18-letter words containing o, n, t
- armed intervention — an official response to a situation which involves the armed forces
- army of occupation — an army that goes into a defeated country to enforce peace terms, keep order, etc.
- arrest of judgment — a stay of proceedings after a verdict, on the grounds of error or possible error
- artificial horizon — an aircraft instrument, using a gyroscope, that indicates the aircraft's attitude in relation to the horizontal
- asbestos longjohns — (humour) Notional garments donned by Usenet posters just before emitting a remark they expect will elicit flamage. This is the most common of the asbestos coinages. Also "asbestos underwear", "asbestos overcoat", etc.
- assessment process — a series of steps that constitute a method of assessing students or workers
- assignment problem — (mathematics, algorithm) (Or "linear assignment") Any problem involving minimising the sum of C(a, b) over a set P of pairs (a, b) where a is an element of some set A and b is an element of set B, and C is some function, under constraints such as "each element of A must appear exactly once in P" or similarly for B, or both. For example, the a's could be workers and the b's projects. The problem is "linear" because the "cost function" C() depends only on the particular pairing (a, b) and is independent of all other pairings.
- associated company — a company which is largely controlled by its parent company because the latter owns anything up to 50% of the shares
- association cortex — any of the regions of the cerebral cortex of the brain connected by numerous nerve fibers to all parts of both cerebral hemispheres and coordinating such higher activities as learning and reasoning.
- assortative mating — the reproductive pairing of individuals that have more traits in common than would likely be the case if mating were random (contrasted with disassortative mating).
- assumption of risk — Assumption of risk is the practice of paying for minor losses yourself, but protecting against catastrophic losses by buying insurance cover.
- astrometric binary — a binary star that can be recognized as such because of its undulating proper motion.
- astronomical clock — a complex clock showing astronomical phenomena, such as the phases of the moon
- at a rate of knots — very fast
- at one's wit's end — the last part or extremity, lengthwise, of anything that is longer than it is wide or broad: the end of a street; the end of a rope.
- at one's wits' end — at a loss to know how to proceed
- at someone's elbow — very close to someone; easy to reach
- at the instance of — at the suggestion or instigation of
- at your fingertips — If you say that something is at your fingertips, you approve of the fact that you can reach it easily or that it is easily available to you.
- at/from a distance — If you are at a distance from something, or if you see it or remember it from a distance, you are a long way away from it in space or time.
- atmospheric engine — an early form of single-acting engine in which the power stroke is provided by atmospheric pressure acting upon a piston in an exhausted cylinder.
- atmospheric window — wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be transmitted through the earth's atmosphere. Atmospheric windows occur in the visible, infrared, and radio regions of the spectrum
- attendance officer — someone whose job is to keep records of students' attendance at school and to encourage students to attend
- attention-grabbing — An attention-grabbing remark or activity is one that is intended to make people notice it.
- attribution theory — the theory that tries to explain how people link actions and emotions to particular causes, both internal and external
- auditory phonetics — the branch of phonetics concerned with the perception of speech sounds by humans
- australian doubles — an unusual formation in doubles in which the server's partner is positioned on the same side of the court as the server.
- australopithecines — Plural form of australopithecine.
- authorized version — the revised English translation of the Bible published in England in 1611 with the authorization of King James I
- autogenic training — a technique for reducing stress through mental exercises to produce physical relaxation
- autoignition point — the minimum temperature at which a substance will undergo spontaneous combustion.
- autoimmune disease — a disease resulting from a disordered immune reaction in which antibodies are produced against one's own tissues, as systemic lupus erythematosus or rheumatoid arthritis.
- autokinetic effect — apparent motion of a single point of light or a small object when presented on a dark field and observed continuously.
- automatic tracking — a radar tracking system in which an automatic device uses the echo signal from the tracked object to keep the radar constantly beamed on target and to compute the range of the object.
- autonomous phoneme — a phoneme that is defined or determined by its contrast in sound with other phonemes, without reference to its role in morphology or any other level of linguistic analysis beyond the phonetic level.
- auxiliary equation — characteristic equation (def 1b).
- auxiliary-equation — Mathematics. the characteristic polynomial of a given matrix, equated to zero. Also called auxiliary equation. an equation with one variable and equated to zero, which is derived from a given linear differential equation and in which the coefficient and power of the variable in each term correspond to the coefficient and order of a derivative in the original equation.
- aviation authority — a body that is responsible for overseeing the aviation industry
- aviation insurance — Aviation insurance is insurance cover for aircraft, and for damage, injury, or loss of life or cargo while traveling on aircraft.
- axile placentation — a type of placenta structure in an ovary with the ovules forming at the angles where the septa join the central placenta
- axis of revolution — an axis in a plane, about which an area is revolved to form a solid of revolution.
- ayatollah khomeini — Ayatollah Ruhollah [roo-hoh-luh;; Persian roo-haw-lah] /ruˈhoʊ lə;; Persian ˌru hɔˈlɑ/ (Show IPA), 1900?–89, Islamic leader of Iran 1979–89.
- bachelor apartment — a flat consisting of one room that is used as a sitting room and bedroom, as well as a kitchenette and a bathroom
- bachelor's-buttons — any of various plants of the daisy family with button-like flower heads
- back end generator — (tool) (BEG) A code generator developed by H. Emmelmann et al at GMD, University Karlsruhe, Germany. Its input language is Back End Generator Language (BEGL).
- back to square one — If you are back to square one, you have to start dealing with something from the beginning again because the way you were dealing with it has failed.
- back/down to earth — If you come down to earth or back to earth, you have to face the reality of everyday life after a period of great excitement.
- balance an account — If you balance an account, you adjust entries in the account in order to make the credit and debit totals equal.
- balanced computing — (jargon) Matching computer tools to job activities so that the computer system structure parallels the organisation structure and work functions. Both personal computers and employees operate in a decentralised environment with monitoring of achievement of management objectives from centralised corporate systems.
- ball-and-claw foot — a foot having the form of a bird's claw grasping a ball.