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16-letter words containing f, e, r, t

  • 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 the draught — to be short of money
  • feel-good factor — When journalists refer to the feel-good factor, they mean that people are feeling hopeful and optimistic about the future.
  • feeping creature — [feeping creaturism] An unnecessary feature; a bit of chrome that, in the speaker's judgment, is the camel's nose for a whole horde of new features.
  • feira de santana — a city in BahÍa state, E Brazil.
  • feline distemper — distemper1 (def 1c).
  • fellow traveller — a companion on a journey
  • feme-sole trader — a married woman who is entitled to carry on business on her own account and responsibility, independently of her husband.
  • fermat's theorem — the theorem that an integer raised to a prime power leaves the same remainder as the integer itself when divided by the prime.
  • ferroelectricity — (physics) The electric polarization of a substance (spontaneous presence of a dipole moment) that is analagous to ferromagnetism.
  • ferrous sulphate — an iron salt with a saline taste, usually obtained as greenish crystals of the heptahydrate, which are converted to the white monohydrate above 100°C: used in inks, tanning, water purification, and in the treatment of anaemia. Formula: FeSO4
  • fertile crescent — an agricultural region extending from the Levant to Iraq.
  • fertile material — material which can be converted into a fissile material by a neutron-induced nuclear reaction, as uranium-238 or thorium-232
  • fertility clinic — a place at which a couple who are unable to conceive may receive medical advice and treatments to help them to have a child
  • fertility factor — a sex-determining chromosome or gene.
  • fertility symbol — an object, esp a phallic symbol, used in fertility-cult ceremonies to symbolize regeneration
  • feulgen reaction — a reaction in which an aldehyde combines with a modified Schiff's reagent to produce a purplish compound: used especially to test for the presence of DNA
  • fictitious force — any force that is postulated to account for apparent deviations from Newton's laws of motion appearing in an accelerated reference system.
  • fifth-generation — denoting developments in computer design to produce machines with artificial intelligence
  • filter cigarette — a cigarette with a filter tip
  • filter promotion — (algorithm)   In a generate and test algorithm, combining part of the filter with the generator in order to reduce the number of potential solutions generated. A trivial example: filter (< 100) [1..1000] ==> [1..99] where [1..n] generates the list of integers from 1 to n. Here the filter has been combined completely with the generator. This is an example of fusion.
  • filterable virus — a virus particle small enough to pass through a filter of diatomaceous earth or porcelain, which will not pass bacteria: chiefly historical or an informal indicator of size, as synthetic membrane filters now permit passage of the smallest virus.
  • finance director — financial manager
  • finance minister — a member of a government in charge of the financial affairs of a state etc
  • fingertip search — When the police carry out a fingertip search of a place, they examine it for evidence in a very detailed way.
  • finished product — the product that emerges at the end of a manufacturing process
  • fire regulations — rules intended to make sure that people and property stay safe in the event of a fire
  • fire-tube boiler — any boiler for generating steam by passing hot gases and other combustible products through tubes (fire tubes) immersed in water to a chimney or uptake.
  • first derivative — the derivative of a function: Velocity is the first derivative of distance with respect to time.
  • first generation — 1.   (architecture)   first generation computer. 2.   (language)   first generation language.
  • first lieutenant — an officer ranking next above second lieutenant and next below a captain.
  • first-aid worker — someone who is trained to give immediate medical help in an emergency
  • first-generation — being the first generation of a family to be born in a particular country.
  • first-time buyer — someone who is buying his or her first house
  • fisherman's knot — a knot for joining two ropes of equal thickness consisting of an overhand knot or double overhand knot by each rope round the other, so that the two knots jam when pulled tight
  • fissure eruption — the emergence of lava from a fissure in the ground rather than from a volcanic cone or vent
  • flabbergastation — (colloquial) Bewildered shock or surprise; the state or condition of being flabbergasted.
  • flabbergastingly — Surprisingly, astonishingly or amazingly.
  • flame cultivator — an implement that kills weeds by scorching them with a directed flow of flaming gas.
  • flash eliminator — a device fitted to the muzzle of a firearm to reduce the flash made by the ignited propellant gases
  • 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.
  • flat-bed scanner — a type of optical scanner having a flat, stationary surface on which a page is scanned by a moving head.
  • flatheaded borer — the larva of a metallic wood-boring beetle, having an expanded and flattened anterior end.
  • flettner control — servocontrol (def 3).
  • flibbertigibbets — Plural form of flibbertigibbet.
  • flibbertigibbety — Like a flibbertigibbet; flighty; scatterbrained.
  • floridean starch — the storage polysaccharide of red algae.
  • fluorescent lamp — a tubular electric discharge lamp in which light is produced by the fluorescence of phosphors coating the inside of the tube.
  • flutter tonguing — a method of sounding a wind instrument, esp the flute, with a rolling movement of the tongue
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