16-letter words containing o, p, e, n, r
- correcting plate — a thin lens used to correct incoming light rays in special forms of reflecting telescopes.
- counter-petition — a formally drawn request, often bearing the names of a number of those making the request, that is addressed to a person or group of persons in authority or power, soliciting some favor, right, mercy, or other benefit: a petition for clemency; a petition for the repeal of an unfair law.
- counter-response — an answer or reply, as in words or in some action.
- counterespionage — Counterespionage is the same as counterintelligence.
- counterproposals — Plural form of counterproposal.
- court appearance — the appearance of an accused person before a court
- craftspersonship — The body of activities, skills, techniques, knowledge, and expertise pertinent to (a) particular craft(s).
- crime of passion — a crime, often a murder, committed from passion, esp sexual passion
- crime passionnel — a crime committed from passion, esp sexual passion
- crime prevention — official and police policies to prevent crime
- cross protection — the protection against a viral infection given to a plant by its prior inoculation with a related but milder virus
- crossopterygians — Plural form of crossopterygian.
- crown prosecutor — In Britain, a crown prosecutor is a lawyer who works for the state and who prosecutes people who are accused of crimes.
- cryopreservation — the storage of blood or living tissues at extremely cold temperatures, often -196 degrees Celsius.
- dangling pointer — (programming) A reference that doesn't actually lead anywhere. In C and some other languages, a pointer that doesn't actually point at anything valid. Usually this happens because it formerly pointed to something that has moved or disappeared, e.g. a heap-allocated block which has been freed and reused. Used as jargon in a generalisation of its technical meaning; for example, a local phone number for a person who has since moved is a dangling pointer.
- data compression — the act of compressing.
- data preparation — the process of converting data or information into a form that can be read by a computer, so that the data can then be entered into the computer
- dc potentiometer — A DC potentiometer is a potentiometer in which the supply is a battery and the balance is under direct current conditions.
- decision problem — (theory) A problem with a yes/no answer. Determining whether some potential solution to a question is actually a solution or not. E.g. "Is 43669" a prime number?". This is in contrast to a "search problem" which must find a solution from scratch, e.g. "What is the millionth prime number?". See decidability.
- decision support — Software used to aid management decision making, typically relying on a decision support database.
- deflationary gap — a situation in which total spending in an economy is insufficient to buy all the output that can be produced with full employment
- dementia praecox — schizophrenia
- department store — A department store is a large shop which sells many different kinds of goods.
- departure lounge — In an airport, the departure lounge is the place where passengers wait before they get onto their plane.
- dependency-prone — tending to become psychologically or physiologically dependent on a drug.
- depolymerisation — (chemistry) alternative spelling of depolymerization.
- depolymerization — (chemistry) The decomposition of a polymer into smaller fragments.
- depression glass — cheap glassware mass-produced during the Depression of the 1930s, usually molded in patterns in pale colors, and collectible since the early 1970s
- depressurization — to remove the air pressure from (a pressurized compartment of an aircraft or spacecraft).
- depth perception — ability to see objects in perspective
- developing world — Third World: poor countries
- development area — (in Britain) an area suffering from high unemployment and economic depression, because of the decline of its main industries, that is given government help to establish new industries
- devonshire split — a kind of yeast bun split open and served with whipped cream or butter and jam
- dew-point spread — the degrees of difference between the air temperature and the dew point
- dextromethorphan — (pharmaceutical drug) An antitussive drug (a cough suppressant) that is found in many over-the-counter cold and cough preparations.
- diacetylmorphine — heroin.
- diagonal process — a form of argument in which a new member of a set is constructed from a list of its known members by making the nth term of the new member differ from the nth term of the nth member. The new member is thus different from every member of the list
- dichlorobiphenyl — (organic compound) Either of twelve isomers of the polychlorinated biphenyl containing two chlorine atoms.
- dispersal prison — a prison organized and equipped to accommodate a proportion of the most dangerous and highest security risk prisoners
- displaced person — a person driven or expelled from his or her homeland by war, famine, tyranny, etc. Abbreviation: DP, D.P.
- disproportionate — not proportionate; out of proportion, as in size or number.
- dneprodzerzhinsk — a city in the E central Ukraine, in the SW Russian Federation in Europe, on the Dnieper River.
- do oneself proud — to do extremely well
- do sth in person — If you do something in person, you do it yourself rather than letting someone else do it for you.
- domestic partner — either member of an unmarried, cohabiting, and especially homosexual couple that seeks benefits usually available only to spouses.
- double precision — using twice the normal amount of storage, as two words rather than one, to represent a number.
- downy woodpecker — a small, North American woodpecker, Picoides pubescens, having black and white plumage.
- drinking problem — If someone is said to have a drink problem, they are thought to drink too much alcohol
- drop (down) dead — If you say that a person or animal dropped dead or dropped down dead, you mean that they died very suddenly and unexpectedly.
- dual personality — a disorder in which an individual possesses two dissociated personalities.