20-letter words containing o, s, m, i
- boy-meets-girl story — a film, book, etc whose plot is conventionally or trivially romantic
- broadcast journalism — journalism as practiced in radio and television.
- broaden o's/the mind — If an experience broadens your mind, it makes you more willing to accept other people's beliefs and customs.
- cantabrian mountains — a mountain chain along the N coast of Spain, consisting of a series of high ridges that rise over 2400 m (8000 ft): rich in minerals (esp coal and iron)
- carpathian mountains — a mountain system of central and E Europe, extending from Slovakia to central Romania: mainly forested, with rich iron ore resources. Highest peak: Gerlachovka, 2663 m (8788 ft)
- charismatic movement — any of various groups, within existing denominations, that emphasize communal prayer and the charismatic gifts of speaking in tongues, healing, etc
- chebyshev polynomial — a polynomial solution of the Tchebycheff equation, of the form T n (x) = cos(n cos −1 x), where n is an integer.
- checkbook journalism — the practice of paying for a news story or an interview, or for exclusive broadcasting or publishing rights.
- chemolithoautotrophs — Plural form of chemolithoautotroph.
- chikamatsu monzaemon — (born Sugimori Nobumori) 1653-1724; Jpn. dramatist: called the Shakespeare of Japan
- cholestyramine resin — a powdery synthetic resin that binds with and prevents the reabsorption of bile acids, used to reduce cholesterol levels, relieve itching associated with jaundice, etc.
- christopher columbus — Christopher (Sp. Cristóbal Colón; It. Cristoforo Colombo) 1446?–1506, Italian navigator in Spanish service: traditionally considered the discoverer of America 1492.
- church commissioners — a group of representatives of Church and State that administers the endowments and property of the Church of England
- clip someone's wings — to restrict someone's freedom
- combination sandwich — a big sandwich with a mixed filling
- come out in the wash — If you say that something will come out in the wash, you mean that people will eventually find out the truth about it.
- commissioned officer — a military officer holding a commission, such as Second Lieutenant in the British Army, Acting Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force, and officers of all ranks senior to these
- commissioning editor — a person who commissions authors to write books and magazine articles
- common lodging house — a cheap lodging house
- common-sense realism — naive realism.
- commonwealth hackish — (jargon) Hacker jargon as spoken outside the US, especially in the British Commonwealth. It is reported that Commonwealth speakers are more likely to pronounce truncations like "char" and "soc", etc., as spelled (/char/, /sok/), as opposed to American /keir/ and /sohsh/. Dots in newsgroup names (especially two-component names) tend to be pronounced more often (so soc.wibble is /sok dot wib'l/ rather than /sohsh wib'l/). The prefix meta may be pronounced /mee't*/; similarly, Greek letter beta is usually /bee't*/, zeta is usually /zee't*/, and so forth. Preferred metasyntactic variables include blurgle, "eek", "ook", "frodo", and "bilbo"; "wibble", "wobble", and in emergencies "wubble"; "banana", "tom", "dick", "harry", "wombat", "frog", fish, and so on and on (see foo). Alternatives to verb doubling include suffixes "-o-rama", "frenzy" (as in feeding frenzy), and "city" (examples: "barf city!" "hack-o-rama!" "core dump frenzy!"). Finally, note that the American terms "parens", "brackets", and "braces" for (), [], and {} are uncommon; Commonwealth hackish prefers "brackets", "square brackets", and "curly brackets". Also, the use of "pling" for bang is common outside the United States. See also attoparsec, calculator, chemist, console jockey, fish, go-faster stripes, grunge, hakspek, heavy metal, leaky heap, lord high fixer, loose bytes, muddie, nadger, noddy, psychedelicware, plingnet, raster blaster, RTBM, seggie, spod, sun lounge, terminal junkie, tick-list features, weeble, weasel, YABA, and notes or definitions under Bad Thing, barf, bum, chase pointers, cosmic rays, crippleware, crunch, dodgy, gonk, hamster, hardwarily, mess-dos, nibble, proglet, root, SEX, tweak and xyzzy.
- commune with oneself — to think; ponder
- communication skills — the ability to convey information and ideas effectively
- communication system — (communications) A system or facility for transfering data between persons and equipment. The system usually consists of a collection of individual communication networks, transmission systems, relay stations, tributary stations and terminal equipment capable of interconnection and interoperation so as to form an integrated whole. These individual components must serve a common purpose, be technically compatible, employ common procedures, respond to some form of control and generally operate in unison.
- compartmentalisation — Alternative form of compartmentalization.
- compensating balance — Also, compensated balance, compensation balance. a balance wheel in a timepiece, designed to compensate for variations in tension in the hair spring caused by changes in temperature.
- compensation culture — a culture in which people are very ready to go to law over even relatively minor incidents in the hope of gaining compensation
- compensation package — the sum of compensation awarded in a legal case
- complaints procedure — a prescribed method of lodging a complaint to an institution
- composite photograph — a photograph formed by superimposing two or more separate photographs
- comprehensive school — a secondary school for children of all abilities from the same district
- compression ignition — ignition of engine fuel by the heat of air compressed in the cylinders into which the fuel is introduced.
- computer typesetting — a system for the high-speed composition of type by a device driven by punched paper tape or magnetic tape that has been processed by a computer
- conditioned stimulus — a stimulus to which an organism has learned to make a response by classical conditioning
- conservation of mass — the principle that the total mass of any isolated system is constant and is independent of any chemical and physical changes taking place within the system
- conservative judaism — a movement reacting against the radicalism of Reform Judaism, rejecting extreme change and advocating moderate relaxations of traditional Jewish law, by an extension of the process by which its adherents claim traditional Orthodox Judaism evolved
- constituent assembly — A constituent assembly is a body of representatives that is elected to create or change their country's constitution.
- construction company — a business enterprise concerned with the construction of buildings, bridges, etc
- consumer electronics — computers and other electronic devices designed for private individuals as opposed to businesses
- consumer price index — The consumer price index is an official measure of the rate of inflation within a country's economy. The abbreviation CPI is also used.
- contact metamorphism — localized metamorphism resulting from the heat of an igneous intrusion.
- continuum hypothesis — the assertion that there is no set whose cardinality is greater than that of the integers and smaller than that of the reals
- corruption of minors — the criminal offence of inducing people below the age of consent to engage in sexual activity
- council of ministers — the EU's most important decision-making body
- counterdemonstration — a demonstration that is held in reaction to another demonstration
- criminal proceedings — action taken in a court to bring a criminal prosecution against someone
- cross someone's mind — to come suddenly or briefly to someone's mind
- cut of someone's jib — someone's manner, behaviour, style, etc
- darkfield microscope — kind of microscope
- decomposed petri net — (parallel) (DPN) A Petri net that has been split into multiple, interconnected nets. This makes it easier to analyse or run the net. DPNs are the basis of concurrency in ConC.