20-letter words containing o, c, a, n
- there is no call for — If you say that there is no call for someone to behave in a particular way, you are criticizing their behaviour, usually because you think it is rude.
- thermal conductivity — the amount of heat per unit time per unit area that can be conducted through a plate of unit thickness of a given material, the faces of the plate differing by one unit of temperature.
- thermodynamic system — a system whose states of equilibrium can be specified by a few macroscopic properties.
- thioantimonious acid — any of a group of hypothetical acids, H3SbS3, HSbS2, and H4Sb2S5, known only in the forms of their salts in solution
- thomas of erceldoune — Thomas of, Thomas of Erceldoune.
- thought transference — transference of thought by extrasensory means from the mind of one individual to another; telepathy.
- three-thorned acacia — honey locust.
- to blow hot and cold — If someone blows hot and cold, they keep changing their attitude towards something, sometimes being very enthusiastic and at other times expressing no interest at all.
- to clean up your act — If someone who has been behaving badly cleans up their act, they start to behave in a more acceptable or responsible way.
- to cost someone dear — If something that someone does costs them dear, they suffer a lot as a result of it.
- to get your own back — If you get your own back on someone, you have your revenge on them because of something bad that they have done to you.
- to keep your balance — If you keep your balance, for example, when standing in a moving vehicle, you remain steady and do not fall over. If you lose your balance, you become unsteady and fall over.
- to reach new heights — to become higher than ever before
- to stick in the craw — to be unacceptable or displeasing to someone
- tom, dick, and harry — the ordinary person; people generally; everyone: They invited every Tom, Dick, and Harry to the party.
- tom, dick, and jerry — a hot mixed drink containing rum, brandy, egg, nutmeg, and sometimes milk
- too much information — I don't want to hear any more
- toxemia of pregnancy — an abnormal condition of pregnancy characterized by hypertension, fluid retention, edema, and the presence of protein in the urine.
- traditional medicine — systems of medicine developed before the era of modern medicine, based on cultural beliefs and practices handed down from generation to generation
- transcendental logic — (in Kantian epistemology) the study of the mind with reference to its perceptions of external objects and to the objective truth of such perceptions.
- transposed conjugate — adjoint (def 2).
- transposition cipher — a cipher that rearranges the letters of the plain text in a different sequence.
- troilus and cressida — a satiric comedy (1598–1602?) by Shakespeare.
- tropical continental — a type of warm, dry air mass originating at low latitudes over land areas
- tropical disturbance — a very weak, or incipient, tropical cyclone.
- ultimate constituent — an element of a construction that cannot be further divided into grammatical constituents: the morphemes of an utterance are usually considered to be its ultimate constituents.
- university education — a course of study undertaken and completed at a university
- unsaddling enclosure — the area at a racecourse where horses are unsaddled after a race and often where awards are given to owners, trainers, and jockeys
- upper income bracket — a grouping of the highest earning tax payers
- van der waals forces — weak electrostatic forces between atoms and molecules caused by transient distortions in the distribution of electrons in the interacting atoms or molecules
- vertical combination — the integration within one company of individual businesses working separately in related phases of the production and sale of a product.
- vertical envelopment — envelopment of an enemy accomplished by parachuting and landing airborne troops at the rear of the enemy's position.
- vertical integration — the joining together of all companies or firms involved in manufacturing a product into one company or firm
- vitoria de conquista — a city in Bahía state, E central Brazil.
- vocalic alliteration — the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group (consonantal alliteration) as in from stem to stern, or with a vowel sound that may differ from syllable to syllable (vocalic alliteration) as in each to all. Compare consonance (def 4a).
- vocational education — educational training that provides practical experience in a particular occupational field, as agriculture, home economics, or industry.
- voice over broadband — a transmission technique that enables a user to make and receive telephone calls over a broadband connection
- voluntary redundancy — a financial package to encourage employees to voluntarily leave an organization that needs to restructure
- war production board — the board (1942–45) that supervised and regulated the production and sale of matériel essential to the logistics of World War II. Abbreviation: WPB, W.P.B.
- wardrobe malfunction — an embarrassing situation caused by the clothes a person is wearing
- watch someone's back — the rear part of the human body, extending from the neck to the lower end of the spine.
- watcom international — (company) A provider of application development tools and IBM PC-based SQL database servers. Founded in 1974, Watcom initially focused on scientific and engineering markets establishing itself as a supplier of programming and information tools worldwide, serving customers in 60 countries with highly regarded products such as WATFOR-77 for mainframes, minicomputers and PCs. Since the introduction of Watcom C in 1988, the company has emerged as an industry leader in optimising compilers for 16 and 32-bit Intel-based IBM PCs. Moving into the client/server market in 1992, Watcom introduced Watcom SQL, including SQL database servers for multi-user networks and single-user stand-alone applications. The product has since been incorporated into Powersoft's PowerBuilder development environment and the Powersoft Enterprise Series. In June, 1993, Watcom launched VX*REXX, an integrated visual development environment for OS/2. In February 1994, Watcom became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Powersoft Corporation which merged with Sybase Inc. on 13 February 1995. Today the company addresses a broad range of application developers, including corporate MIS professionals, system integrators, VARs and independent software vendors. Watcom has strategic relationships with IBM, Lotus, Microsoft, Intel and Novell. Based on its academic roots, Watcom maintains a research relationship with the nearby University of Waterloo. Watcom's products include the Watcom SQL databases, Watcom C/C++, and Watcom VX*REXX 2.1. Ian McPhee is President and Chief Executive Officer, David Boswell is Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Craig Dynes is Vice President of Finance and David Yach is Vice President of Development. Headquarters: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
- webster's dictionary — Informal. a dictionary of the English language, especially American English, such as Dictionary.com.
- western civilization — European culture, thought
- weston standard cell — a primary cell used as a standard of emf, producing 1.018636 volts: consists of a mercury anode and a cadmium amalgam cathode in an electrolyte of saturated cadmium sulphate
- whole-life insurance — a type of insurance with a savings element that is guaranteed to pay out on death provided premiums have been paid as required by the policy
- whyte classification — a system for classifying steam locomotives according to the total number of wheels on the front trucks, drivers, and rear trucks, in that order. For example, a Pacific locomotive is designated as 4-6-2.
- wide-angle converter — a person or thing that converts.
- wilson cloud chamber — cloud chamber.
- winter olympic games — an international contest of winter sports, esp skiing, held every four years