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18-letter words containing r, e, p, t, i

  • cranial osteopathy — osteopathy that focuses on the cranium and the spine
  • creatine phosphate — phosphocreatine.
  • creeping featurism — (jargon)   /kree'ping fee'chr-izm/ (Or "feature creep") A systematic tendency to load more chrome and features onto systems at the expense of whatever elegance they may have possessed when originally designed. "The main problem with BSD Unix has always been creeping featurism." More generally, creeping featurism is the tendency for anything to become more complicated because people keep saying "Gee, it would be even better if it had this feature too". The result is usually a patchwork because it grew one ad-hoc step at a time, rather than being planned. Planning is a lot of work, but it's easy to add just one extra little feature to help someone, and then another, and another, .... When creeping featurism gets out of hand, it's like a cancer. Usually this term is used to describe computer programs, but it could also be said of the federal government, the IRS 1040 form, and new cars. A similar phenomenon sometimes afflicts conscious redesigns; see second-system effect. See also creeping elegance.
  • crown-jewel option — an option given by a company subjected to an unwelcome takeover bid to a friendly firm, allowing this firm to buy one or more of its best businesses if the bid succeeds
  • crystal microphone — a microphone that uses a piezoelectric crystal to convert sound energy into electrical energy
  • cyclic pitch lever — a lever in a helicopter to change the angle of attack of individual rotor blades, causing the helicopter to move forwards, backwards, or sideways
  • daisywheel printer — (printer)   A kind of impact printer where the characters are arranged on the ends of the spokes of a wheel (resembling the petals on a daisy). The wheel (usually made of plastic) is rotated to select the character to print and then an electrically operated hammer mechanism bends the selected spoke forward slightly, sandwiching an ink ribbon between the character and the paper, as in a typewriter. One advantage of this arrangement over that of a typewriter is that different wheels may be inserted to produce different typefaces.
  • deanthropomorphism — the ridding of philosophy or religion of anthropomorphic beliefs and doctrines.
  • decompartmentalize — to remove excessive compartmentalization from (an organization)
  • dependent variable — a variable in a mathematical equation or statement whose value depends on that taken on by the independent variable
  • depository library — a library designated by law to receive without charge all or a selection of the official publications of a government.
  • depth-first search — (algorithm)   A graph search algorithm which extends the current path as far as possible before backtracking to the last choice point and trying the next alternative path. Depth-first search may fail to find a solution if it enters a cycle in the graph. This can be avoided if we never extend a path to a node which it already contains. Opposite of breadth first search. See also iterative deepening.
  • descriptive clause — a relative clause that describes or supplements but is not essential in establishing the identity of the antecedent and is usually set off by commas in English. In This year, which has been dry, is bad for crops the clause which has been dry is a nonrestrictive clause.
  • developing country — a nonindustrialized poor country that is seeking to develop its resources by industrialization
  • development period — a length of time during which a company grows
  • devil's paintbrush — a perennial European hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum) with leafless flower stalks bearing a cluster of orange-red heads: now a common weed in N U.S. and Canada
  • dietary supplement — a substance taken in addition to what you eat in order to promote health
  • dimethyltryptamine — a hallucinogenic drug, C 12 H 16 N 2 , with an action of short duration. Abbreviation: DMT.
  • diphosphoglycerate — an ester of phosphoric acid and glyceric acid that occurs in the blood and that promotes the release of hemoglobin-bound oxygen.
  • diphtheria vaccine — a vaccine used to produce immunity against diphtheria
  • diplomatic service — diplomatic corps
  • discharge printing — a fabric-printing method in which the material is dyed and then certain areas are discharged so as to permit the original hue or its color replacement to act as a pattern against the colored ground.
  • dispersible tablet — A dispersible tablet is a tablet that disintegrates in water or other liquid.
  • disproportionately — not proportionate; out of proportion, as in size or number.
  • divine inspiration — insight provided by higher power
  • dna fingerprinting — the use of a DNA probe for the identification of an individual, as for the matching of genes from a forensic sample with those of a criminal suspect.
  • doctype decoration — (humour)   When a web author adds a doctype declaration but doesn't bother to write valid HTML.
  • dot matrix printer — (hardware, printer)   A kind of printer with a vertical column of up to 48 small closely packed needles or "pins" each of which can be individually forced forward to press an ink ribbon against the paper. The print head is repeatedly scanned across the page and different combinations of needles activated at each point. Dot matrix printers are noisy compared to non-impact printers.
  • dot-matrix printer — device: prints using matrix dots
  • drainpipe trousers — trousers with very narrow legs
  • drop in the bucket — a deep, cylindrical vessel, usually of metal, plastic, or wood, with a flat bottom and a semicircular bail, for collecting, carrying, or holding water, sand, fruit, etc.; pail.
  • duty-free shopping — the making of duty-free purchases
  • eastern hemisphere — the eastern part of the terrestrial globe, including Asia, Africa, Australia, and Europe.
  • ejaculatio praecox — premature ejaculation during sexual intercourse
  • electric potential — the work required to transfer a unit positive electric charge from an infinite distance to a given point against an electric field
  • electrocardiograph — A machine used for electrocardiography.
  • electronic receipt — An electronic receipt is one created in a computerized cash register, or by an online retailer. It will usually show the date and time, how payment is made, and other details of the sale.
  • electrotherapeutic — Relating to electrotherapeutics.
  • elizabeth petrovna — 1709-62; empress of Russia (1741-62): daughter of Peter I
  • employment service — (in the United States) a government department established to collect and supply to the unemployed information about job vacancies and to employers information about availability of prospective workers
  • energy consumption — amount of energy used
  • entrepreneurialism — The spirit or state of acting in an entrepreneurial manner.
  • epstein-barr virus — a virus belonging to the herpes family that causes infectious mononucleosis; it is also implicated in the development of Burkitt's lymphoma and Hodgkin's disease
  • equinoctial spring — either of the two highest spring tides that occur at the equinoxes
  • erectile impotence — impotence caused by the inability of the penis to become sufficiently firm to penetrate the vagina
  • european community — an economic and political association of European States that came into being in 1967, when the legislative and executive bodies of the European Economic Community merged with those of the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community: subsumed into the European Union in 1993
  • evapotranspiration — The process by which water is transferred from the land to the atmosphere by evaporation from the soil and other surfaces and by transpiration from plants.
  • examination script — a script with answers written on it by an examination candidate taking a written examination
  • excess profits tax — a tax on profits exceeding a certain amount
  • executive producer — a producer of a film or television programme who is involved with business or technical issues rather than the technical aspects of film or television production
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