16-letter words containing f, d, n
- fair to middling — free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice: a fair decision; a fair judge.
- falkland islands — disputed islands in Atlantic Ocean
- false dragonhead — a North American plant, Physostegia virginiana, of the mint family, having a spike of tubular, two-lipped, pink or white flowers.
- fancy dress ball — a ball at which the guests wear fancy dress
- fandango on core — (jargon, programming) (Unix/C, from the Mexican dance) In C, a wild pointer that runs out of bounds, causing a core dump, or corrupts the malloc arena in such a way as to cause mysterious failures later on, is sometimes said to have "done a fandango on core". On low-end personal machines without an MMU, this can corrupt the operating system itself, causing massive lossage. Other frenetic dances such as the rhumba, cha-cha, or watusi, may be substituted. See aliasing bug, precedence lossage, smash the stack, memory leak, memory smash, overrun screw, core.
- fantail goldfish — an artificially bred, hardy variety of goldfish, usually oval-shaped and deep orange or calico, with a deeply cleft, four-lobed tail held in line with the body.
- farquhar islands — an island group in the Indian Ocean: administratively part of the Seychelles
- fashion designer — creator of clothing designs
- fashion industry — the industry that deals with the world of fashion
- federation wheat — an early-maturing drought-resistant variety of wheat developed by William Farrar in 1902
- feeblemindedness — Quality of being feeble-minded; weak intellect.
- feedback control — (electronics) A control system which monitors its effect on the system it is controlling and modifies its output accordingly. For example, a thermostat has two inputs: the desired temperature and the current temperature (the latter is the feedback). The output of the thermostat changes so as to try to equalise the two inputs. Computer disk drives use feedback control to position the read/write heads accurately on a recording track. Complex systems such as the human body contain many feedback systems that interact with each other; the homeostasis mechanisms that control body temperature and acidity are good examples.
- feel constrained — If you feel constrained to do something, you feel that you must do it, even though you would prefer not to.
- feira de santana — a city in BahÍa state, E Brazil.
- feline distemper — distemper1 (def 1c).
- fend for oneself — to manage by oneself; get along without help
- ferdinand marcos — Ferdinand E(dralin) [ed-ruh-lin] /ˈɛd rə lɪn/ (Show IPA), 1917–1989, Philippine political leader: president 1965–86.
- ferricyanic acid — a brown, crystalline, unstable, water-soluble solid, H 3 Fe(CN) 6 , obtained by the interaction of a ferricyanide and an acid.
- ferrocyanic acid — a white, crystalline, unstable, water-soluble solid, H 4 Fe(CN) 6 , obtained by the interaction of a ferrocyanide and an acid.
- ferruginous duck — a common European duck, Aythyra nyroca, having reddish-brown plumage with white wing bars
- field dependence — a psychological trait associated with having an external locus of orientation (contrasted with field independence).
- fielding average — a measure of the fielding ability of a player, obtained by dividing the number of put-outs and assists by the number of put-outs, assists, and errors and carrying out the result to three decimal places. A player with ten errors in 600 chances has a fielding average of .984.
- finance director — financial manager
- financial doping — the situation in which a sports franchise borrows heavily in order to contract and pay high-performing players, jeopardizing their long-term financial future
- find favour with — to be approved of by someone
- find one's level — to find one's most suitable place socially, professionally, etc
- find one's voice — If someone finds their voice, they start to speak in spite of fear or surprise or difficult circumstances.
- finished product — the product that emerges at the end of a manufacturing process
- fisherman's bend — a knot made by taking a round turn on the object to which the rope is to be fastened, passing the end of the rope around the standing part and under the round turn, and securing the end.
- fishing industry — the industry of catching fish
- fishskin disease — ichthyosis
- fixed-price menu — In a restaurant, the cost of a meal on a fixed-price menu stays the same and does not vary.
- flat-bed scanner — a type of optical scanner having a flat, stationary surface on which a page is scanned by a moving head.
- flight attendant — an airline employee who serves meals, attends to passengers' comfort, etc., during a flight.
- flight indicator — artificial horizon (def 3).
- floridean starch — the storage polysaccharide of red algae.
- food intolerance — an intolerance of a specific type of food, causing an adverse reaction
- food irradiation — the exposure of food to electromagnetic radiation to kill bacteria and retard deterioration
- fool around with — have casual sex
- foot in the door — If you say that something helps someone to get their foot in the door or their toe in the door, you mean that it gives them an opportunity to start doing something new, usually in an area that is difficult to succeed in.
- for the duration — If you say that something will happen for the duration, you mean that it will happen for as long as a particular situation continues.
- forbid the banns — to raise an objection to a marriage announced in this way
- force one's hand — the terminal, prehensile part of the upper limb in humans and other primates, consisting of the wrist, metacarpal area, fingers, and thumb.
- forced vibration — Forced vibration is a type of vibration in which a force is repeatedly applied to a mechanical system.
- fore and aft rig — a sail set in a line from one end the other of a vessel rather than in a square
- fore-and-aft rig — a rig in which the principal sails are fore-and-aft.
- forked lightning — Forked lightning is lightning that divides into two or more parts near the ground.
- forward analysis — An analysis which determines properties of the output of a program from properties of the inputs.
- forward chaining — A data-driven technique used in constructing goals or reaching inferences derived from a set of facts. Forward chaining is the basis of production systems. Oppose backward chaining.
- forward contract — a contract to buy or sell an asset at a point in the future at a previously agreed price