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15-letter words containing o, n, r, f, t

  • feast-or-famine — characterized by alternating, extremely high and low degrees of prosperity, success, volume of business, etc.: artists who lead a feast-or-famine life.
  • fencepost error — 1. (Rarely "lamp-post error") A problem with the discrete equivalent of a boundary condition, often exhibited in programs by iterative loops. From the following problem: "If you build a fence 100 feet long with posts 10 feet apart, how many posts do you need?" (Either 9 or 11 is a better answer than the obvious 10). For example, suppose you have a long list or array of items, and want to process items m through n; how many items are there? The obvious answer is n - m, but that is off by one; the right answer is n - m + 1. The "obvious" formula exhibits a fencepost error. See also zeroth and note that not all off-by-one errors are fencepost errors. The game of Musical Chairs involves a catastrophic off-by-one error where N people try to sit in N - 1 chairs, but it's not a fencepost error. Fencepost errors come from counting things rather than the spaces between them, or vice versa, or by neglecting to consider whether one should count one or both ends of a row. 2. (Rare) An error induced by unexpected regularities in input values, which can (for instance) completely thwart a theoretically efficient binary tree or hash coding implementation. The error here involves the difference between expected and worst case behaviours of an algorithm.
  • field woundwort — the plant Stachys arvensis
  • fighter command — a former unit of the Royal Air Force dedicated to the use of fighter aircraft, esp against enemy bombers and their escorts during WWII
  • finger-pointing — the imputation of blame or responsibility.
  • fire prevention — safety measures to decrease fire risk
  • fire water pond — A fire water pond is an area of water which is kept so it can be used if there is a fire.
  • fire-and-forget — used to describe a type of missile that, once fired, is able to guide itself to its target
  • first intention — See under intention (def 5a).
  • first responder — a person who is certified to provide medical care in emergencies before more highly trained medical personnel arrive on the scene: a firefighter trained as a first responder.
  • first-intention — an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result.
  • fission product — a nuclide produced either directly by nuclear fission or by the radioactive decay of such a nuclide
  • fission reactor — a nuclear reactor in which a fission reaction takes place
  • flapping router — (networking)   A router that transmits routing updates alternately advertising a destination network first via one route, then via a different route. Flapping routers are identified on more advanced protocol analysers such as the Network General (TM) Sniffer.
  • flatter oneself — to hold the self-satisfying or self-deluding belief (that)
  • flirtatiousness — The quality of being flirtatious.
  • floating charge — an unsecured charge on the assets of an enterprise that allows such assets to be used commercially until the enterprise ceases to operate or the creditor intervenes to demand collateral
  • floating screed — Building Trades. screed (def 3).
  • florida current — the part of the Gulf Stream which extends from the Florida Strait to Cape Hatteras.
  • flow of control — control flow
  • flowering plant — a plant that produces flowers, fruit, and seeds; angiosperm.
  • fluoridationist — One who supports the addition of fluoride to the public water supply.
  • fluorine dating — a method of determining the relative age of fossil bones found in the same excavation by comparing their fluorine content.
  • flying fortress — a heavy bomber, the B-17, with four radial piston engines, widely used over Europe and the Mediterranean by the U.S. Air Force in World War II.
  • food insecurity — an economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.
  • football ground — an area of land where football games are played
  • for a certainty — without doubt
  • for the present — being, existing, or occurring at this time or now; current: increasing respect for the present ruler of the small country.
  • for their pains — You say that something was all you got for your pains when you are mentioning the disappointing result of situation into which you put a lot of work or effort.
  • forbidden fruit — the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, tasted by Adam and Eve against God's prohibition. Gen. 2:17; 3:3.
  • fore-topgallant — being a sail, yard, or rigging belonging to a fore-topgallant mast.
  • forensic expert — an expert in applying scientific, technical or medical knowledge to the purposes of law
  • foreshortenings — Plural form of foreshortening.
  • foresightedness — care or provision for the future; provident care; prudence.
  • forest of arden — a region of N Warwickshire, part of a former forest: scene of Shakespeare's As You Like It
  • formal argument — (programming)   (Or "parameter") A name in a function or subroutine definition that is replaced by, or bound to, the corresponding actual argument when the function or subroutine is called. In many languages formal arguments behave like local variables which get initialised on entry. See: argument.
  • formation dance — any dance in which a number of couples form a certain arrangement, such as two facing lines or a circle, and perform a series of figures within or based on that arrangement
  • formation fluid — Formation fluid is fluid in the pores (=tiny holes) of a rock.
  • formation rules — the set of rules that specify the syntax of a formal system; the algorithm that generates the well-formed formulae
  • formularization — The act of formularizing; a formularized or formulated statement or exhibition.
  • forthcomingness — coming, forth, or about to come forth; about to appear; approaching in time: the forthcoming concert.
  • fortysomethings — Plural form of fortysomething.
  • founding father — The founding father of an institution, organization, or idea is the person who sets it up or who first develops it.
  • fourteen points — a statement of the war aims of the Allies, made by President Wilson on January 8, 1918.
  • fourteen-points — a statement of the war aims of the Allies, made by President Wilson on January 8, 1918.
  • fourth position — a position in which the feet are at right angles to the direction of the body, the toes pointing out, with one foot forward and the other foot back.
  • fovea centralis — a small pit or depression at the back of the retina forming the point of sharpest vision.
  • fractional note — a banknote in a denomination smaller than the standard unit of currency
  • fractionalizing — Present participle of fractionalize.
  • fraternal order — men's organization
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