18-letter words containing o, n, c, r, e
- recovery operation — the process of locating and retrieving bodies, esp following an explosion or natural disaster
- recruiting officer — a person whose job is to recruit staff, esp on behalf of the military
- recursive function — a function defined in terms of the repeated application of a number of simpler functions to their own values, by specifying a base clause and a recursion formula
- reduction division — the first division of meiosis in which the number of chromosomes is reduced to half the original number.
- reduction strategy — (theory) An algorithm for deciding which redex(es) to reduce next. Different strategies have different termination properties in the presence of recursive functions or values. See string reduction, normal order reduction, applicative order reduction, parallel reduction
- reference counting — (programming) A garbage collection technique where each memory cell contains a count of the number of other cells which point to it. If this count reaches zero the cell is freed and its pointers to other cells are followed to decrement their counts, and so on recursively. This technique cannot cope with circular data structures. Cells in such structures refer (indirectly) to themselves and so will never have a zero reference count. This means they would never be reclaimed, even when there are no references from outside the structure.
- reflection density — a measure of the extent to which a surface reflects light or other electromagnetic radiation, equal to the logarithm to base ten of the reciprocal of the reflectance
- registered company — a company which has officially registered its business
- reinforced plastic — plastic with fibrous matter, such as carbon fibre, embedded in it to confer additional strength
- repeat performance — sth done again
- report an accident — If you report an accident, you inform an insurer or the police or other authorities that an accident has occurred.
- reprocessing plant — a plant where materials are treated in order to make them reusable
- reproduction proof — repro proof.
- rescind a contract — If an insurer rescinds an insurance contract, it terminates it because facts have been concealed or misrepresented by the proposer.
- residential school — (in Canada) a boarding school maintained by the Canadian government for Indian and Inuit children from sparsely populated settlements
- restoration comedy — English comedy of the period of the Restoration, stressing manners and social satire.
- restriction enzyme — any of a group of enzymes that catalyze the cleavage of DNA molecules at specific sites: used for gene splicing in recombinant DNA technology and for chromosome mapping.
- resurrection plant — a desert plant, Selaginella lepidophylla, occurring from Texas to South America, having stems that curl inward when dry.
- resuscitation room — an intensive care unit
- revolution counter — a device for counting or recording the number of revolutions made by a rotating shaft, as of a motor or engine.
- rock cornish (hen) — Cornish (sense 3) Cornish (sense 3b)
- rolling resistance — The rolling resistance of a wheel or ball is its resistance to movement caused by friction between it and the surface it is rolling on.
- roman architecture — buildings in style of ancient Rome
- roman congregation — any of the executive departments of the Curia Romana as the administration of the Roman Catholic Church.
- root canal therapy — endodontics.
- rotary clothesline — an apparatus of radiating spokes that support lines on which clothes are hung to dry
- rotational latency — (storage, hardware) The time for the start of the required sector on a disk to appear underneath the read/write head. The worst case is where it has just passed the head when the request is received. For a disk drive with N heads per surface, rotating at R revolutions per minute, the average rotational latency will be L = 30/NR seconds. Rotational latency is one component of access time.
- rotten to the core — person: wicked
- rubbish collection — the collection of domestic refuse for disposal
- running commentary — non-stop description of sth
- science dictionary — a specialized dictionary covering terms in the life, earth, and physical sciences, such as the online Science Dictionary on Dictionary.com. A science dictionary includes many technical terms with precise, specialized meanings—terms not normally found in general dictionaries—making it an invaluable resource for students and professionals in scientific fields.
- scientific officer — a police officer who carries out forensic examinations
- scissors-and-paste — designating or of a piece of writing that has been assembled from a variety of sources rather than by original research, often in a hasty or uninspired way
- scottish deerhound — one of a Scottish breed of large, tall hunting dogs having a medium-length, wiry, gray or reddish-fawn coat, originally developed for hunting and bringing down deer, and known as the royal dog of Scotland.
- scratch one's head — If you say that someone is scratching their head, you mean that they are thinking hard and trying to solve a problem or puzzle.
- scruff of the neck — If someone takes you by the scruff of the neck, they take hold of the back of your neck or collar suddenly and roughly.
- search-and-destroy — designed to find and destroy by bombing etc
- second triumvirate — the coalition and joint rule of the Roman Empire by Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian, begun in 43 bc
- second-degree burn — a burned place or area: a burn where fire had ripped through the forest.
- second-hand dealer — a person who deals in second-hand things, such as cars, or furniture
- secondary consumer — (in the food chain) a carnivore that feeds only upon herbivores.
- secondary deviance — deviant behavior that results from being publicly labeled as deviant and treated as an outsider.
- secondary diagonal — a diagonal line or plane.
- secondary emission — the emission of electrons (secondary electrons) from a material that is bombarded with electrons or ions.
- secondary industry — manufacturing, services, etc.
- secondary offering — the sale of a large block of outstanding stock off the floor of an exchange, usually by a major stockholder.
- secondary recovery — extraction of oil or natural gas under artificially induced pressure after the natural flow has ceased.
- secondary syphilis — the second stage of syphilis, characterized by eruptions of the skin and mucous membrane.
- security of tenure — (in Britain) the right of a tenant to continue to occupy a dwelling or site unless the landlord obtains a court order for possession of the property or termination of the tenancy agreement
- selective abortion — the aborting of particular embryos for medical or social reasons