16-letter words containing p, a, i, n
- crossopterygians — Plural form of crossopterygian.
- cryopreservation — the storage of blood or living tissues at extremely cold temperatures, often -196 degrees Celsius.
- curlew sandpiper — a common Eurasian sandpiper, Calidris ferruginea, having a brick-red breeding plumage and a greyish winter plumage
- 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
- decapitalization — to deprive of capital; discourage capital formation; withdraw capital from: The government decapitalized industry with harsh tax policies.
- deep in the past — long ago
- deep-sea fishing — the activity of catching fish that live in the deep parts of the sea
- 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
- departmentalized — Simple past tense and past participle of departmentalize.
- departmentalizes — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of departmentalize.
- departure signal — a piece of equipment beside a railway which indicates to train drivers whether they should depart or not
- depleted uranium — Depleted uranium is a type of uranium that is used in some bombs.
- depoliticization — The act or process of depoliticizing.
- 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).
- developmentalism — An economic theory which states that the best way for Third World countries to develop is through fostering a strong and varied internal market and to impose high tariffs on imported goods.
- developmentalist — an expert in or advocate of developmental psychology.
- developmentation — (proscribed, chiefly, US, and, humorous) Development.
- dew-point spread — the degrees of difference between the air temperature and the dew point
- 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
- diazoamino group — the divalent group –N=NNH–.
- digital envelope — (cryptography)
- diphthongisation — The process by which a single vowel sound (monophthong) shifts to a two-vowel vocalization (diphthong).
- diphthongization — to change into or pronounce as a diphthong.
- disappearing act — magic trick
- disincorporation — to remove from an incorporated state or status.
- dispersal prison — a prison organized and equipped to accommodate a proportion of the most dangerous and highest security risk prisoners
- dispersing agent — a surface-active substance added to a suspension, usually a colloid, to improve the separation of particles and to prevent settling or clumping
- displaced person — a person driven or expelled from his or her homeland by war, famine, tyranny, etc. Abbreviation: DP, D.P.
- displacement ton — a unit for measuring the displacement of a vessel, equal to a long ton of 2240 pounds (1016 kg) or 35 cu. ft. (1 cu. m) of seawater.
- display standard — (hardware, standard) IBM and others have introduced a bewildering plethora of graphics and text display standards for IBM PCs. The standards are mostly implemented by plugging in a video display board (or "graphics adaptor") and connecting the appropriate monitor to it. Each new standard subsumes its predecessors. For example, an EGA board can also do CGA and MDA. With the PS/2, IBM introduced the VGA standard and built it into the main system board motherboard. VGA is also available as a plug-in board for PCs from third-party vendors. Also with the PS/2, IBM introduced the 8514 high-resolution graphics standard. An 8514 adaptor board plugs into the PS/2, providing a dual-monitor capability. Graphics software had to support the major IBM graphics standards and many non-IBM, proprietary standards for displays. Either software vendors provided display drivers or display vendors provided drivers for the software package. In either case, switching software or switching display systems was fraught with compatibility problems. More colours are available from third-party vendors for some display types. See also MDA, CGA, EGA, PGA, Hercules, MCGA, VGA, SVGA, 8514, VESA.
- display terminal — Visual Display Unit
- disproportionate — not proportionate; out of proportion, as in size or number.
- disputatiousness — The state or quality of being disputatious or argumentative; contentiousness.
- disreputableness — The state or quality of being disreputable or disgraceful; disreputability.
- diurnal parallax — the apparent displacement of an observed object due to a change in the position of the observer.
- domestic partner — either member of an unmarried, cohabiting, and especially homosexual couple that seeks benefits usually available only to spouses.
- double pneumonia — pneumonia affecting both lungs.
- dual citizenship — Also called dual nationality. the status of a person who is a legal citizen of two or more countries.
- dual personality — a disorder in which an individual possesses two dissociated personalities.
- dublin bay prawn — a large prawn usually used in a dish of scampi
- duplessis-mornay — Philippe [fee-leep] /fiˈlip/ (Show IPA), Mornay, Philippe de.
- dutch guinea pig — a breed of two-tone short-haired guinea pig
- dynamic response — The dynamic response of a machine, structure, or process is how it reacts over time to something that is done to it.