18-letter words containing n, p
- costume department — the department in a theatre or television company that is responsible for actors' costumes
- counter-adaptation — the act of adapting.
- counter-hypothesis — a proposition, or set of propositions, set forth as an explanation for the occurrence of some specified group of phenomena, either asserted merely as a provisional conjecture to guide investigation (working hypothesis) or accepted as highly probable in the light of established facts.
- counter-productive — Something that is counter-productive achieves the opposite result from the one that you want to achieve.
- counterprogramming — the practice of scheduling a program opposite another program, esp. a popular one, that appeals to a different kind of audience, as in placing a romantic film directed at women opposite a sports program mainly watched by men
- counterproposition — a proposition made in place of or in opposition to a preceding one.
- countertherapeutic — Working against a therapy.
- coupling capacitor — A coupling capacitor is a capacitor that is used to transmit an alternating current signal from one node to another.
- cranial osteopathy — osteopathy that focuses on the cranium and the spine
- creatine phosphate — phosphocreatine.
- creeping featurism — (jargon) /kree'ping fee'chr-izm/ (Or "feature creep") A systematic tendency to load more chrome and features onto systems at the expense of whatever elegance they may have possessed when originally designed. "The main problem with BSD Unix has always been creeping featurism." More generally, creeping featurism is the tendency for anything to become more complicated because people keep saying "Gee, it would be even better if it had this feature too". The result is usually a patchwork because it grew one ad-hoc step at a time, rather than being planned. Planning is a lot of work, but it's easy to add just one extra little feature to help someone, and then another, and another, .... When creeping featurism gets out of hand, it's like a cancer. Usually this term is used to describe computer programs, but it could also be said of the federal government, the IRS 1040 form, and new cars. A similar phenomenon sometimes afflicts conscious redesigns; see second-system effect. See also creeping elegance.
- creeping paralysis — any slow process that causes a system, government, etc, to stop working efficiently
- criminal profiling — the analysis of a person's psychological and behavioural characteristics, so as to assess whether they are likely to have committed a crime under investigation
- cross-disciplinary — linking two or more fields of study
- crown-jewel option — an option given by a company subjected to an unwelcome takeover bid to a friendly firm, allowing this firm to buy one or more of its best businesses if the bid succeeds
- crystal microphone — a microphone that uses a piezoelectric crystal to convert sound energy into electrical energy
- cumberland plateau — division of the W Appalachians, extending from S W.Va. to N Ala.
- currency principle — the principle that banks should be permitted to issue notes only against bullion or coin.
- cursor dipped in x — (jargon) The metaphorical source of the electronic equivalent of a poisoned-pen letter. Derived from English metaphors of the form "pen dipped in X" (where X = e.g. "acid", "bile", "vitriol"). These map over neatly to this hackish usage (the cursor being what moves, leaving letters behind, when one is composing on-line). "Talk about a nastygram! He must've had his cursor dipped in acid when he wrote that one!"
- customs inspection — an inspection carried out by a customs department
- cyclopean concrete — concrete containing stones larger than 6 inches (15 cm).
- daisywheel printer — (printer) A kind of impact printer where the characters are arranged on the ends of the spokes of a wheel (resembling the petals on a daisy). The wheel (usually made of plastic) is rotated to select the character to print and then an electrically operated hammer mechanism bends the selected spoke forward slightly, sandwiching an ink ribbon between the character and the paper, as in a typewriter. One advantage of this arrangement over that of a typewriter is that different wheels may be inserted to produce different typefaces.
- deanthropomorphism — the ridding of philosophy or religion of anthropomorphic beliefs and doctrines.
- decachlorobiphenyl — (organic compound) The fully chlorinated polychlorinated biphenyl containing ten chlorine atoms.
- decision procedure — a procedure, as an algorithm, for determining in a finite number of steps the validity of any of a certain class of propositions.
- decompartmentalize — to remove excessive compartmentalization from (an organization)
- deep-discount bond — a fixed-interest security that pays little or no interest but is issued at a substantial discount to its redemption value, thus largely substituting capital gain for income
- deep-sea fisherman — a person who takes part in deep-sea fishing
- deficiency payment — a payment made to a commodity producer that represents the difference between the market price and the guaranteed price
- definitive plumage — the plumage of a bird that, once attained, does not change significantly in color or pattern for the rest of the bird's life.
- delmarva peninsula — a peninsula of the northeast US, between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic
- departmental store — a department store.
- dependency grammar — a type of generative grammar in which grammatical structure is determined by the relationship between a governor and its dependents
- dependent variable — a variable in a mathematical equation or statement whose value depends on that taken on by the independent variable
- desalination plant — a factory where salt is removed from salt water in order to make the water suitable for drinking and irrigation
- desktop publishing — Desktop publishing is the production of printed materials such as newspapers and magazines using a desktop computer and a laser printer, rather than using conventional printing methods. The abbreviation DTP is also used.
- developing country — a nonindustrialized poor country that is seeking to develop its resources by industrialization
- development period — a length of time during which a company grows
- development system — a computer system, including hardware and software, that is specifically designed to aid in the development of software and interfaces
- devil's paintbrush — a perennial European hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum) with leafless flower stalks bearing a cluster of orange-red heads: now a common weed in N U.S. and Canada
- diabetes insipidus — a disorder of the pituitary gland causing excessive thirst and excretion of large quantities of dilute urine
- diazonium compound — any of a series of compounds that contain the group ArN 2 –, in which Ar represents an aryl group.
- didaskaleinophobia — The fear of going to school.
- didot point system — a Continental system of measurement for type, based on a unit of 0.0148 inches (0.3759 mm).
- dietary supplement — a substance taken in addition to what you eat in order to promote health
- dimethyltryptamine — a hallucinogenic drug, C 12 H 16 N 2 , with an action of short duration. Abbreviation: DMT.
- diphtheria vaccine — a vaccine used to produce immunity against diphtheria
- disability pension — a pension paid to people who are unable to continue to work because of a disability
- discharge printing — a fabric-printing method in which the material is dyed and then certain areas are discharged so as to permit the original hue or its color replacement to act as a pattern against the colored ground.
- dispatch documents — documents sent with a parcel, etc, detailing information such as contents, delivery address, etc