16-letter words containing e, c, l, o
- criminal offence — an action which is punishable under the law
- critical section — A non-re-entrant piece of code that can only be executed by one process at a time. It will usually terminate in bounded time and a process will only have to wait a bounded time to enter it. Some synchronisation mechanism is required at the entry and exit of the critical section to ensure exclusive use.
- cromwell current — an equatorial Pacific current, flowing eastward from the Hawaiian Islands to the Galápagos Islands
- cross-cut chisel — a chisel used for making grooves
- crossword puzzle — a puzzle in which the solver deduces words suggested by numbered clues and writes them into corresponding boxes in a grid to form a vertical and horizontal pattern
- crowd one's luck — to take unnecessary risks in an already favorable situation
- croydon facelift — the tightening effect on the skin of a woman's face caused by securing the hair at the back of the head in a tight ponytail
- crystal detector — a demodulator, used esp in microwave circuits and in early radio receivers, consisting of a thin metal wire in point contact with a semiconductor crystal
- crystallographer — A person skilled in crystallography.
- curmudgeonliness — The state or condition of being curmudgeonly.
- customer profile — a description or analysis of a typical or ideal customer for one's business
- cut one's losses — to give up spending time, money, or energy on an unprofitable or unsuccessful activity
- cycle of erosion — the hypothetical sequence of modifications to the earth's surface by erosion, from the original uplift of the land to the ultimate low plain, usually divided into the youthful, mature, and old stages
- cyclohexamantane — (chemistry) A certain diamondoid, C26H30.
- cyclophosphamide — an alkylating agent used in the treatment of leukaemia and lymphomas
- cystourethrocele — A urethrocele occurring with a cystocele.
- cytotechnologist — a technician who specializes in identifying cells and cellular abnormalities.
- cytotoxic t cell — a killer T cell
- de-anglicization — (in Ireland) the elimination of English influence, language, customs, etc
- dead sea scrolls — a collection of manuscripts in Hebrew and Aramaic discovered in caves near the Dead Sea between 1947 and 1956. They are widely held to have been written between about 100 bc and 68 ad and provide important biblical evidence
- dealcoholization — to remove some or all of the alcohol from (a drink).
- decapitalization — to deprive of capital; discourage capital formation; withdraw capital from: The government decapitalized industry with harsh tax policies.
- decentralisation — Alternative spelling of decentralization.
- decentralization — to distribute the administrative powers or functions of (a central authority) over a less concentrated area: to decentralize the national government.
- 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.
- decision problem — (theory) A problem with a yes/no answer. Determining whether some potential solution to a question is actually a solution or not. E.g. "Is 43669" a prime number?". This is in contrast to a "search problem" which must find a solution from scratch, e.g. "What is the millionth prime number?". See decidability.
- declare war (on) — to make a formal declaration of being at war (with)
- declassification — to remove the classification from (information, a document, etc.) that restricts access in terms of secrecy, confidentiality, etc. Compare classification (def 5).
- deconstructively — In a deconstructive manner.
- decontextualized — removed from the usual context
- 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.
- delayed reaction — response after an interval
- delta connection — a connection used in a three-phase electrical system in which three elements in series form a triangle, the supply being input and output at the three junctions
- delta conversion — delta reduction
- demoiselle crane — a gray crane, Anthropoides virgo, of northern Africa, Europe, and Asia, having long, white plumes behind each eye.
- dendrochronology — the study of the annual rings of trees, used esp to date past events
- denuclearization — The act or process of denuclearizing.
- deoxyribonucleic — (genetics) Of or pertaining to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or its derivatives.
- dephlogisticated — Simple past tense and past participle of dephlogisticate.
- depoliticization — The act or process of depoliticizing.
- depth psychology — the study of unconscious motives and attitudes
- deradicalization — the practice of encouraging those with extreme and violent religious or political ideologies to adopt more moderate views
- dermatologically — In a dermatological way.
- descending colon — the last portion of the colon, beginning at the upper left abdomen in the region of the spleen and continuing downward along the left posterior wall to the sigmoid flexure.
- deuterocanonical — of or constituting a second or subsequent canon; specif., designating certain Biblical books accepted as canonical in the Roman Catholic Church, but held by Protestants to be apocryphal
- device control 1 — control-Q
- device control 2 — (character) (DC2) The mnemonic for ASCII character 18, one of the four Device Control characters.
- device control 3 — control-S
- device control 4 — (character) (DC4) The mnemonic for ASCII character 20, one of the four Device Control characters.
- devil's advocate — If you play devil's advocate in a discussion or debate, you express an opinion which you may not agree with but which is very different to what other people have been saying, in order to make the argument more interesting.