17-letter words containing r, e, f, n, c, a
- court-of-chancery — chancery (def 4a).
- cross of lorraine — a cross with two horizontal bars above and below the midpoint of the vertical bar, the lower longer than the upper
- de facto standard — A widespread consensus on a particular product or protocol which has not been ratified by any official standards body, such as ISO, but which nevertheless has a large market share. The archetypal example of a de facto standard is the IBM PC which, despite is many glaring technical deficiencies, has gained such a large share of the personal computer market that it is now popular simply because it is popular and therefore enjoys fierce competition in pricing and software development.
- defence secretary — the member of a government who is responsible for the country's armed forces
- denial of service — a deliberate interruption in access to a computer system or network, esp by using multiple computers to generate an unmanageable volume of traffic (distributed denial of service)
- denial-of-service — pertaining to or being an incident in which a computer or computer network is disabled, disrupting access or service: a website hit by a denial-of-service attack; unintentional denial-of-service problems.
- double refraction — the separation of a ray of light into two unequally refracted, plane-polarized rays of orthogonal polarizations, occurring in crystals in which the velocity of light rays is not the same in all directions.
- drained of colour — colourless
- electrofiltration — Electrofiltration is a separation process in which an electric field is applied across a filter to improve separation.
- electron affinity — a measure of the ability of an atom or molecule to form a negative ion, expressed as the energy released when an electron is attached
- exfoliating cream — a granular cosmetic preparation that removes dead cells from the skin's surface
- factory inspector — a person who inspects factories
- facts and figures — details; precise information
- fairness doctrine — a policy mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, requiring radio and television stations to grant equal time to a political candidate, group, etc., to present an opposing viewpoint to one already aired.
- fancy dress party — a party at which the guests wear fancy dress
- farmers' alliance — an informal name for various regional political organizations that farmers established in the 1880s and that led to the formation of the Peoples' party in 1891–92.
- farthingale chair — an English chair of c1600 having no arms, a straight and low back, and a high seat.
- fellow countryman — sb of same nationality
- fendalton tractor — a four-wheel drive recreational vehicle
- fermentation lock — a valve placed on the top of bottles of fermenting wine to allow bubbles to escape
- ferrimagnetically — In a ferrimagnetic manner.
- financial adviser — A financial adviser is someone whose job it is to advise people about financial products and services.
- financial futures — futures in a stock-exchange index, currency exchange rate, or interest rate enabling banks, building societies, brokers, and speculators to hedge their involvement in these markets
- financial manager — a person responsible for the supervision and handling of the financial affairs of an organization
- financial planner — a person whose business is advising individuals in the management of their financial affairs
- first commandment — “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”: first of the Ten Commandments.
- first performance — the first time that a play or concert is performed
- flagrante delicto — Law. in the very act of committing the offense.
- floating currency — a currency that is free to fluctuate against other currencies in accordance with market forces
- flowering currant — an ornamental shrub, Ribes sanguineum, growing to 2 to 3 metres (6 to 9ft) in height, with red, crimson, yellow, or white flowers: family Saxifragaceae
- flowering tobacco — any plant belonging to the genus Nicotiana, of the nightshade family, as N. alata and N. sylvestris, having clusters of fragrant flowers that usually bloom at night, grown as an ornamental.
- foreign secretary — foreign minister.
- fort walton beach — a city in NW Florida.
- foundation course — A foundation course is a course that you do at some colleges and universities in order to prepare yourself for a longer or more advanced course.
- fractal dimension — (mathematics) A common type of fractal dimension is the Hausdorff-Besicovich Dimension, but there are several different ways of computing fractal dimension. Fractal dimension can be calculated by taking the limit of the quotient of the log change in object size and the log change in measurement scale, as the measurement scale approaches zero. The differences come in what is exactly meant by "object size" and what is meant by "measurement scale" and how to get an average number out of many different parts of a geometrical object. Fractal dimensions quantify the static *geometry* of an object. For example, consider a straight line. Now blow up the line by a factor of two. The line is now twice as long as before. Log 2 / Log 2 = 1, corresponding to dimension 1. Consider a square. Now blow up the square by a factor of two. The square is now 4 times as large as before (i.e. 4 original squares can be placed on the original square). Log 4 / log 2 = 2, corresponding to dimension 2 for the square. Consider a snowflake curve formed by repeatedly replacing ___ with _/\_, where each of the 4 new lines is 1/3 the length of the old line. Blowing up the snowflake curve by a factor of 3 results in a snowflake curve 4 times as large (one of the old snowflake curves can be placed on each of the 4 segments _/\_). Log 4 / log 3 = 1.261... Since the dimension 1.261 is larger than the dimension 1 of the lines making up the curve, the snowflake curve is a fractal. [sci.fractals FAQ].
- frames per second — (unit) (fps) The unit of measurement of the frame rate of a moving image.
- francis ferdinand — 1863–1914, archduke of Austria: heir apparent to the thrones of Austria and Hungary whose assassination precipitated the outbreak of World War I (nephew of Francis Joseph I).
- fraternal society — a club or other association, usually of men, having a limited membership and devoted to professional, religious, charitable, or social activities.
- freezer container — a rigid plastic container used to hold food that is to be frozen
- freight insurance — insurance paid on goods in transport
- french provincial — noting, pertaining to, or resembling a style of furnishings and decoration originating in the provinces of France in the 18th century, derived from but less ornate than styles then current in Paris and featuring simply carved wood furniture, often with decorative curved moldings.
- french somaliland — a former name of Djibouti (def 1).
- full load current — A full load current is the largest current that a motor or other device is designed to carry under particular conditions.
- functional isomer — any of several structural isomers that have the same molecular formula but with the atoms connected in different ways and therefore falling into different functional groups.
- further education — adult education.
- graafian follicle — one of the small vesicles containing a developing ovum in the ovary of a mammal.
- grandfather clock — a pendulum floor clock having a case as tall as or taller than a person; tall-case clock; long-case clock.
- hairline fracture — a very fine crack in a bone
- half-round chisel — a cold chisel with a semicircular cutting edge used for making narrow channels
- hall of residence — Halls of residence are buildings with rooms or flats, usually built by universities or colleges, in which students live during the term.