21-letter words containing o, a, r
- aluminum monostearate — a white, water-insoluble powder, Al(OH) 2 C 18 H 35 O 2 , used as a drier in paints and as a thickener in lubricating oils.
- america on-line, inc. — (company, communications) (AOL) A US on-line service provider based in Vienna, Virginia, USA. AOL claims to be the largest and fastest growing provider of on-line services in the world, with the most active subscriber base. AOL offers its three million subscribers electronic mail, interactive newspapers and magazines, conferencing, software libraries, computing support, and on-line classes. In October 1994 AOL made Internet FTP available to its members and in May 1995, full Internet access including web. AOL's main competitors are Prodigy and Compuserve.
- american saddle horse — one of a breed of horses, raised originally in the U.S., that have high-stepping gaits and are bred to the three-gaited or five-gaited type.
- ammonioferric oxalate — ferric ammonium oxalate.
- amnesty international — an international organization founded in Britain in 1961 that works to secure the release of people imprisoned for their beliefs, to ban the use of torture, and to abolish the death penalty
- anders jonas ångström — Anders Jonas [an-derz joh-nuh s;; Swedish ahn-duh rs-yoo-nahs] /ˈæn dərz ˈdʒoʊ nəs;; Swedish ˈɑn dərsˈyu nɑs/ (Show IPA), 1814–74, Swedish astronomer and physicist.
- angle of polarization — the law that light will receive maximum polarization from a reflecting surface when it is incident to the surface at an angle (angle of polarization or polarizing angle) having a tangent equal to the index of refraction of the surface.
- angular magnification — the ratio of the angle subtended at the eye by an image formed by an optical instrument to the angle subtended at the unaided eye by the object
- aniline hydrochloride — a white, crystalline, water-soluble solid, C 6 H 5 NH 2 ⋅HCl, used chiefly as an intermediate in the manufacture of dyes, especially aniline black.
- antarctic archipelago — a group of islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, off the NW coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
- antarctic convergence — the fairly well-defined boundary that exists between the cold antarctic waters and the warmer waters to the north and can be traced around the world.
- antiferromagnetically — In an antiferromagnetic manner.
- antihemophilic factor — a protein that is essential to normal blood clotting and is lacking or deficient in persons having hemophilia A. Abbreviation: AHF.
- apologia pro vita sua — a religious autobiography (1864) of Cardinal John Henry Newman.
- apothecaries' measure — a system of liquid volume measure used in pharmacy in which 60 minims equal 1 fluid drachm, 8 fluid drachms equal 1 fluid ounce, and 20 fluid ounces equal 1 pint
- appellation controlee — a designation on the label of certain French wines, brandies, etc. guaranteeing that the contents meet established standards, as type of grape and location of vineyard
- appendicular skeleton — the girdles and skeleton of the limbs
- application developer — (job) Someone who does application development.
- applications software — application program
- appropriation account — an account showing how funds have been used
- argumentum ad hominem — fallacious argument that attacks not an opponent's beliefs but his motives or character
- argus tortoise beetle — any of several turtle-shaped leaf beetles, as Chelymorpha cassidea (argus tortoise beetle or milkweed tortoise beetle) which resembles the ladybird beetle and feeds primarily on bindweed and milkweed.
- arithmetic logic unit — the part of a central processing unit that performs arithmetic and logical operations
- arithmetic/logic unit — ALU.
- articles of agreement — a contract between the captain of a ship and a crew member regarding stipulations of a voyage, signed prior to and upon termination of a voyage.
- as a matter of course — If you do something as a matter of course, you do it as part of your normal work or way of life.
- as cool as a cucumber — If you say that someone is as cool as a cucumber, you are emphasizing that they are very calm and relaxed, especially when you would not expect them to be.
- as good as one's word — doing what one has undertaken or promised to do
- assisted reproduction — the use of medical techniques to bring about the conception and birth of a child, including artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, egg and embryo donation, and drug therapy.
- astronomical distance — the distance from one celestial body to another, measured in astronomical units, light-years, or parsecs.
- astronomical latitude — the angle between the direction of gravity at the observer's position and the plane of the celestial equator
- astronomical triangle — the spherical triangle formed by the great circles connecting a celestial object, the zenith, and the celestial pole.
- astronomical twilight — the period of time during which the sun is 18° below the horizon
- atmospheric inversion — inversion (def 12).
- atmospheric-inversion — an act or instance of inverting.
- atomic disintegration — a process resulting in the change of a radioactive nucleus, either by emission of an alpha, beta, or gamma ray or by fission, and producing a change in the original mass, atomic number, or energy
- atrioventricular node — a small mass of muscular fibers at the base of the wall between the atria, conducting impulses received from the sinoatrial node by way of the atrioventricular bundles and, under certain conditions, functioning for the sinoatrial node as pacemaker of the heart. Abbreviation: A-V node.
- australian cattle dog — a compact strongly-built dog of a breed with pricked ears and a smooth bluish-grey coat, often used for controlling and moving cattle
- aversive conditioning — a type of behavior conditioning in which noxious stimuli are associated with undesirable or unwanted behavior that is to be modified or abolished, as the use of nausea-inducing drugs in the treatment of alcoholism.
- axial-flow compressor — a device for compressing a gas by accelerating it tangentially by means of bladed rotors, to increase its kinetic energy, and then diffusing it through static vanes (stators), to increase its pressure
- background processing — the ability of a system to perform a low-priority task while, at the same time, dealing with a main application
- background projection — the projection from the rear of previously photographed material on a translucent screen, used as background for a television or motion-picture shot.
- bad conduct discharge — a discharge of a person from military service for an offense less serious than one for which a dishonorable discharge is given.
- baja california norte — a state of NW Mexico, in the N part of the Lower California peninsula. Capital: Mexicali. Pop: 2 487 700 (2000). Area: about 71 500 sq km (27 600 sq miles)
- banach-tarski paradox — (mathematics) It is possible to cut a solid ball into finitely many pieces (actually about half a dozen), and then put the pieces together again to get two solid balls, each the same size as the original. This paradox is a consequence of the Axiom of Choice.
- barbiturate poisoning — poisoning caused by overdose of a barbiturate
- barren ground caribou — a migrating caribou of the North American tundra and taiga, having many-branched slender antlers.
- barrier contraceptive — any form of contraceptive that prevents impregnation by physically preventing the sperm from reaching the egg
- basis of articulation — a configuration of the speech tract that represents the most neutral articulatory configuration for a given language.
- baudouin de courtenay — Jan Ignacy Niecisław [yahn ig-nah-tsi nye-tsis-lahf] /yɑn ɪgˈnɑ tsɪ ˈnyɛ tsɪsˌlɑf/ (Show IPA), 1845–1929, Polish linguist: pioneer in modern phonology.