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18-letter words containing e, r, o, d

  • consecrated ground — ground that has been made or declared sacred or holy, and is therefore suitable for Christian burial
  • conservation grade — relating to food produced using traditional methods where possible, and following strict specifications regarding animal feeds and welfare, the use of chemical fertilizers, wildlife conservation, and land management
  • 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.
  • contact dermatitis — dermatitis caused by direct contact with an irritating substance, as an allergen or chemical
  • continued fraction — a number plus a fraction whose denominator contains a number and a fraction whose denominator contains a number and a fraction, and so on
  • 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.
  • cooling-off period — A cooling-off period is an agreed period of time during which two sides with opposing views try to resolve a dispute before taking any serious action.
  • cordillera central — a mountain range in Colombia: part of the Andes. Highest peak, Huila, 18,700 feet (5700 meters).
  • cordless telephone — a portable battery-powered telephone with a short-range radio link to a fixed base unit
  • corporate identity — business brand
  • correspondent bank — A correspondent bank is a bank that provides services such as accepting deposits for another bank.
  • corridors of power — the higher echelons of government, the Civil Service, etc, considered as the location of power and influence
  • costume department — the department in a theatre or television company that is responsible for actors' costumes
  • cot death syndrome — the unexplained sudden death of an infant during sleep
  • 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.
  • counter-adaptation — the act of adapting.
  • counter-productive — Something that is counter-productive achieves the opposite result from the one that you want to achieve.
  • countryside agency — (in England) a government agency that promotes the conservation and enjoyment of the countryside and aims to stimulate employment in rural areas
  • creme de framboise — a liqueur flavored with raspberries.
  • crested dog's-tail — a common wiry perennial grass, Cynosurus cristatus, of meadows and pasture
  • crocodile-infested — full of crocodiles
  • crookes dark space — the dark space between the cathode glow and the negative glow in a vacuum tube, occurring when the pressure is low.
  • crookes radiometer — a type of radiometer consisting of an evacuated glass bulb containing a set of lightweight vanes, each blackened on one side. The vanes are mounted on a vertical axis and revolve when light, or other radiant energy, falls on them
  • crude oil desalter — A crude oil desalter is equipment which removes inorganic salts from crude oil, using chemical or electrostatic separation.
  • crude oil fraction — A crude oil fraction is a component of crude oil, which has its own particular molecular composition, weight, and boiling point.
  • cursor dipped in x — (jargon)   The metaphorical source of the electronic equivalent of a poisoned-pen letter. Derived from English metaphors of the form "pen dipped in X" (where X = e.g. "acid", "bile", "vitriol"). These map over neatly to this hackish usage (the cursor being what moves, leaving letters behind, when one is composing on-line). "Talk about a nastygram! He must've had his cursor dipped in acid when he wrote that one!"
  • curvature of field — a monochromatic aberration of a lens or other optical system in which the focal surface is curved, the refracted image of an object oriented perpendicular to the axis of the lens lying on a curved surface rather than in a plane perpendicular to the axis.
  • cushing's syndrome — a medical condition characterized by obesity, hypertension, excessive hair growth, etc., caused by an overactive adrenal gland or large doses of corticosteroids
  • cyrano de bergerac — Savinien (savinjɛ̃). 1619–55, French writer and soldier, famous as a duellist and for his large nose. He became widely known through the verse drama Cyrano de Bergerac (1897) by Edmond Rostand
  • dangerous offender — an offender who is deemed by a court of law to be likely to engage in further violent conduct, and who thus becomes eligible for an indefinite prison sentence
  • david lloyd george — David, 1st Earl of Dwyfor [doo-vawr] /ˈdu vɔr/ (Show IPA), 1863–1945, British statesman: prime minister 1916–22.
  • de bruijn notation — (language)   A variation of lambda notation for specifying functions using numbers instead of names to refer to formal parameters. A reference to a formal parameter is a number which gives the number of lambdas (written as \ here) between the reference and the lambda which binds the parameter. E.g. the function \ f . \ x . f x would be written \ . \ . 1 0. The 0 refers to the innermost lambda, the 1 to the next etc. The chief advantage of this notation is that it avoids the possibility of name capture and removes the need for alpha conversion.
  • de-differentiation — a process by which structures or behaviors that were specialized for a specific function lose their specialization and become simplified or generalized.
  • dead as a doornail — completely dead
  • dead-letter office — an office where undeliverable letters were taken for storage
  • deanthropomorphism — the ridding of philosophy or religion of anthropomorphic beliefs and doctrines.
  • 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
  • decachlorobiphenyl — (organic compound) The fully chlorinated polychlorinated biphenyl containing ten chlorine atoms.
  • dechristianization — The act of dechristianizing; the systematic removal of Christianity or Christian elements.
  • decision procedure — a procedure, as an algorithm, for determining in a finite number of steps the validity of any of a certain class of propositions.
  • 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
  • degrees of freedom — the number of independent variables entering into a statistical measure or frequency distribution
  • deliver oneself of — to speak with deliberation or at length
  • demilitarized zone — an area from which military presence or function has been removed
  • democratic deficit — any situation in which there is believed to be a lack of democratic accountability and control over the decision-making process
  • demorgan's theorem — (logic)   A logical theorem which states that the complement of a conjunction is the disjunction of the complements or vice versa. In symbols: not (x and y) = (not x) or (not y) not (x or y) = (not x) and (not y) E.g. if it is not the case that I am tall and thin then I am either short or fat (or both). The theorem can be extended to combinations of more than two terms in the obvious way. The same laws also apply to sets, replacing logical complement with set complement, conjunction ("and") with set intersection, and disjunction ("or") with set union. A (C) programmer might use this to re-write if (!foo && !bar) ... as if (!(foo || bar)) ... thus saving one operator application (though an optimising compiler should do the same, leaving the programmer free to use whichever form seemed clearest).
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