16-letter words containing g, r, a, n
- appliance garage — a kitchen compartment or cabinet designed for housing frequently used small electric appliances.
- archaeomagnetism — an archaeological technique for dating certain clay objects by measuring the extent to which they have been magnetized by the earth's magnetic field
- armchair banking — the management of one's bank account or accounts using a computer, telephone, or television in the home or via the postal system
- as right as rain — If you say that someone is as right as rain, you mean that they are completely well or healthy again, for example when they have recovered from an illness or a shock.
- ascending rhythm — rising rhythm.
- asparaginic acid — aspartic acid.
- assigned numbers — (standard) The RFC STD 2 documenting the currently assigned values from several series of numbers used in network protocol implementations. This RFC is updated periodically and, in any case, current information can be obtained from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). If you are developing a protocol or application that will require the use of a link, socket, port, protocol, etc., you should contact the IANA to receive a number assignment.
- astroengineering — (scifi) The construction of megastructures in space by technologically advanced beings.
- at daggers drawn — If you say that two people are at daggers drawn, you mean they are having an argument and are still very angry with each other.
- attorney general — A country's Attorney General is its chief law officer, who advises its government or ruler.
- audience figures — the number of people regularly watching a television programme or listening to a radio programme
- aureate language — a style of poetic diction, used originally in 15th-century English poetry, characterized by the use of ornate phrases and Latinized coinages.
- austro-hungarian — of or relating to the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary (1867–1918)
- autoethnographic — Using ethnographic techniques to describe one's own life, or events in which one is a participant.
- back-propagation — (Or "backpropagation") A learning algorithm for modifying a feed-forward neural network which minimises a continuous "error function" or "objective function." Back-propagation is a "gradient descent" method of training in that it uses gradient information to modify the network weights to decrease the value of the error function on subsequent tests of the inputs. Other gradient-based methods from numerical analysis can be used to train networks more efficiently. Back-propagation makes use of a mathematical trick when the network is simulated on a digital computer, yielding in just two traversals of the network (once forward, and once back) both the difference between the desired and actual output, and the derivatives of this difference with respect to the connection weights.
- background check — an investigation into a person's origins and previous history
- background music — music of any kind that is played while some other activity is going on, so that people do not actively attend to it
- background noise — any type of noise that is not the sound that you are specifically listening to or monitoring
- background paper — a report or other piece of writing that is intended to provide contextual and historical information that will help people understand a particular topic or situation
- backward-looking — If you describe someone or something as backward-looking, you disapprove of their attitudes, ideas, or actions because they are based on old-fashioned opinions or methods.
- balloon mortgage — A balloon mortgage is a mortgage on which the repayments are relatively small until the large final payment.
- ballroom dancing — Ballroom dancing is a type of dancing in which a man and a woman dance together using fixed sequences of steps and movements.
- balsamic vinegar — Balsamic vinegar is a type of vinegar which tastes sweet and is made from grape juice.
- bargain basement — If you refer to something as a bargain basement thing, you mean that it is cheap and not very good quality.
- bargain-basement — very low-priced.
- bargaining agent — an organization, usually a trade union, that acts or bargains on behalf of a group of employees in collective bargaining
- bargaining level — the level within an organizational hierarchy, such as company level, national level, etc, at which collective bargaining takes place
- bargaining power — the ability of a person, group, or organization to exert influence over another party in a negotiation in order to achieve a deal which is favourable to themselves
- bargaining scope — the range of topics within the scope of a particular set of negotiations leading to a collective agreement
- bargaining table — a table around which the parties involved in a negotiation sit
- bastard mahogany — an Australian tree, Eucalyptus botryoides, of the myrtle family, having lance-shaped leaves and furrowed bark.
- bastard pointing — an imitation of tuck pointing, having a fillet made from the mortar of the joint.
- batch processing — manufacturing products or treating materials in batches, by passing the output of one process to subsequent processes
- bearing pedestal — an independent support for a bearing, usually incorporating a bearing housing
- belgian tervuren — one of a Belgian breed of medium-sized dogs having a long, straight coat, fawn to mahogany in color, differing from the Belgian sheepdog only in color.
- benguela current — a strong ocean current in the South Atlantic, flowing northward along the SW coast of Africa
- bermuda triangle — an area in the Atlantic Ocean bounded by Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Florida where ships and aeroplanes are alleged to have disappeared mysteriously
- birchbark biting — a Native Canadian craft in which designs are bitten onto bark from birch trees
- bismarck herring — marinaded herring, served cold
- bitterroot range — range of the Rocky Mountains, along the Ida.-Mont. border: highest peak, c. 11,000 ft (3,353 m)
- black propaganda — propaganda that does not come from the source it claims to come from
- bleaching powder — a white powder with the odour of chlorine, consisting of chlorinated calcium hydroxide with an approximate formula CaCl(OCl).4H2O. It is used in solution as a bleaching agent and disinfectant
- blended learning — the use of both classroom teaching and on-line learning
- blue-green algae — any of a division (Cyanophycota) of photosynthetic monerans, microorganisms that contain a blue pigment which obscures the chlorophyll; cyanobacteria
- bluegrass region — a region in central Kentucky, famous for its horse farms and fields of bluegrass.
- boarding kennels — a place where dog owners can pay to have their dogs looked after while they are away
- boarding officer — a coastguard who boards ships suspected of carrying illegal cargoes or posing a security risk
- bon gre, mal gre — whether willing or not; willy-nilly.
- botanical garden — a place where collections of plants and trees are kept for scientific study and exhibition
- bragg scattering — the diffraction phenomenon exhibited by a crystal bombarded with x-rays in such a way that each plane of the crystal lattice acts as a reflector (Bragg reflector)