19-letter words containing r, a
- african swine fever — a highly contagious fatal disease of pigs caused by a myxovirus. The disease is characterized by fever, blotches on the skin, depression, and lack of coordination
- after-sales service — A company's after-sales service is all the help and information that it provides to customers after they have bought a particular product.
- afternoon of a faun — L'Après-midi d'un Faune.
- agency spokesperson — a spokesperson for a government agency
- aggravated burglary — a burglary made more serious by its violent circumstances
- aggravated trespass — an offence in which a trespasser in the open air attempts to interfere with a lawful activity, such as hunting
- agitated depression — severe depression accompanied by extreme anxiety and agitation
- agner krarup erlang — (person) (1878-1929) A Danish mathematician. Erlang the language and unit were named after him. Interested in the theory of probability, in 1908 Erlang joined the Copenhagen Telephone Company where he studied the problem of waiting times for telephone calls. He worked out how to calculate the fraction of callers who must wait due to all the lines of an exchange being in use. His formula for loss and waiting time was published in 1917. It is now known as the "Erlang formula" and is still in use today.
- agricultural worker — a person who is employed in agriculture, usually a manual worker
- air cushion vehicle — ACV (def 2).
- air traffic control — Air traffic control is the activity of organizing the routes that aircraft should follow, and telling pilots by radio which routes they should take.
- air-cushion vehicle — a vehicle that travels just above the surface of land or water on a cushion of air provided by a downward jet from its engines, propellers, etc.
- air-traffic control — a government service that facilitates the safe and orderly movement of aircraft within and between airports by receiving and processing data from radar and devices that monitor local weather conditions and by maintaining radio contact with pilots.
- aladdin enterprises — (company) A small, privately owned, US software consulting and development company, founded in 1986, best known as the original developer of Ghostscript. Address: San Francisco Peninsula, California, USA. Not to be confused with Aladdin Systems, Inc..
- alcazar de san juan — a town in S central Spain: associated with Cervantes and Don Quixote. Pop: 27 229 (2003 est)
- aldridge-brownhills — a town in central England, in Walsall unitary authority, West Midlands: formed by the amalgamation of neighbouring towns in 1966. Pop: 35 525 (2001)
- alexander technique — a technique for developing awareness of one's posture and movement in order to improve it
- alexander the great — 356–323 bc, king of Macedon, who conquered Greece (336), Egypt (331), and the Persian Empire (328), and founded Alexandria
- alexander von kluck — Alexander von [ah-le-ksahn-duh r fuh n] /ˌɑ lɛˈksɑn dər fən/ (Show IPA), 1846–1934, German general.
- alfred thayer mahan — Alfred Thayer [they-er] /ˈθeɪ ər/ (Show IPA), 1840–1914, U.S. naval officer and writer on naval history.
- algebraic data type — (programming) (Or "sum of products type") In functional programming, new types can be defined, each of which has one or more constructors. Such a type is known as an algebraic data type. E.g. in Haskell we can define a new type, "Tree": data Tree = Empty | Leaf Int | Node Tree Tree with constructors "Empty", "Leaf" and "Node". The constructors can be used much like functions in that they can be (partially) applied to arguments of the appropriate type. For example, the Leaf constructor has the functional type Int -> Tree. A constructor application cannot be reduced (evaluated) like a function application though since it is already in normal form. Functions which operate on algebraic data types can be defined using pattern matching: depth :: Tree -> Int depth Empty = 0 depth (Leaf n) = 1 depth (Node l r) = 1 + max (depth l) (depth r) The most common algebraic data type is the list which has constructors Nil and Cons, written in Haskell using the special syntax "[]" for Nil and infix ":" for Cons. Special cases of algebraic types are product types (only one constructor) and enumeration types (many constructors with no arguments). Algebraic types are one kind of constructed type (i.e. a type formed by combining other types). An algebraic data type may also be an abstract data type (ADT) if it is exported from a module without its constructors. Objects of such a type can only be manipulated using functions defined in the same module as the type itself. In set theory the equivalent of an algebraic data type is a discriminated union - a set whose elements consist of a tag (equivalent to a constructor) and an object of a type corresponding to the tag (equivalent to the constructor arguments).
- algebraic extension — a field containing a given field such that every element in the first field is algebraic over the given field.
- algebraic operation — any of the mathematical operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, raising to a power, or extraction of a root.
- algebraic structure — (mathematics) Any formal mathematical system consisting of a set of objects and operations on those objects. Examples are Boolean algebra, numerical algebra, set algebra and matrix algebra.
- algorithmic trading — trading on international stock exchanges using computers that have been programmed to buy and sell shares according to fixed rules
- alice-in-wonderland — fantastic; irrational
- all in a day's work — If you say that a task is all in a day's work for someone, you mean that they do not mind doing it although it may be difficult, because it is part of their job or because they often do it.
- all-risks insurance — insurance that covers all risks to property except any types that are specifically excluded or limited in the policy
- all-terrain vehicle — a vehicle with treads or wheels designed to travel on rough ground
- alpha canis majoris — Sirius
- alpha canis minoris — Procyon
- alpha ursae minoris — Polaris
- alternating current — An alternating current is an electric current that continually changes direction as it flows. The abbreviation AC is also used.
- alternating voltage — a voltage that reverses direction in regular cycles.
- alternative history — a genre of fiction in which the author speculates on how the course of history might have been altered if a particular historical event had had a different outcome
- alternative pathway — the activation of complement by contact with polysaccharides on bacteria, protozoa, or yeast cells: a nonspecific immune response. Compare classical pathway.
- alternative society — a society or social group that espouses values different from those of the established social order.
- aluminium hydroxide — a white crystalline powder derived from bauxite and used in the manufacture of glass and ceramics, aluminium and its salts, and in dyeing. Formula: Al(OH)3 or Al2O3.3H2O
- alzheimer's disease — Alzheimer's disease is a condition in which a person's brain gradually stops working properly.
- ambassador-at-large — an ambassador with special duties who may be sent to more than one government
- ambient temperature — Ambient temperature is the temperature of the air surrounding a component.
- ambulance insurance — Ambulance insurance is insurance cover that covers the cost of an emergency ambulance if one is needed.
- american black bear — a bear, Euarctos (or Ursus) americanus, inhabiting forests of North America. It is smaller and less ferocious than the brown bear
- american book award — any of several awards given annually since 1980 to an author whose book is judged the best in its category: administered by the Association of American Publishers. Abbreviation: ABA, A.B.A.
- american crab apple — a twiggy, stiff-branched tree, Malus coronaria, of southern central North America, having small fruit and rose-colored flowers that change to white.
- american directoire — a style of American furniture making and related crafts from c1805 to c1815, corresponding to the French Directoire and English Regency styles.
- american revolution — a sequence of actions by American colonists from 1763 to 1775 protesting British domination and culminating in the Revolutionary War
- american smoke tree — a small tree, Cotinus obovatus, of the cashew family, of the central southern U.S., having yellowish flowers and clusters of fleshy fruit with silky plumes.
- american wire gauge — American wire gauge is a measure of wire thickness.
- ammonium bifluoride — a white, crystalline, water-soluble, poisonous solid, NH 4 HF 2 , used chiefly for cleaning and sterilizing brewing and dairy equipment.