9-letter words containing f, i, n, a
- link farm — (file system, Unix) A directory tree that contains mostly symbolic links to files in a master directory tree of files. Link farms save space when one is maintaining several nearly identical copies of the same source tree - for example, when the only difference is architecture-dependent object files. They also mean that changes to the master tree are instantly visible in the link farm. Good text editors provide the option to replace a link with a new version of the target file when saving thus allowing the farm to have its own versions of just those files that differ from the master tree. E.g. "Let's freeze the source and then rebuild the FROBOZZ-3 and FROBOZZ-4 link farms." Link farms may also be used to get around restrictions on the number of "-I" (include-file directory) arguments on older C preprocessors. However, they can also get completely out of hand, becoming the file system equivalent of spaghetti code.
- loanshift — change or extension of the meaning of a word through the influence of a foreign word, as in the application in English of the meaning “profession” to the word calling through the influence of Latin vocātio.
- magnifico — a Venetian nobleman.
- magnified — Having been visually enlarged by the process of magnification.
- magnifier — a person or thing that magnifies.
- magnifies — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of magnify.
- mainframe — a large computer, often the hub of a system serving many users.
- manfriend — A male friend.
- manifesto — a public declaration of intentions, opinions, objectives, or motives, as one issued by a government, sovereign, or organization.
- manifests — Plural form of manifest.
- manifolds — Plural form of manifold.
- mansfield — a city in W Nottinghamshire, in central England.
- mean life — the average time of existence of an unstable or reactive entity, such as a nucleus, elementary particle, charge carrier, etc; lifetime. It is equal to the half-life divided by 0.693 15
- meiofauna — Minute interstitial animals living in soil and aquatic sediments.
- minecraft — a type of warship for sweeping mines at sea.
- mineshaft — A vertical hole, sunk down through the strata to reach the mineral which was to be mined.
- modafinil — A stimulant often used in the treatment of various sleep disorders, having the chemical formula C15H15NO2S.
- nafcillin — A beta-lactam antibiotic of the penicillin class.
- nail file — a small file of metal or cardboard, for trimming, smoothing, or shaping the fingernails and sometimes having a point for removing dirt from under them.
- nancified — effeminate
- nefarious — extremely wicked or villainous; iniquitous: a nefarious plot.
- nightfall — the coming of night; the end of daylight; dusk.
- nonfading — not fading
- nonfamily — Not a member of the family.
- nonfilial — not involving a parent-child relationship
- nonfiscal — not involving government funds
- nontariff — Not a tariff.
- nuff said — used to indicate that the preceding statement is sufficient
- o'faolain — Seán [shawn] /ʃɔn/ (Show IPA), 1900–91, Irish writer and teacher.
- of a kind — a class or group of individual objects, people, animals, etc., of the same nature or character, or classified together because they have traits in common; category: Our dog is the same kind as theirs.
- officiant — a person who officiates at a religious service or ceremony.
- officinal — kept in stock by apothecaries, as a drug. Compare magistral (def 1).
- olfaction — the act of smelling.
- painfully — affected with, causing, or characterized by pain: a painful wound; a painful night; a painful memory.
- pan-fried — Pan-fried food is food that has been cooked in hot fat or oil in a frying pan.
- paraffine — paraffin.
- paraffiny — of, relating to, or characteristic of paraffin; covered with or smelling of paraffin
- plaintful — complaining or lamenting
- plaintiff — a person who brings suit in a court (opposed to defendant).
- plan file — (operating system) On Unix systems that support finger, the ".plan" file in a user's home directory is displayed when the user is fingered. This feature was originally intended to be used to keep potential fingerers apprised of one's location and near-future plans, but has been turned almost universally to humorous and self-expressive purposes (like a sig block). See also Hacking X for Y. A later innovation in plan files was the introduction of "scrolling plan files" which are one-dimensional animations made using only the printable ASCII character set, carriage return and line feed, avoiding terminal specific escape sequences, since the finger command will (for security reasons; see letterbomb) not pass the escape character. Scrolling .plan files have become art forms in miniature, and some sites have started competitions to find who can create the longest running, funniest, and most original animations. A compiler (ASP) is available on Usenet for producing them. Typical animation components include: See also twirling baton.
- planiform — having a flattened shape, as an anatomical joint.
- poriferan — any animal of the phylum Porifera, comprising the sponges.
- profanity — the quality of being profane; irreverence.
- raffinate — the part of a liquid, especially an oil, remaining after its more soluble components have been extracted by a solvent.
- raffinose — a colorless, crystalline trisaccharide, C 1 8 H 3 2 O 1 6 ⋅5H 2 O, with little or no sweetness, occurring in the sugar beet, cottonseed, etc., and breaking down to fructose, glucose, and galactose on hydrolysis.
- rain frog — a tree frog, especially a spring peeper.
- rainproof — impervious to rain; keeping out or unaffected by rain: a rainproof cover; a rainproof coat.
- rankshift — (in systemic linguistics) to use a unit as a constituent of another unit of the same or lower rank on the rank scale, as in using the phrase next door within the phrase the boy next door or the clause that you met yesterday within the phrase the girl that you met yesterday.
- refashion — a prevailing custom or style of dress, etiquette, socializing, etc.: the latest fashion in dresses.
- refinable — to bring to a fine or a pure state; free from impurities: to refine metal, sugar, or petroleum.