18-letter words containing d, o, l, a, r
- monte carlo method — a technique for numerically approximating the solution of a mathematical problem by studying the distribution of some random variable, often generated by a computer.
- mordovian republic — a constituent republic of W central Russia, in the middle Volga basin. Capital: Saransk. Pop: 888 700 (2002). Area: 26 200 sq km (10 110 sq miles)
- mucopolysaccharide — (formerly) glycosaminoglycan.
- muscular dystrophy — a hereditary disease characterized by gradual wasting of the muscles with replacement by scar tissue and fat, sometimes also affecting the heart.
- national guardsman — guardsman (def 2).
- neurodevelopmental — Of or pertaining to the development of neurological pathways in the brain.
- new zealand on air — the operational name for the New Zealand Broadcasting Commission
- non-understandable — capable of being understood; comprehensible.
- nonstriated muscle — smooth muscle
- nord-pas-de-calais — a region of N France, on the Straits of Dover (the Pas de Calais): coal-mining, textile, and metallurgical industries
- normally aspirated — A normally aspirated or naturally aspirated engine breathes air at atmospheric pressure.
- norwegian elkhound — one of a breed of dogs having a short, compact body, short, pointed ears, and a thick, gray coat, raised originally in Norway for hunting elk and other game.
- nueva san salvador — Santa Tecla.
- oak-leaf hydrangea — a shrub, Hydrangea quercifolia, of the southeastern U.S., having lobed leaves and pyramidal clusters of white flowers.
- old low franconian — a Low German dialect of the Franks of the lower Rhine valley before c1100.
- on delicate ground — in a situation requiring tact
- on the danger list — critically ill in hospital
- one's heart bleeds — used to express sympathetic grief, but often used ironically
- operation overlord — the codename for the Allied invasion (June 1944) of northern France
- optical disc drive — optical disk drive
- optical disk drive — (hardware) (Or "optical disc drive", "optical storage") A generic term for any device that reads and/or writes optical media, i.e. compact discs, DVDs and/or Blu-ray discs or future media that uses light (from a small laser) to read data off a removable, rotating disk. At least one such drive is commonly installed in most personal computers to allow them to play and/or record audio and video media and load and store data such as program installers. The floppy disk has been replaced by optical media due to its vastly greater capacity, e.g. 50,000 megabytes for a dual-layer blu-ray disc compared with 1.5 megabytes for a floppy (over 30,000 times as much).
- optical soundtrack — the final soundtrack on a motion picture, which appears as a band of black and white serrations along a strip of film to the left of the composite print. Light is shined through the serrations and is converted to audible sound.
- order of australia — an order awarded to Australians for outstanding achievement or for service to Australia or to humanity at large; established in 1975
- organic solidarity — social cohesiveness that is based on division of labor and interdependence and is characteristic of complex, industrial societies.
- organized religion — institutionalized religion, usually with a hierarchical clergy and rules to govern the means by which adherents participate
- oriental almandine — a variety of corundum resembling almandine in colour and used as a gemstone
- orthophthalic acid — Chemistry. any of three isomeric acids having the formula C 8 H 6 O 4 , especially the ortho isomer (orthophthalic acid) a colorless, crystalline, slightly water-soluble solid used chiefly in the manufacture of dyes, medicine, and perfume.
- overdraft facility — a facility (of a bank or building-society cheque account) that allows a withdrawal of money in excess of the account's credit balance
- parallel reduction — A form of applicative order reduction in which all redexes in an expression are reduced simultaneously. Variants include parallel outermost reduction and lenient reduction. See normal order reduction.
- parathyroid glands — any of several small oval glands usually lying near or embedded in the thyroid gland.
- pectoral sandpiper — an American sandpiper, Calidris melanotos, the male of which, when courting, inflates its chest conspicuously.
- people's democracy — (in Communist ideology) a country or form of government in transition from bourgeois democracy to socialism. In this stage there is more than one class, the largest being the proletariat, led by the Communist Party, which is therefore the dominant power
- personal bodyguard — a person employed to protect a particular person
- pescadores-islands — (used with a plural verb) Penghu.
- peter and the wolf — a composition by Sergei Prokofiev written in 1936. It is a children's story with both music and text, spoken by a narrator accompanied by the orchestra
- phantom withdrawal — the unauthorized removal of funds from a bank account using an automated teller machine
- phosphatidylserine — any of a class of phospholipids occurring in biological membranes and fats
- pileolated warbler — either of two western subspecies of Wilson's warbler.
- planned parenthood — an organization that gives out information on the planning of the number and spacing of the births of one's children, as through the use of birth-control measures
- point d'angleterre — a bobbin lace in which the design is worked out with either a needle or bobbin.
- population pyramid — a graph showing the distribution of a population by sex, age, etc.
- portrait of a lady — a novel (1881) by Henry James.
- positively charged — having a positive charge
- postviral syndrome — debilitating condition occurring as a sequel to viral illness
- potassium chloride — a white or colorless, crystalline, water-soluble solid, KCl, used chiefly in the manufacture of fertilizers and mineral water, and as a source of other potassium compounds.
- potassium fluoride — a white, crystalline, hygroscopic, toxic powder, KF, used chiefly as an insecticide, a disinfectant, and in etching glass.
- potential gradient — the rate of change of potential with respect to distance in the direction of greatest change.
- pour cold water on — If someone pours cold water on a plan or idea, they criticize it so much that people lose their enthusiasm for it.
- precedence lossage — /pre's*-dens los'*j/ A misunderstanding of operator precedence resulting in unintended grouping of arithmetic or logical operators when coding an expression. Used especially of mistakes in C code due to the nonintuitively low precedence of "&", "|", "^", "<<" and ">>". For example, the following C expression, intended to test the least significant bit of x, x & 1 == 0 is parsed as x & (1 == 0) which is always zero (false). Some lazy programmers ignore precedence and parenthesise everything. Lisp fans enjoy pointing out that this can't happen in *their* favourite language, which eschews precedence entirely, requiring one to use explicit parentheses everywhere.
- primate of england — a title of the archbishop of Canterbury.