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15-letter words containing t, h, u

  • church register — parish register.
  • chute-the-chute — an amusement-park ride with a steep slide, often into a pool of water
  • citrus whitefly — See under whitefly.
  • claustrophobics — Plural form of claustrophobic.
  • collenchymatous — Relating to collenchyma.
  • communion cloth — corporal3 .
  • communist china — China, People's Republic of.
  • community chest — a fund raised by voluntary contribution for local welfare activities
  • 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-phobia — a person who distrusts or is intimidated by computers.
  • contour feather — any of the feathers that cover the body of an adult bird, apart from the wings and tail, and determine its shape
  • copper sulphate — a copper salt found naturally as chalcanthite and made by the action of sulphuric acid on copper oxide. It usually exists as blue crystals of the pentahydrate that form a white anhydrous powder when heated: used as a mordant, in electroplating, and in plant sprays. Formula: CuSO4
  • countercathexis — (psychology) The suppression or repression of mental energy.
  • countercharging — Present participle of countercharge.
  • countercharming — Present participle of countercharm.
  • counterchecking — Present participle of countercheck.
  • counterflashing — (construction) Formed metal or elastomeric sheeting secured on or into a wall, curb, pipe or other surface, to cover and protect the upper edge of a base flashing and its associated fasteners.
  • countermarching — Present participle of countermarch.
  • counterpunching — Present participle of counterpunch.
  • counterpurchase — barter, especially of products or materials between international companies or importers and exporters.
  • counterweighted — Simple past tense and past participle of counterweight.
  • country kitchen — a large kitchen with ample areas for food preparation and eating.
  • coup de theatre — a dramatic turn of events, esp in a play
  • couples therapy — a counseling procedure that attempts to improve the adaptation and adjustment of two people who form a conjugal unit.
  • court christian — ecclesiastical court.
  • court of arches — the court of appeal of the Province of Canterbury, formerly held under the arches of Bow Church
  • court of honour — a military court that is instituted to investigate matters involving personal honour
  • credit-crunched — adversely affected by a credit crunch
  • crude oil berth — A crude oil berth is a place at a port for ships carrying crude oil.
  • crush-resistant — not being easily creased
  • culture-shocked — a state of bewilderment and distress experienced by an individual who is suddenly exposed to a new, strange, or foreign social and cultural environment.
  • curate's-eggish — good in parts
  • curia rhaetorum — a city in E Switzerland, capital of Graubünden canton. Pop: 32 989 (2000)
  • curtain shutter — a focal-plane shutter consisting of a curtain on two rollers, moved at a constant speed past the lens opening so as to expose the film to one of several slots in the curtain, the width of which determines the length of exposure.
  • cushion capital — a capital, used in Byzantine, Romanesque, and Norman architecture, in the form of a bowl with a square top
  • cut the mustard — to come up to expectations
  • cutthroat trout — a game fish (Salmo clarki) with a reddish patch under the jaw, usually found in high mountain streams near the NW North American coast
  • dartmouth basic — (language)   The original BASIC language, designed by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College in 1963. Dartmouth BASIC first ran on a GE 235 [date?] and on an IBM 704 on 1964-05-01. It was designed for quick and easy programming by students and beginners using Dartmouth's experimental time-sharing system. Unlike most later BASIC dialects, Dartmouth BASIC was compiled.
  • daughter-in-law — Someone's daughter-in-law is the wife of their son.
  • deutsches reich — former German name of Germany.
  • dichotomous key — a key used to identify a plant or animal in which each stage presents descriptions of two distinguishing characters, with a direction to another stage in the key, until the species is identified
  • dichotomousness — the quality of being dichotomous
  • dimethylsulfide — Alternative spelling of dimethyl sulfide.
  • dionysius thrax — c100 b.c, Greek grammarian.
  • dishcloth gourd — loofah (def 1).
  • distinguishable — to mark off as different (often followed by from or by): He was distinguished from the other boys by his height.
  • distinguishably — to mark off as different (often followed by from or by): He was distinguished from the other boys by his height.
  • distinguishment — to mark off as different (often followed by from or by): He was distinguished from the other boys by his height.
  • distributorship — a franchise held by a distributor.
  • dithionous acid — an unstable dibasic acid known only in solution and in the form of dithionite salts. It is a powerful reducing agent. Formula: H2S2O4
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