22-letter words containing p, e, r, i
- central african empire — a former name (1976–79) of Central African Republic.
- ceramic pin grid array — (hardware, processor) (CPGA) A form of Pin Grid Array package used by Cyrix III processors. Compare PPGA and FC-PGA.
- certificate of deposit — a negotiable certificate issued by a bank in return for a deposit of money for a term of up to five years
- chip on one's shoulder — an inclination to fight or quarrel
- client-centred therapy — a form of psychotherapy in which the therapist makes no attempt to interpret what the patient says but encourages him or her to develop his or her own attitudes and insights, often by questioning
- cockpit voice recorder — a device which records conversations in and communications from the cockpit of an aircraft
- collective pitch lever — a lever in a helicopter to change the angle of attack of all the rotor blades simultaneously, causing it to rise or descend
- color graphics adapter — (hardware, graphics) (CGA) One of IBM's earliest hardware video display standards for use in IBM PCs. CGA can display 80*25 or 40*25 text in 16 colors, 640*200 pixels of graphics in two colors or 320*200 in four colors (IBM PC video modes 0-6). It is now obsolete.
- common snapping turtle — a large aggressive North American river turtle, Chelydra serpentina, having powerful hooked jaws and a rough shell
- compactness preserving — (theory) In domain theory, a function f is compactness preserving if f c is compact whenever c is.
- comparative government — the study and comparison of different forms of government.
- comparative literature — the comparative study of various national literatures, stressing their influence one upon another, their use of similar forms, their treatment of similar themes, etc.
- comparative musicology — ethnomusicology.
- comparative psychology — the study of the similarities and differences in the behaviour of different species
- compass deviation card — a card, sheet, or the like, with two compass roses printed on it concentrically, for recording, on a given voyage, the amount of deviation for which the navigator must compensate in using the ship's compass to steer a magnetic course.
- complementary medicine — the treatment, alleviation, or prevention of disease by such techniques as osteopathy, homeopathy, aromatherapy, and acupuncture, allied with attention to such factors as diet and emotional stability, which can affect a person's wellbeing
- complete metamorphosis — physical changes in the development of certain insects that include egg, larva, pupa, and adult stages, as in beetles, moths, or bees
- complete quadrilateral — a polygon consisting of four lines and their six points of intersection
- component architecture — (programming) A notion in object-oriented programming where "components" of a program are completely generic. Instead of having a specialised set of methods and fields they have generic methods through which the component can advertise the functionality it supports to the system into which it is loaded. This enables completely dynamic loading of objects. JavaBeans is an example of a component architecture. See also design pattern.
- compuserve corporation — (company) The parent organisation of CompuServe Information Service, CompuServe Network Services and CompuServe Remote Computing Services. CompuServe was owned by H.R. Block but is now (1999) owned by America On-Line.
- computational geometry — (mathematics) The study of algorithms for combinatorial, topological, and metric problems concerning sets of points, typically in Euclidean space. Representative areas of research include geometric search, convexity, proximity, intersection, and linear programming.
- computational learning — grammatical inference
- connecticut compromise — a compromise adopted at the Constitutional Convention, providing the states with equal representation in the Senate and proportional representation in the House of Representatives.
- conservation of parity — the principle that the parity of the total wave function describing a system of elementary particles is conserved. In fact it is not conserved in weak interactions
- cornell list processor — (CLP) A list processing language, an extension of CORC, used for simulation.
- corrupt practices acts — laws limiting contributions to and expenditures in election campaigns, making illegal certain methods of influencing voters, etc.
- cosmological principle — the theory that the universe is uniform, homogenous, and isotropic, and therefore appears the same from any position
- counterinterpretations — Plural form of counterinterpretation.
- curvature of the spine — a condition in which the spine is abnormally curved
- d'alembert's principle — the principle that for a moving body the external forces are in equilibrium with the inertial forces; a generalization of Newton's third law of motion
- damn with faint praise — If someone damns something with faint praise, they say something about it which sounds quite nice but is not enthusiastic, and shows that they do not have a high opinion of it.
- decompartmentalization — the act of decompartmentalizing
- decompression sickness — a disorder characterized by severe pain in muscles and joints, cramp, and difficulty in breathing, caused by a sudden and sustained decrease in air pressure, resulting in the deposition of nitrogen bubbles in the tissues
- dehydroepiandrosterone — the most abundant steroid in the human body, that is involved in the manufacture of testosterone, oestrogen, progesterone, and corticosterone
- deoxyribonucleoprotein — any of a class of nucleoproteins that yield DNA upon partial hydrolysis.
- descriptive cataloging — the aspect of cataloging concerned with the bibliographic and physical description of a book, recording, or other work, accounting for such items as author or performer, title, edition, and imprint as opposed to subject content.
- descriptive statistics — the use of statistics to describe a set of known data in a clear and concise manner, as in terms of its mean and variance, or diagrammatically, as by a histogram
- developmental disorder — any condition, such as autism or dyslexia, that appears in childhood and is characterized by delay in the development of one or more psychological functions, such as language skill
- dicyclopentadienyliron — ferrocene (def 1).
- dihydroxyphenylalanine — dopa.
- direct public offering — A direct public offering is stock offered directly for sale to investors by a company without the use of underwriters or brokers.
- directed acyclic graph — (DAG) A directed graph containing no cycles. This means that if there is a route from node A to node B then there is no way back.
- directional microphone — a microphone that has a greater sensitivity to sounds coming from a particular area in front of it: used to eliminate unwanted sounds.
- disciplinary committee — a committee charged with examining alleged breaches of discipline within an organization, profession, etc and adjudicating on them
- disposable soma theory — the theory that ageing is caused by the body having increasingly fewer resources to allocate towards repairing wear and damage to tissues
- distributed processing — a system consisting of a network of microcomputers performing certain functions and linked with a main computer used for more complex tasks
- earth inductor compass — a compass actuated by induction from the earth's magnetic field.
- ectotrophic mycorrhiza — a type of mycorrhiza, typical of temperate and Boreal trees, in which the fungus forms a layer on the outside of the roots of the plant
- electrolytic capacitor — An electrolytic capacitor is an electrical capacitor with an electrolyte between the two plates.
- electrophysiologically — In an electrophysiological way.