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22-letter words containing n, e, r, v

  • merry wives of windsor — a comedy (1598–1602?) by Shakespeare.
  • metasyntactic variable — (grammar)   Strictly, a variable used in metasyntax, but often used for any name used in examples and understood to stand for whatever thing is under discussion, or any random member of a class of things under discussion. The word foo is the canonical example. To avoid confusion, hackers never (well, hardly ever) use "foo" or other words like it as permanent names for anything. In filenames, a common convention is that any filename beginning with a metasyntactic-variable name is a scratch file that may be deleted at any time. To some extent, the list of one's preferred metasyntactic variables is a cultural signature. They occur both in series (used for related groups of variables or objects) and as singletons. Here are a few common signatures: bazola, ztesch: Stanford (from mid-'70s on). zxc, spqr, wombat: Cambridge University (England). shme: Berkeley, GeoWorks, Ingres. Pronounced /shme/ with a short /e/. blarg, wibble: New Zealand Of all these, only "foo" and "bar" are universal (and baz nearly so). The compounds foobar and "foobaz" also enjoy very wide currency. Some jargon terms are also used as metasyntactic names; barf and mumble, for example. See also Commonwealth Hackish for discussion of numerous metasyntactic variables found in Great Britain and the Commonwealth.
  • million electron volts — a unit of energy equal to the energy acquired by an electron in falling through a potential of 10 6 volts. Abbreviation: MeV .
  • multiplicative inverse — reciprocal (def 9).
  • name service switching — Domain Name System
  • native elm bark beetle — elm bark beetle (def 2).
  • negative reinforcement — form of conditioning
  • non-constructive proof — (logic)   (Or "existence proof") A proof that something exists that does not provide an example of that thing or a method for finding an example. (A constructive proof does provide such an example or method). For example, for any pair of finite real numbers n < 0 and p > 0 there exists a real number 0 < k < 1 such that f(k) = (1-k)*n + k*p = 0. A non-constructive proof might proceed by observing that as k changes continuously from 0 to 1, f(k) changes continuously from n to p and, since they lie either side of zero, f(k) must pass through zero for some intermediate value of k. This proof does not tell us what that value of k is, only that it exists.
  • non-restrictive clause — a relative clause that describes or supplements but is not essential in establishing the identity of the antecedent and is usually set off by commas in English. In This year, which has been dry, is bad for crops the clause which has been dry is a nonrestrictive clause.
  • nondestructive testing — any of several methods of detecting flaws in metals without causing damage. The most common techniques involve the use of X-rays, gamma rays, and ultrasonic vibrations
  • nonmonetary advantages — the beneficial aspects of an employment, such as the stimulation of the work, attractiveness of the workplace, or its nearness to one's home, that do not reflect its financial remuneration
  • on the crest of a wave — If you say that you are on the crest of a wave, you mean that you are feeling very happy and confident because things are going well for you.
  • open source initiative — (body)   (OSI) An organisation dedicated to managing and promoting the Open Source Definition for the good of the community.
  • over-industrialization — the large-scale introduction of manufacturing, advanced technical enterprises, and other productive economic activity into an area, society, country, etc.
  • overstay one's welcome — to stay (at a party, on a visit, etc), longer than pleases the host or hostess
  • parallel server option — Oracle Parallel Server
  • percussive maintenance — (jargon)   The fine art of whacking a device to get it working, possibly using a fine adjuster.
  • physiographic province — a geographic region in which climate and geology have given rise to an array of landforms different from those of surrounding regions.
  • positive reinforcement — encouragement
  • preventive maintenance — (PM) To bring down a machine for inspection or test purposes. See provocative maintenance, scratch monkey.
  • price variation clause — a clause in a contract allowing the seller to vary the selling price under certain conditions
  • private-equity company — an organization that uses private equity to gain control of and manage companies
  • privileged instruction — A machine code instruction that may only be executed when the processor is running in supervisor mode. Privileged instructions include operations such as I/O and memory management.
  • productivity agreement — an agreement whereby the employees of an organization agree to changes which are intended to improve productivity in return for an increase in pay or other benefits
  • quantitative character — a character or trait that is transmitted by quantitative inheritance.
  • reactive schizophrenia — a type of schizophrenia of rapid onset and brief duration that occurs in response to environmental factors.
  • received pronunciation — the pronunciation of British English considered to have the widest geographical distribution and the fewest regional peculiarities, originally the pronunciation of educated speakers in southern England and traditionally that used in the public schools and at Oxford and Cambridge universities, adopted by many speakers elsewhere in England and widely used in broadcasting. Abbreviation: RP.
  • reconstructive surgery — the restoration of appearance and function following injury or disease, or the correction of congenital defects, using the techniques of plastic surgery.
  • reproductive isolation — the conditions, as physiological or behavioral differences or geographical barriers, that prevent potentially interbreeding populations from cross-fertilization.
  • retroactive inhibition — the tendency for the retention of learned material or skills to be impaired by subsequent learning, esp by learning of a similar kind
  • reverse discrimination — the unfair treatment of members of majority groups resulting from preferential policies, as in college admissions or employment, intended to remedy earlier discrimination against minorities.
  • revolutionary calendar — the calendar of the French First Republic, adopted in 1793 and abandoned in 1805, consisting of 12 months, each of 30 days, and 5 intercalary days added at the end of the year (6 every fourth year). The months, beginning at the autumnal equinox, are Vendémiaire, Brumaire, Frimaire, Nivôse, Pluviôse, Ventôse, Germinal, Floréal, Prairial, Messidor, Thermidor, and Fructidor.
  • revolutions per minute — (unit)   (rpm, rarely: rotations per minute) A unit of angular velocity equal to 1/60 of a revolution per second.
  • safety integrity level — A safety integrity level is a relative level of risk reduction.
  • save the children fund — a development agency which raises money for deprived children around the world
  • selective transmission — a transmission in which the available forward and reverse gears may be engaged in any order, without passing progressively through the different changes of gear.
  • sell sb down the river — If someone sells you down the river, they betray you for some personal profit or advantage.
  • service set identifier — (networking)   (SSID) A 32-character unique identifier that distinguishes one wireless network from another. All devices attempting to connect to a specific network use the same SSID, which appears in the header of packets. Because an SSID can be intercepted, it does not supply any security to the network.
  • seventh-inning stretch — Baseball. a point in the game when spectators rise from their seats to relax by stretching their legs, usually after six and one-half innings.
  • single virtual storage — OS/VS2
  • slip something over on — to move, flow, pass, or go smoothly or easily; glide; slide: Water slips off a smooth surface.
  • somatic nervous system — the section of the nervous system responsible for sensation and control of the skeletal muscles
  • spinal accessory nerve — accessory nerve.
  • student volunteer army — a students' voluntary organization that aims to undertake useful work in communities, founded in 2010 to help clear up after a damaging earthquake in Christchurch
  • subliminal advertising — a form of advertising on film or television that employs subliminal images to influence the viewer unconsciously
  • substantive agreements — collective agreements that regulate jobs, pay, and conditions
  • the atlantic provinces — certain of the Canadian provinces with coasts facing the Gulf of St Lawrence or the Atlantic: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador
  • the authorized version — an English translation of the Bible published in 1611 under James I
  • the edinburgh festival — an arts festival held in Edinburgh in August
  • the emergency services — the public organizations whose job is to take quick action to deal with emergencies when they occur, especially the fire brigade, the police, and the ambulance service
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