16-letter words containing d, f
- darwin's finches — the finches of the subfamily Geospizinae of the Galapagos Islands, showing great variation in bill structure and feeding habits: provided Darwin with evidence to support his theory of evolution
- david g farragut — David Glasgow, 1801–70, U.S. admiral: won the battles of New Orleans and Mobile Bay for the Union in the U.S. Civil War.
- day of atonement — Yom Kippur
- day of reckoning — If someone talks about the day of reckoning, they mean a day or time in the future when people will be forced to deal with an unpleasant situation which they have avoided until now.
- dead-man's float — a prone floating position, used especially by beginning swimmers, with face downward, legs extended backward, and arms stretched forward.
- dead-smooth file — the smoothest grade of file commonly used
- deboursification — (jargon) Removal of irrelevant newsgroups from the Newsgroups header of a followup. The term applies particularly to the removal of frivolous groups added by one of the Kooks. See also: sneck.
- debt forgiveness — the action or process of forgiving people their debts
- decimal fraction — a fraction whose denominator is some power of 10, usually indicated by a dot (decimal point or point) written before the numerator: as 0.4 = 4/10; 0.126 = 126/1000.
- declassification — to remove the classification from (information, a document, etc.) that restricts access in terms of secrecy, confidentiality, etc. Compare classification (def 5).
- dedifferentiated — That has undergone dedifferentiation.
- deep-sea fishing — the activity of catching fish that live in the deep parts of the sea
- defective number — a positive number that is greater than the sum of all positive integers that are submultiples of it, as 10, which is greater than the sum of 1, 2, and 5.
- defence in depth — the act or practice of positioning successive mutually supporting lines of defence in a given area
- deferred annuity — an annuity that commences not less than one year after the final purchase premium
- deferred success — (in Britain) a euphemism suggested as an alternative to ‘failure’, in order not to stigmatize pupils who have not achieved a pass in a particular subject
- deficit spending — Deficit spending is an economic policy in which a government spends more money raised by borrowing than it receives in revenue.
- definite article — The word 'the' is sometimes called the definite article.
- deflationary gap — a situation in which total spending in an economy is insufficient to buy all the output that can be produced with full employment
- deflecting force — the apparent deflection (Coriolis acceleration) of a body in motion with respect to the earth, as seen by an observer on the earth, attributed to a fictitious force (Coriolis force) but actually caused by the rotation of the earth and appearing as a deflection to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and a deflection to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
- degrees of frost — When someone says that there are a particular number of degrees of frost they mean that the temperature is that number of degrees below freezing point.
- dehumidification — Dehumidification is the removal of vapor from a gas-vapor mixture.
- dentist's office — A dentist's office is the room or house where a dentist works.
- depart this life — to die
- descent function — If a recursive function is of the form f x = ... f (d x) ... then d is known as the descent function.
- dictionary flame — [Usenet] An attempt to sidetrack a debate away from issues by insisting on meanings for key terms that presuppose a desired conclusion or smuggle in an implicit premise. A common tactic of people who prefer argument over definitions to disputes about reality. Compare spelling flame.
- dimethyl sulfate — a colorless or yellow, slightly water-soluble, poisonous liquid, (CH 3) 2 SO 2 , used chiefly in organic synthesis.
- direct free kick — a free kick awarded to a team as the result of a foul by an opposing player and from which a goal can be scored directly, without the ball being touched by another player.
- direction finder — a receiver with a loop antenna rotating on a vertical axis, used to ascertain the direction of incoming radio waves.
- disenfranchising — Present participle of disenfranchise.
- disfranchisement — to deprive (a person) of a right of citizenship, as of the right to vote.
- disqualification — an act or instance of disqualifying.
- dissatisfactions — Plural form of dissatisfaction.
- distrito federal — Federal District. Abbreviation: D.F.
- diversifications — Plural form of diversification.
- do oneself proud — to do extremely well
- do-it-yourselfer — an advocate or enthusiast of do-it-yourself
- documentary film — factual, informative film
- dolce far niente — pleasing inactivity.
- dome of the rock — a shrine in Jerusalem at the site from which Muhammad ascended through the seven heavens to the throne of God: built on the site of the Jewish Temple.
- dorothy canfield — Dorothy, Fisher, Dorothy Canfield.
- drag coefficient — a measure of the drag of an object in a moving fluid, esp air
- drift transistor — a transistor in which the impurity concentration in the base increases from the collector-base junction to the emitter-base junction, producing a resistivity gradient that greatly increases its high-frequency response
- droves of people — large numbers of people
- drug trafficking — smuggling illegal drugs
- duchess of malfi — a tragedy (1614?) by John Webster.
- dysfunctionality — (uncountable) The condition of being dysfunctional.
- edsel ford range — a mountain range in Antarctica, E of the Ross Sea.
- elected official — person voted into office
- embroidery frame — a frame in the form of a pair of (usually circular) rings, designed to keep the fabric taut while an embroiderer works on it