimensions quantify the static *geometry* of an object. For example, consider a straight line. Now blow up the line by a factor of two. The line is now twice as long as before. Log 2 / Log 2 = 1, corresponding to dimension 1. Consider a square. Now blow up the square by a factor of two. The square is now 4 times as large as before (i.e. 4 original squares can be placed on the original square). Log 4 / log 2 = 2, corresponding to dimension 2 for the square. Consider a snowflake curve formed by repeatedly replacing ___ with _/\_, where each of the 4 new lines is 1/3 the length of the old line. Blowing up the snowflake curve by a factor of 3 results in a snowflake curve 4 times as large (one of the old snowflake curves can be placed on each of the 4 segments _/\_). Log 4 / log 3 = 1.261... Since the dimension 1.261 is larger than the dimension 1 of the lines making up the curve, the snowflake curve is a fractal. [sci.fractals FAQ].
- full load current — A full load current is the largest current that a motor or other device is designed to carry under particular conditions.
- further education — adult education.
- giscard d'estaing — Valéry [va-ley-ree] /va leɪˈri/ (Show IPA), born 1926, French political leader: president 1974–81.
- go for the doctor — to make a great effort or move very fast, esp in a horse race
- good-time charlie — an affable, sociable, pleasure-loving man.
- grand climacteric — Physiology. a period of decrease of reproductive capacity in men and women, culminating, in women, in the menopause.
- grande chartreuse — the Carthusian monastery at Grenoble, France: the chief monastery of the Carthusians until 1903.
- grandfather clock — a pendulum floor clock having a case as tall as or taller than a person; tall-case clock; long-case clock.
- grandmother clock — a pendulum clock similar to a grandfather's clock but shorter.
- greater celandine — celandine (def 1).
- greenland current — the ocean current flowing clockwise around S Greenland.
- grey-faced petrel — a dark-coloured New Zealand petrel, Pterodroma macroptera gouldi
- grignard reaction — the reaction of a Grignard reagent with any of the numerous types of compounds with which it can combine, as alcohols, acids, aldehydes, ketones, or esters: used chiefly in organic synthesis.
- grooved fricative — a fricative, as (s), in which air is channeled through a groove along the center of the tongue.
- ground connection — the conductor used to establish a ground.
- haemorrhoidectomy — surgical removal of haemorrhoids
- handicap register — a list of the disabled people in its area that a local authority had a duty to compile under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970
- henry cabot lodge — Henry Cabot, 1850–1924, U.S. public servant and author: senator 1893–1924.
- heterochlamydeous — (of a plant) having a perianth consisting of distinct sepals and petals
- historical method — the process of establishing general facts and principles through attention to chronology and to the evolution or historical course of what is being studied.
- homeland security — national defence
- hornblende schist — a variety of schist containing needles of hornblende that lie in parallel planes.
- hundred-percenter — a completely patriotic, sometimes jingoistic person.
- hydroelectrically — Using hydroelectric power.
- hydrotherapeutics — hydrotherapy.
- icositetrahedrons — Plural form of icositetrahedron.
- ideogrammatically — In terms of, or by means of, ideograms.
- in the background — behind the focus of attention
- inconsiderateness — without due regard for the rights or feelings of others: It was inconsiderate of him to keep us waiting.
- incubation period — the period between infection and the appearance of signs of a disease.
- indecent exposure — the intentional exposure of one's body's privates in a manner that gives offense against accepted or prescribed behavior.
- indecipherability — Quality of being indecipherable.
- indestructibility — not destructible; that cannot be destroyed.
- indian rope-trick — the supposed Indian feat of climbing an unsupported rope
- indicator species — See at indicator (def 6).
- indirect evidence — circumstantial evidence.
- indirect lighting — reflected or diffused light, used especially in interiors to avoid glare or shadows.
- indirect question — An indirect question is the same as a reported question.
- indirect taxation — duty paid on goods or services
- induction furnace — a type of electric furnace used for melting a charge of scrap by the heat produced by its own electrical resistance.
- inertial guidance — a guidance system for an aerospace vehicle, in which self-contained devices determine the vehicle's course on the basis of the directions and magnitudes of the accelerations it undergoes in flight.