18-letter words containing n, e, c, s
- cat's cry syndrome — a complex of congenital malformations in human infants caused by a chromosomal aberration and in which the infant emits a mewing cry.
- catalogue raisonne — a descriptive catalogue, esp one covering works of art in an exhibition or collection
- catalonian jasmine — a shrub, Jasminum grandiflorum, of India, having crimson-tinged, fragrant white flowers, grown as an ornamental and for perfume.
- catch one's breath — When you catch your breath while you are doing something energetic, you stop for a short time so that you can start breathing normally again.
- catherine of siena — Saint. 1347–80, Italian mystic and ascetic; patron saint of the Dominican order. Feast day: April 29
- cauliflower fungus — a large edible white to yellowish cauliflowerlike mushroom, Sparassis radicata, widely distributed in North America.
- causa sine qua non — an indispensable condition; requisite.
- celestial guidance — the guidance of a spacecraft or missile by reference to the position of one or more celestial bodies
- center of symmetry — a point within a crystal through which any straight line extends to points on opposite surfaces of the crystal at equal distances.
- centralized school — a public school formed from the pupils and teachers of a number of discontinued smaller schools, especially in a rural district.
- centre of pressure — the point in a body at which the resultant pressure acts when the body is immersed in a fluid
- centum call second — (unit) (CCS) A unit used (in North America) to quantify the total traffic running in a network. 1 CCS is 100 call-seconds. That means 1 CCS could be 2 calls of 50 seconds duration or 20 calls of 5 seconds duration.
- cervical screening — a screening for cervical cancer
- cesarean (section) — a surgical operation for delivering a baby by cutting through the mother's abdominal and uterine walls
- chambered nautilus — nautilus (def 1).
- change one's spots — to reform one's character
- change the subject — to select a new topic of conversation
- chattering classes — The chattering classes are people such as journalists, broadcasters, or public figures who comment on events but have little or no influence over them.
- chebyshev equation — Tchebycheff equation.
- chew someone's ear — to reprimand severely
- chickenheartedness — Alternative form of chicken-heartedness.
- children of israel — the Jews; Hebrews
- children's crusade — a crusade to recover Jerusalem from the Saracens, undertaken in 1212 by thousands of French and German children who perished, were sold into slavery, or were turned back.
- chinese fire drill — a state of chaotic, often clamorous disorder.
- chinese gooseberry — kiwi (sense 2)
- chinese revolution — the overthrow of the last Manchu emperor and the establishment of a republic in China (1911–12)
- chinese water deer — a small Chinese or Korean deer, Hydropotes inermis, having tusks and no antlers: introduced into England and France
- chinese watermelon — a tropical Asian vine, Benincasa hispida, of the gourd family, having a brown, hairy stem, large, solitary, yellow flowers, and white, melonlike fruit.
- chrétien de troyes — 12th century, French poet, who wrote the five Arthurian romances Erec; Cligès; Lancelot, le chevalier de la charette; Yvain, le chevalier au lion; and Perceval, le conte del Graal (?1155–?1190), the first courtly romances
- christian brethren — Brother of the Christian Schools.
- christian brothers — a religious congregation of laymen founded in France in 1684 for the education of the poor
- christian democrat — a member or supporter of a Christian Democratic party
- christian endeavor — an organization of young people of various evangelical Protestant churches, formed in 1881 to promote Christian principles and service.
- christian reformed — of or relating to a Protestant denomination (Christian Reformed Church) organized in the U.S. in 1857 by groups that had seceded from the Dutch Reformed Church.
- christine de pisan — ?1364–?1430, French poet and prose writer, born in Venice. Her works include ballads, rondeaux, lays, and a biography of Charles V of France
- chromatic semitone — the pitch difference between one note and its sharpened or flattened equivalent
- cigar-store indian — a wooden statue of an American Indian, traditionally displayed at the entrance of cigar stores.
- citizen journalism — the involvement of non-professionals in reporting news, esp in blogs and other websites
- citizenship papers — the document stating that a naturalized person has been formally declared a citizen
- civil disobedience — Civil disobedience is the refusal by ordinary people in a country to obey laws or pay taxes, usually as a protest.
- clark's nutcracker — a nutcracker, Nucifraga columbiana, of western North America, having pale gray plumage and black and white wings and tail.
- classical armenian — the oldest form of the Armenian language according to written sources, in use from the 5th to the 18th century.
- classified section — the part of a publication that contains classified advertising
- clean as a whistle — If you describe something as clean as a whistle, you mean that it is completely clean.
- clean up one's act — to start to behave in a responsible manner
- cleopatra's needle — either of two Egyptian obelisks, originally set up at Heliopolis about 1500 bc: one was moved to the Thames Embankment, London, in 1878, the other to Central Park, New York, in 1880
- closed corporation — a corporation the stock of which is owned by a small number of persons and is rarely traded on the open market
- closed-box testing — functional testing
- closure conversion — (theory) The transformation of continuation passing style code so that the only free variables of functions are names of other functions. See also Lambda lifting.
- coals to newcastle — If someone is taking coals to Newcastle, they are trying to give or sell someone something that they already have a lot of.