17-letter words containing p, o, s, t, c
- compassionateness — The state or quality of being compassionate.
- compensated grade — a grade that has been reduced along a curve to offset the additional resistance due to the curve.
- complement clause — a subordinate clause that functions as the subject, direct object, or prepositional object of a verb, as that you like it in I'm surprised that you like it.
- complementariness — forming a complement; completing.
- complementarities — Plural form of complementarity.
- complimentariness — The state or quality of being complimentary.
- composite volcano — a large, steep volcano built up of alternating layers of lava and ash or cinders.
- composite-volcano — a large, steep volcano built up of alternating layers of lava and ash or cinders.
- composting toilet — a human waste disposal system that utilizes a waterless or low-flush toilet in conjunction with a tank in which aerobic bacteria break down the waste.
- compound interest — Compound interest is interest that is calculated both on an original sum of money and on interest which has previously been added to the sum. Compare simple interest.
- compound sentence — a sentence containing at least two coordinate clauses
- comprehensibility — capable of being comprehended or understood; intelligible.
- compression ratio — the ratio of the volume enclosed by the cylinder of an internal-combustion engine at the beginning of the compression stroke to the volume enclosed at the end of it
- computer graphics — the use of a computer to produce and manipulate pictorial images on a video screen, as in animation techniques or the production of audiovisual aids
- computer security — security
- conceptualisation — The act of conceptualising, or something conceptualised.
- concurrent pascal — (language) An extension of a Pascal subset, Sequential Pascal, developed by Brinch Hansen in 1972-75. Concurrent Pascal was the first language to support monitors. It provided access to hardware devices through monitor calls and also supported processes and classes.
- conscript fathers — august legislators, esp Roman senators
- consolation prize — A consolation prize is a small prize which is given to a person who fails to win a competition.
- conspiracy theory — A conspiracy theory is a belief that a group of people are secretly trying to harm someone or achieve something. You usually use this term to suggest that you think this is unlikely.
- conspiratorialist — a person who believes in or supports a conspiracy theory.
- contemplativeness — The state or quality of being contemplative.
- contemporaneously — living or occurring during the same period of time; contemporary.
- continental slope — a steep slope separating a continental shelf and a deep ocean basin.
- cooperative store — a retail store owned and managed by consumer-customers who supply the capital and share in the profits by patronage dividends.
- copernican system — the theory published in 1543 by Copernicus which stated that the earth and the planets rotated around the sun and which opposed the Ptolemaic system
- copious free time — (jargon) (Apple; originally from the introduction to Tom Lehrer's song "It Makes A Fellow Proud To Be A Soldier") Used ironically to indicate the speaker's lack of the quantity in question; a mythical schedule slot for accomplishing tasks held to be unlikely or impossible. Sometimes used to indicate that the speaker is interested in accomplishing the task, but believes that the opportunity will not arise. "I'll implement the automatic layout stuff in my copious free time." The phrase is also used for time reserved for bogus or otherwise idiotic tasks, such as implementation of bad chrome, or the stroking of suits. "I'll get back to him on that feature in my copious free time."
- corporate sponsor — a business that sponsors a particular type of event
- correspondentship — The role or status of correspondent.
- cost-plus pricing — the setting of prices at the cost price plus a percentage
- counter-espionage — Counter-espionage is the same as counter-intelligence.
- counterparty risk — the risk that a person who is a party to a contract will default on their obligations under that contract
- course protractor — a navigational instrument for measuring the bearing of a course as given on a chart, having a disk calibrated in degrees and an arm pivoted about the center of the disk.
- courtship display — behaviour that is aimed at attracting a mate
- cross-pollination — the transfer of pollen from the anthers of one flower to the stigma of another flower by the action of wind, insects, etc
- cryopreservations — the storage of blood or living tissues at extremely cold temperatures, often -196 degrees Celsius.
- cryptic crossword — a crossword where each clue is a word puzzle
- cryptocrystalline — (of rocks) composed of crystals that can be distinguished individually only by the use of a polarizing microscope
- cryptosporidiosis — a disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Cryptosporidium, characterized by fever and gastrointestinal symptoms and typically spread via contaminated drinking water.
- cut a person dead — to ignore a person completely
- cypriot syllabary — a syllabic script in use on Cyprus in the first millennium b.c., used for the writing of Greek and of an unknown language.
- cytotrophoblastic — Relating to, or containing, cytotrophoblasts.
- de-specialization — the act of specializing, or pursuing a particular line of study or work: Medical students with high student loans often feel driven into specialization.
- dephlogisticating — Present participle of dephlogisticate.
- despotic monarchy — absolute monarchy.
- dielectrophoresis — Dielectrophoresis is the movement of uncharged particles (= ones with no electrical charge) when a changing electric field is applied.
- dipterocarpaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Dipterocarpaceae, a family of trees chiefly native to tropical SE Asia, having two-winged fruits. Many species yield useful timber and resins
- discrete preorder — (mathematics) A preorder is said to be discrete if any two of its elements are incomparable.
- disruptive action — action performed by protestors, workers, etc that causes the disruption of a service
- dissociated press — [Play on "Associated Press"; perhaps inspired by a reference in the 1949 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Up, Doc?"] An algorithm for transforming any text into potentially humorous garbage even more efficiently than by passing it through a marketroid. The algorithm starts by printing any N consecutive words (or letters) in the text. Then at every step it searches for any random occurrence in the original text of the last N words (or letters) already printed and then prints the next word or letter. Emacs has a handy command for this. Here is a short example of word-based Dissociated Press applied to an earlier version of the Jargon File: wart: A small, crocky feature that sticks out of an array (C has no checks for this). This is relatively benign and easy to spot if the phrase is bent so as to be not worth paying attention to the medium in question. Here is a short example of letter-based Dissociated Press applied to the same source: window sysIWYG: A bit was named aften /bee't*/ prefer to use the other guy's re, especially in every cast a chuckle on neithout getting into useful informash speech makes removing a featuring a move or usage actual abstractionsidered interj. Indeed spectace logic or problem! A hackish idle pastime is to apply letter-based Dissociated Press to a random body of text and vgrep the output in hopes of finding an interesting new word. (In the preceding example, "window sysIWYG" and "informash" show some promise.) Iterated applications of Dissociated Press usually yield better results. Similar techniques called "travesty generators" have been employed with considerable satirical effect to the utterances of Usenet flamers; see pseudo.