19-letter words containing f, a, u, r
- measure for measure — a comedy (1604) by Shakespeare.
- minimum iron fabric — cloth used to make clothes that require little ironing
- mother-of-thousands — strawberry geranium.
- neats vs. scruffies — (artificial intelligence, jargon) The label used to refer to one of the continuing holy wars in artificial intelligence research. This conflict tangles together two separate issues. One is the relationship between human reasoning and AI; "neats" tend to try to build systems that "reason" in some way identifiably similar to the way humans report themselves as doing, while "scruffies" profess not to care whether an algorithm resembles human reasoning in the least as long as it works. More importantly, neats tend to believe that logic is king, while scruffies favour looser, more ad-hoc methods driven by empirical knowledge. To a neat, scruffy methods appear promiscuous, successful only by accident and not productive of insights about how intelligence actually works; to a scruffy, neat methods appear to be hung up on formalism and irrelevant to the hard-to-capture "common sense" of living intelligences.
- negation by failure — An extralogical feature of Prolog and other logic programming languages in which failure of unification is treated as establishing the negation of a relation. For example, if Ronald Reagan is not in our database and we asked if he was an American, Prolog would answer "no".
- nonforfeiture value — any benefit, as cash or other form of insurance, available to a life-insurance policyholder who discontinues premium payments on the policy.
- open-hearth furnace — a process of steelmaking in which the charge is laid in a furnace (open-hearth furnace) on a shallow hearth and heated directly by burning gas as well as radiatively by the furnace walls.
- oriental fruit moth — a moth, Grapholitha molesta, introduced into the U.S. from Asia, the larvae of which infest and feed on the twigs and fruits of peach, plum, and related trees.
- out of the ordinary — of no special quality or interest; commonplace; unexceptional: One novel is brilliant, the other is decidedly ordinary; an ordinary person.
- parainfluenza virus — any of a group of viruses that cause respiratory infections with influenza-like symptoms, esp in children
- performance figures — the statistics that indicate how well or badly a company or organization has performed
- peroxysulfuric acid — persulfuric acid (def 1).
- persian gulf states — group of Arab sheikdoms along the Persian Gulf: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, & United Arab Emirates
- pillars of hercules — the two promontories at the E end of the Strait of Gibraltar: the Rock of Gibraltar on the European side and the Jebel Musa on the African side; according to legend, formed by Hercules
- presumption of fact — a presumption based on experience or knowledge of the relationship between a known fact and a fact inferred from it.
- production platform — offshore power station
- profitability study — a study of how much profit a company, organization, etc, makes or how profitable it is
- pseudo-professional — following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder.
- pugwash conferences — international peace conferences of scientists held regularly to discuss world problems: Nobel peace prize 1995 awarded to Joseph Rotblat (1908–2005) , one of the founders of the conferences, secretary-general (1957–73), and president (1988–97)
- put a figure on sth — When you put a figure on an amount, you say exactly how much it is.
- queen street farmer — a businessman who runs a farm, often for a tax loss
- radioactive fallout — the settling to the ground of airborne particles ejected into the atmosphere from the earth by explosions, eruptions, forest fires, etc., especially such settling from nuclear explosions (radioactive fallout) Compare rainout.
- radius of curvature — the absolute value of the reciprocal of the curvature at a point on a curve.
- rapture of the deep — nitrogen narcosis.
- reciprocity failure — a failure of the two exposure variables, light intensity and exposure time, to behave in a reciprocal fashion at very high or very low values
- reflux oesophagitis — inflammation of the gullet caused by regurgitation of stomach acids, producing heartburn: may be associated with a hiatus hernia
- republic of ireland — John, 1838–1918, U.S. Roman Catholic clergyman and social reformer, born in Ireland: archbishop of St. Paul, Minn., 1888–1918.
- republic of vietnam — the name (from 1955–75) for South Vietnam, as an independent republic, following the division of the country in 1954 into North Vietnam and South Vietnam
- respiratory failure — a condition in which the respiratory system is unable to provide an adequate supply of oxygen or to remove carbon dioxide efficiently
- reticular formation — a network of neurons in the brainstem involved in consciousness, regulation of breathing, the transmission of sensory stimuli to higher brain centers, and the constantly shifting muscular activity that supports the body against gravity.
- rural free delivery — former name for rural delivery service. Abbreviation: R.F.D.
- saccharofarinaceous — pertaining to or consisting of sugar and meal.
- scratch the surface — examine superficially
- sea of tranquillity — Astronomy. Mare Tranquillitatis.
- self-congratulating — the expression or feeling of uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's own accomplishment, good fortune, etc.; complacency.
- self-congratulation — the expression or feeling of uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's own accomplishment, good fortune, etc.; complacency.
- self-congratulatory — the expression or feeling of uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's own accomplishment, good fortune, etc.; complacency.
- sharp-focus realism — photorealism.
- significant figures — the figures of a number that express a magnitude to a specified degree of accuracy, rounding up or down the final figure
- sir wilfrid laurier — Sir Wilfrid [wil-frid;; French weel-freed] /ˈwɪl frɪd;; French wilˈfrid/ (Show IPA), 1841–1919, Canadian statesman: prime minister 1896–1911.
- south african dutch — the Boers.
- south san francisco — a city in central California.
- spare a thought for — If you spare a thought for an unfortunate person, you make an effort to think sympathetically about them and their bad luck.
- specular reflection — Specular reflection is reflection of heat or light in which the angles of different parts of the surface are important.
- staff-student ratio — the ratio of teachers to pupils or students in a school, college, or university
- stanford university — (education) A University in the city of Palo Alto, California, noted for work in computing, especially artificial intelligence. See SAIL.
- step-up transformer — a device that transfers an alternating current from one circuit to one or more other circuits with an increase of voltage
- stratford-upon-avon — town in S Warwickshire, England, on the Avon: birthplace & burial place of Shakespeare: pop. of county district (called Stratford-on-Avon) 106,000
- subsistence farming — farming whose products are intended to provide for the basic needs of the farmer, with little surplus for marketing.
- sugar loaf mountain — a mountain in SE Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, at the entrance to Guanabara Bay. 1280 feet (390 meters).