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16-letter words containing f, e, d, r, o, a

  • 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.
  • feel-good factor — When journalists refer to the feel-good factor, they mean that people are feeling hopeful and optimistic about the future.
  • feme-sole trader — a married woman who is entitled to carry on business on her own account and responsibility, independently of her husband.
  • ferdinand marcos — Ferdinand E(dralin) [ed-ruh-lin] /ˈɛd rə lɪn/ (Show IPA), 1917–1989, Philippine political leader: president 1965–86.
  • ferrocyanic acid — a white, crystalline, unstable, water-soluble solid, H 4 Fe(CN) 6 , obtained by the interaction of a ferrocyanide and an acid.
  • finance director — financial manager
  • firework display — a public event at which fireworks are set alight
  • first-aid worker — someone who is trained to give immediate medical help in an emergency
  • flamborough head — a chalk promontory in NE England, on the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire
  • flat-bed plotter — a mechanized drafting device, usually computer driven, incorporating a moving pen whose horizontal and vertical range in two dimensions is limited only by the size of the bed of the device.
  • flatheaded borer — the larva of a metallic wood-boring beetle, having an expanded and flattened anterior end.
  • floridean starch — the storage polysaccharide of red algae.
  • focused strategy — a business strategy in which an organization divests itself of all but its core activities, using the funds raised to enhance the distinctive abilities that give it an advantage over its rivals
  • follow-my-leader — a game in which the players must repeat the actions of the leader
  • food intolerance — an intolerance of a specific type of food, causing an adverse reaction
  • for a good cause — If you say that something is for a good cause, you mean that it is worth doing or giving to because it will help other people, for example by raising money for charity.
  • for good measure — a unit or standard of measurement: weights and measures.
  • 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
  • forbush decrease — the sudden decrease in the intensity of cosmic rays after an increase in solar activity.
  • 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.
  • forefathers' day — the anniversary of the day (December 21, 1620, in Old Style December 11) on which the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Mass. Owing to an error in changing the date from the Old Style to the New, it is generally observed on December 22.
  • forward delivery — delivery at a future date.
  • forward exchange — a foreign bill purchased at a stipulated price and payable at a future date.
  • forwarding agent — freight forwarder.
  • founders' shares — shares awarded to the founders of a company and often granting special privileges
  • four-deal bridge — a version of bridge in which four hands only are played, the players then cutting for new partners
  • four-dimensional — of a space having points, or a set having elements, which require four coordinates for their unique determination.
  • four-masted brig — jackass bark (def 2).
  • fourth amendment — an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, prohibiting unlawful search and seizure of personal property.
  • fraises des bois — wild strawberries
  • francis townsend — Francis Everett, 1867–1960, U.S. physician and proposer of the Townsend plan.
  • franz josef land — an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, E of Spitzbergen and N of Novaya Zemlya: belongs to the Russian Federation.
  • freeboard length — the length of a vessel, measured on the summer load line from the fore side of the stem to some part of the stern, usually the after side of the rudderpost.
  • french indochina — an area in SE Asia, formerly a French colonial federation including Cochin-China, the protectorates of Annam, Cambodia, Tonkin, and Laos, and the leased territory of Kwangchowan: now comprising the three independent states of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Capital: Hanoi.
  • fringed polygala — a North American milkwort, Polygala paucifolia, having flowers with purplish-pink, winglike petals and a fringed tube.
  • front and center — If a topic or question is front and center, a lot of attention is being paid to it or a lot of people are talking about it.
  • front-end loader — a loader having a shovel or bucket at the end of an articulated arm located at the front of the vehicle.
  • funeral director — a person, usually a licensed embalmer, who supervises or conducts the preparation of the dead for burial and directs or arranges funerals.
  • gazetted officer — (in India) a senior official whose appointment is published in the government gazette
  • gold certificate — a former U.S. paper currency issued by the federal government for circulation from 1865 to 1933, equal to and redeemable for gold to a stated value.
  • gold-of-pleasure — a yellow-flowered Eurasian plant, Camelina sativa, widespread as a weed, esp in flax fields, and formerly cultivated for its oil-rich seeds: family Brassicaceae (crucifers)
  • grace-and-favour — (of a house, flat, etc) owned by the sovereign and granted free of rent to a person to whom the sovereign wishes to express gratitude
  • half life period — Physics. the time required for one half the atoms of a given amount of a radioactive substance to disintegrate.
  • head normal form — (theory, reduction)   (HNF) A term describing a lambda expression whose top level is either a variable, a data value, a built-in function applied to too few arguments, or a lambda abstraction whose body is not reducible. I.e. the top level is neither a redex nor a lambda abstraction with a reducible body. An expression in HNF may contain redexes in argument postions whereas a normal form may not. Compare Weak Head Normal Form.
  • hold a brief for — to argue for; champion
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