15-letter words containing s, t, o, r, m
- castanospermine — a substance obtained from the Australian chestnut or black bean tree
- 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).
- castrametations — Plural form of castrametation.
- centrosymmetric — having symmetry with a central point
- chamois leather — soft cleaning cloth
- chemoautotrophs — Plural form of chemoautotroph.
- chemopsychiatry — the study and application of chemical substances in psychiatry
- chemosterilants — Plural form of chemosterilant.
- cholesterolemia — the presence of an abnormal amount of cholesterol in the blood.
- christmas carol — a joyful hymn or religious song, celebrating the birth of Christ
- chromatic scale — a twelve-note scale including all the semitones of the octave
- cigarette smoke — the acrid smoke produced by cigarettes being smoked
- circumlocutions — Plural form of circumlocution.
- circumlocutious — Circumlocutional.
- circumscription — the act of circumscribing or the state of being circumscribed
- circumvolutions — Plural form of circumvolution.
- combat neurosis — battle fatigue.
- combat trousers — Combat trousers are large, loose trousers with lots of pockets.
- comfort station — a public lavatory and rest room
- comfortableness — (of clothing, furniture, etc.) producing or affording physical comfort, support, or ease: a comfortable chair; comfortable shoes.
- commiseratingly — in a manner expressing commiseration
- committeeperson — a member of a committee.
- common disaster — the death of an insured party and a beneficiary occurring at the same time in the same accident.
- communist party — (in non-Communist countries) a political party advocating Communism
- comparativeness — of or relating to comparison.
- comparison test — a comparison of particular qualities or traits in two or more things in order to get a measurable assessment
- complementaries — forming a complement; completing.
- complementizers — Plural form of complementizer.
- complimentaries — of the nature of, conveying, or expressing a compliment, often one that is politely flattering: a complimentary remark.
- composite print — a photograph characterized by overlapping or juxtaposed images resulting from a multiple exposure or the combining of negatives (composite print)
- compressibility — the ability to be compressed
- comptrollership — controller (def 1).
- 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
- computer vision — a robot analogue of human vision in which information about the environment is received by one or more video cameras and processed by computer: used in navigation by robots, in the control of automated production lines, etc.
- computerisation — (chiefly, British) alternative spelling of computerization.
- concertmistress — the first violinist in an orchestra
- conglomerations — Plural form of conglomeration.
- conservationism — A movement that supports conservation, especially that of natural resources.
- constructionism — an educational theory holding that children learn most effectively when actively doing, or constructing, things, rather than being taught information in a traditional schooling method
- consulting room — A doctor's or therapist's consulting room is the room in which they see their patients.
- consumer credit — Consumer credit is money that is lent to people by organizations such as banks, building societies, and shops so that they can buy things.
- consumer market — the market of consumers for a particular good or service
- consumer strike — a boycott of a product by consumers, often in protest over a raise in its price.
- contemporaneous — If two events or situations are contemporaneous, they happen or exist during the same period of time.
- continuous-form — of or relating to paper, blank forms, checks, etc., supplied in a folded stack or roll to a device, as a computer printer, generally with perforations between sheets for later separation and often with detachable punched edges used to advance the sheets through the device.
- contrast medium — a radiopaque substance, such as barium sulphate, used to increase the contrast of an image in radiography
- conversationism — a colloquialism
- corpus striatum — a striped mass of white and grey matter situated in front of the thalamus in each cerebral hemisphere