15-letter words containing s, r, u, t
- buttress thread — a screw thread having one flank that is vertical while the other is inclined, and a flat top and bottom: used in machine tools and designed to withstand heavy thrust in one direction
- cactus geranium — a plant, Pelargonium echinatum, of the geranium family, native to southern Africa, having prickly stipules and white or reddish flowers.
- calcareous tufa — tufa
- calculated risk — a chance of failure, the probability of which is estimated before some action is undertaken.
- camelback truss — a roof truss having upper and lower chords curving upward from a common point at each side.
- capital surplus — any surplus of a business firm not derived from direct earnings or profits
- carl xvi gustaf — born 1946, king of Sweden from 1973
- carpometacarpus — a bone in the wing of a bird that consists of the metacarpal bones and some of the carpal bones fused together
- cartesian doubt — willful suspension of all interpretations of experience that are not absolutely certain: used as a method of deriving, by elimination of such uncertainties, axioms upon which to base theories.
- cast around for — If you cast around for something or cast about for it, you try to find it or think of it.
- casters-up mode — [IBM, probably from slang belly up] Yet another synonym for "broken" or "down". Usually connotes a major failure. A system (hardware or software) which is "down" may be already being restarted before the failure is noticed, whereas one which is "casters up" is usually a good excuse to take the rest of the day off (as long as you're not responsible for fixing it).
- caustic surface — a surface that envelopes the light rays reflected or refracted by a curved surface
- cell disruption — Cell disruption is when a biological material becomes smaller to release proteins and enzymes.
- central sudanic — a group of languages belonging to the Nilo-Saharan family, spoken in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northern Uganda, southern Sudan, Chad, and the Central African Republic, and including Mangbetu.
- ceteris paribus — other things being equal
- character study — a work of fiction in which the delineation of the central character's personality is more important than the plot.
- charles doughty — Charles Montagu [mon-tuh-gyoo] /ˈmɒn təˌgyu/ (Show IPA), 1843–1926, English traveler and writer.
- charlotte russe — a cold dessert made in a mould with sponge fingers enclosing a mixture of whipped cream, custard, etc
- chemoautotrophs — Plural form of chemoautotroph.
- chi-square test — a test derived from the chi-square distribution to compare the goodness of fit of theoretical and observed frequency distributions or to compare nominal data derived from unmatched groups of subjects
- chinese mustard — brown mustard.
- chintz curtains — curtains made of chintz
- church register — parish register.
- circularisation — Alternative spelling of circularization.
- circumambulates — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of circumambulate.
- circumlocutions — Plural form of circumlocution.
- circumlocutious — Circumlocutional.
- circumnavigates — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of circumnavigate.
- circumscription — the act of circumscribing or the state of being circumscribed
- circumscriptive — That circumscribes or outlines.
- circumspectness — the quality of being circumspect
- circumstantials — incidentals; details
- circumstantiate — to support by giving particulars
- circumvolutions — Plural form of circumvolution.
- citrus red mite — a large mite, Panonychus citri, that is an important pest of citrus.
- citrus whitefly — See under whitefly.
- claims adjuster — A claims adjuster is someone who is employed by an insurance company to decide how much money a person making a claim should receive.
- class structure — social hierarchy
- claustrophobics — Plural form of claustrophobic.
- closed fracture — simple fracture.
- cluster college — a small residential college affiliated with a university but semi-independent and specializing in one field of study.
- colour contrast — the change in the appearance of a colour surrounded by another colour; for example, grey looks bluish if surrounded by yellow
- colour sergeant — a sergeant who carries the regimental, battalion, or national colours, as in a colour guard
- colouristically — in a colouristic manner
- combat neurosis — battle fatigue.
- combat trousers — Combat trousers are large, loose trousers with lots of pockets.
- communist party — (in non-Communist countries) a political party advocating Communism
- computer ethics — (philosophy) Ethics is the field of study that is concerned with questions of value, that is, judgments about what human behaviour is "good" or "bad". Ethical judgments are no different in the area of computing from those in any other area. Computers raise problems of privacy, ownership, theft, and power, to name but a few. Computer ethics can be grounded in one of four basic world-views: Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism, or Existentialism. Idealists believe that reality is basically ideas and that ethics therefore involves conforming to ideals. Realists believe that reality is basically nature and that ethics therefore involves acting according to what is natural. Pragmatists believe that reality is not fixed but is in process and that ethics therefore is practical (that is, concerned with what will produce socially-desired results). Existentialists believe reality is self-defined and that ethics therefore is individual (that is, concerned only with one's own conscience). Idealism and Realism can be considered ABSOLUTIST worldviews because they are based on something fixed (that is, ideas or nature, respectively). Pragmatism and Existentialism can be considered RELATIVIST worldviews because they are based or something relational (that is, society or the individual, respectively). Thus ethical judgments will vary, depending on the judge's world-view. Some examples: First consider theft. Suppose a university's computer is used for sending an e-mail message to a friend or for conducting a full-blown private business (billing, payroll, inventory, etc.). The absolutist would say that both activities are unethical (while recognising a difference in the amount of wrong being done). A relativist might say that the latter activities were wrong because they tied up too much memory and slowed down the machine, but the e-mail message wasn't wrong because it had no significant effect on operations. Next consider privacy. An instructor uses her account to acquire the cumulative grade point average of a student who is in a class which she instructs. She obtained the password for this restricted information from someone in the Records Office who erroneously thought that she was the student's advisor. The absolutist would probably say that the instructor acted wrongly, since the only person who is entitled to this information is the student and his or her advisor. The relativist would probably ask why the instructor wanted the information. If she replied that she wanted it to be sure that her grading of the student was consistent with the student's overall academic performance record, the relativist might agree that such use was acceptable. Finally, consider power. At a particular university, if a professor wants a computer account, all she or he need do is request one but a student must obtain faculty sponsorship in order to receive an account. An absolutist (because of a proclivity for hierarchical thinking) might not have a problem with this divergence in procedure. A relativist, on the other hand, might question what makes the two situations essentially different (e.g. are faculty assumed to have more need for computers than students? Are students more likely to cause problems than faculty? Is this a hold-over from the days of "in loco parentis"?).
- computer screen — the working area on the monitor of a computer
- computer system — a computer or a set of computers that works together