22-letter words containing o, n, c, e, t
- conservation of parity — the principle that the parity of the total wave function describing a system of elementary particles is conserved. In fact it is not conserved in weak interactions
- conservative extension — a formal theory that includes among its theorems all the theorems of a given theory
- constructive criticism — helping to improve; promoting further development or advancement (opposed to destructive): constructive criticism.
- constructive dismissal — If an employee claims constructive dismissal, they begin a legal action against their employer in which they claim that they were forced to leave their job because of the behaviour of their employer.
- consummatory behaviour — any behaviour that leads directly to the satisfaction of an innate drive, e.g. eating or drinking
- context-sensitive menu — (operating system) A menu which appears in response to a user action (typically a mouse click) and whose contents are determined by which application window was clicked or has the input focus. Most GUIs use a secondary mouse button (right or middle) to call up a context-sensitive menu as the primary mouse button is normally used to interact with objects which are already visible. The context-sensitive menu often contains functions that are also available in a menu bar but the context-sensitive menu provides quick access to a subset of functions that are particularly relevant to the window area clicked on. The RISC OS WIMP uses only context-sensitive menus (always invoked using the middle mouse button). This saves screen space and reduces mouse movement compared to a menu bar.
- contextual advertising — a form of targeted advertising used on websites or other media, such as content displayed in mobile browsers
- continental philosophy — a general term for related philosophical traditions that originated in 20th-century continental Europe, including critical theory, deconstruction, existentialism, hermeneutics, phenomenology, and structuralism (contrasted with analytic philosophy).
- contingent beneficiary — a person who becomes the beneficiary if the primary beneficiary dies or is otherwise disqualified.
- continuous welded rail — a long, continuous rail formed by welding many short rails.
- contract of employment — a written agreement between an employer and an employee, that, taken together with the rights of each under statute and common law, determines the employment relations between them
- contradiction in terms — a term, phrase, or phenomenon containing self-contradictory parts
- conversational quality — (in public speaking) a manner of utterance that resembles the spontaneity and informality of relaxed personal conversation.
- convertible loan stock — a stock or bond that can be converted into a stated number of shares at a particular date
- cornell list processor — (CLP) A list processing language, an extension of CORC, used for simulation.
- coronary heart disease — any heart disorder caused by disease of the coronary arteries
- corporate manslaughter — the death of someone caused by an act of corporate negligence
- cotton-wool generation — the children and teenagers of the early 21st century, viewed as having been overprotected while growing up
- counterinterpretations — Plural form of counterinterpretation.
- counterrevolutionaries — Plural form of counterrevolutionary.
- countryside commission — (formerly, in Britain) a body which co-ordinated government activity in England and Wales in relation to the countryside
- course author language — (language) (CAL) The CAI language for the IBM 360.
- covered with confusion — greatly embarrassed
- criminal investigation — an investigation by the police into a crime
- curvature of the spine — a condition in which the spine is abnormally curved
- cut one's wisdom teeth — to arrive at the age of discretion
- cut someone some slack — to be less demanding of someone; ease up on someone
- cycle of reincarnation — A term coined by Ivan Sutherland ca. 1970 to refer to a well-known effect whereby function in a computing system family is migrated out to special-purpose peripheral hardware for speed, then the peripheral evolves toward more computing power as it does its job, then somebody notices that it is inefficient to support two asymmetrical processors in the architecture and folds the function back into the main CPU, at which point the cycle begins again. Several iterations of this cycle have been observed in graphics-processor (blitter) design, and at least one or two in communications and floating-point processors. Also known as "the Wheel of Life", "the Wheel of Samsara" and other variations of the basic Hindu/Buddhist theological idea.
- cylindrical coordinate — Usually, cylindrical coordinates. a member of a system of coordinates for locating a point in space by its polar coordinates and its perpendicular distance to the polar plane.
- cytidine monophosphate — a nucleotide constituent of ribonucleic acids; a phosphoric acid ester of cytidine. Abbreviation: CMP.
- dalton's atomic theory — the theory that matter consists of indivisible particles called atoms and that atoms of a given element are all identical and can neither be created nor destroyed. Compounds are formed by combination of atoms in simple ratios to give compound atoms (molecules). The theory was the basis of modern chemistry
- debt collection agency — a company that collects debts on behalf of creditors
- decimal classification — a system of classifying books in libraries by the use of numbers with decimals
- decompartmentalization — the act of decompartmentalizing
- delayed-action shutter — a camera shutter that opens after an interval set by the photographer
- denominational college — a college associated with a particular religious denomination
- denotational semantics — (theory) A technique for describing the meaning of programs in terms of mathematical functions on programs and program components. Programs are translated into functions about which properties can be proved using the standard mathematical theory of functions, and especially domain theory. Compare axiomatic semantics, operational semantics, standard semantics.
- deoxyribonucleoprotein — any of a class of nucleoproteins that yield DNA upon partial hydrolysis.
- department of commerce — the department of the U.S. federal government that promotes and administers domestic and foreign commerce. Abbreviation: DOC.
- descriptive cataloging — the aspect of cataloging concerned with the bibliographic and physical description of a book, recording, or other work, accounting for such items as author or performer, title, edition, and imprint as opposed to subject content.
- dicyclopentadienyliron — ferrocene (def 1).
- digital control system — (systems) (DCS) A digital computer used for real-time control of a dynamic system, usually in an industrial environment, possibly as part of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. A DCS samples feedback from the system under control and modifies the control signals in an attempt to achieve some desired behaviour. Analysis of such digital-analogue feedback systems can involve mathematical methods such as difference equations, Laplace transforms, z transfer functions, state space models and state transition matrices.
- dilation and curettage — a surgical method for the removal of diseased tissue or an early embryo from the lining of the uterus by means of scraping.
- direct public offering — A direct public offering is stock offered directly for sale to investors by a company without the use of underwriters or brokers.
- directional derivative — the limit, as a function of several variables moving along a given line from one specified point to another on the line, of the difference in the functional values at the two points divided by the distance between the points.
- directional microphone — a microphone that has a greater sensitivity to sounds coming from a particular area in front of it: used to eliminate unwanted sounds.
- director of admissions — a member of a university staff who is in overall charge of admissions to the university and its courses
- directory system agent — (DSA) The software that provides the X.500 Directory Service for a portion of the directory information base. Generally, each DSA is responsible for the directory information for a single organisation or organisational unit.
- disciplinary committee — a committee charged with examining alleged breaches of discipline within an organization, profession, etc and adjudicating on them
- distributed processing — a system consisting of a network of microcomputers performing certain functions and linked with a main computer used for more complex tasks