20-letter words containing t, i
- aristarchus of samos — 3rd century bc, Greek astronomer who anticipated Copernicus in advancing the theory that the earth revolves around the sun
- armchair quarterback — a person who is not a quarterback (or general, etc.), but offers opinions and criticism on the performance or decisions of those who are
- articulatory feature — a property of a speech sound based on its voicing or on its place or manner of articulation in the vocal tract, as voiceless, bilabial, or stop used in describing the sound (p).
- artificial harmonics — harmonics of a note produced on a stringed instrument by lightly touching a stopped sounded string.
- artificial pacemaker — an electronic device for use in certain cases of heart disease to assume the functions of the natural cardiac pacemaker
- artificial satellite — a man-made device orbiting around the earth, moon, or another planet transmitting to earth scientific information or used for communication
- artificial selection — a process in the breeding of animals and in the cultivation of plants by which the breeder chooses to perpetuate only those forms having certain desirable inheritable characteristics.
- as right as a trivet — in perfect health
- as straight as a die — perfectly honest
- aschheim-zondek test — a test used to detect whether a woman is pregnant by noting the effect on the ovaries of an immature mouse or rabbit injected with her urine.
- asexual reproduction — reproduction, as budding, fission, or spore formation, not involving the union of gametes.
- asian tiger mosquito — a mosquito, Aedes albopictus, native to Asia, that transmits yellow fever and dengue and possibly West Nile virus. Compare yellow-fever mosquito.
- asleep at the switch — a slender, flexible shoot, rod, etc., used especially in whipping or disciplining.
- asset turnover ratio — An asset turnover ratio is a measure of the efficiency of a company, that is calculated by dividing sales for a period by average total assets.
- associated statehood — the semi-independent political status of various former British colonies in the Caribbean from 1967 until each became an independent state in the British Commonwealth, by which Britain retained responsibility for defence and some aspects of foreign affairs. The associated states were Anguilla, Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines
- association football — soccer
- association of stars — a sparsely populated group of between 10 and 1000 young stars of similar spectral type and common origin that are moving too fast to form a permanent, gravitationally bound system.
- astatic galvanometer — a galvanometer that is unaffected by the earth's magnetic field and is used for measuring small currents.
- asymmetrical warfare — warfare between a powerful military force and a weak guerilla force
- at one's convenience — at a time, or in a place or manner, suitable to one
- at one's finger tips — the tip or end of a finger.
- at someone's service — ready to serve or cooperate with someone
- at the best of times — You say at the best of times when you are making a negative or critical comment to emphasize that it is true even when the circumstances are as favourable as possible.
- at two hours' notice — with notification only two hours in advance
- atmospheric pressure — Atmospheric pressure is the pressure of the atmosphere on the Earth's surface.
- attachment parenting — a style of child rearing aimed at developing a strong emotional bond between the child and primary caregiver. See also attachment (def 3a).
- attacks as a service — (security, legal) A kind of cybercrime as a service in which the service provider performs denial of service attacks on behalf of others for money.
- attic salt (or wit) — graceful, piercing wit
- audio-lingual method — a technique of foreign-language instruction that emphasizes audio-lingual skills over reading and writing and is characterized by extensive use of pattern practice.
- australian rye grass — a European grass, Lolium multiflorum, naturalized in North America, having flowering spikes and used as a winter turf.
- automobile insurance — Automobile insurance is insurance coverage for cars.
- auxiliary power unit — an additional engine fitted to an aircraft to operate when the main engines are not in use
- axiomatic set theory — (theory) One of several approaches to set theory, consisting of a formal language for talking about sets and a collection of axioms describing how they behave. There are many different axiomatisations for set theory. Each takes a slightly different approach to the problem of finding a theory that captures as much as possible of the intuitive idea of what a set is, while avoiding the paradoxes that result from accepting all of it, the most famous being Russell's paradox. The main source of trouble in naive set theory is the idea that you can specify a set by saying whether each object in the universe is in the "set" or not. Accordingly, the most important differences between different axiomatisations of set theory concern the restrictions they place on this idea (known as "comprehension"). NBG (von Neumann-Bernays-Goedel) set theory sort of allows comprehension for all formulae without restriction, but distinguishes between two kinds of set, so that the sets produced by applying comprehension are only second-class sets. NBG is exactly as powerful as ZF, in the sense that any statement that can be formalised in both theories is a theorem of ZF if and only if it is a theorem of ZFC. MK (Morse-Kelley) set theory is a strengthened version of NBG, with a simpler axiom system. It is strictly stronger than NBG, and it is possible that NBG might be consistent but MK inconsistent. ML ("Modern Logic") is to NF as NBG is to ZF. (Its name derives from the title of the book in which Quine introduced an early, defective, form of it). It is stronger than ZF (it can prove things that ZF can't), but if NF is consistent then ML is too.
- babylonian captivity — the exile of the Jews in Babylonia from about 586 to about 538 bc
- background radiation — low-intensity radiation from, for example, small amounts of radioisotopes in soil, air, building materials, etc
- backwards compatible — backward compatibility
- bacteriochlorophylls — Plural form of bacteriochlorophyll.
- ballet-wrap cardigan — a cardigan with wrapover fronts which are fastened with wraparound ties
- ballistic trajectory — the path of an unpowered object, as a missile, moving only under the influence of gravity and possibly atmospheric friction and with its surface providing no significant lift to alter the course of flight.
- baptism for the dead — the baptism of a living person in the place of and for the sake of one who has died unbaptized: now practiced chiefly by Mormons.
- bartramian sandpiper — upland sandpiper.
- basal metabolic rate — the rate at which heat is produced by the body at rest, 12 to 14 hours after eating, measured in kilocalories per square metre of body surface per hour
- basic lead carbonate — ceruse.
- basic object adapter — (architecture) (BOA) Part of the CORBA architecture.
- basic rate interface — (communications) (BRI, 2B+D, 2B1D) An Integrated Services Digital Network channel consisting of two 64 kbps "bearer" (B) channels and one 16 kbps "delta" (D) channel, giving a total data rate of 144 kbps. The B channels are used for voice or user data, and the D channel is used for control and signalling and/or X.25 packet networking. BRI is the kind of ISDN interface most likely to be found in residential service.
- bats-wing coral-tree — a small tree, Erythrina verspertilio, of tropical and subtropical Australia with red flowers and leaves shaped like the wings of a bat
- be (or get) wise to — to be (or become) aware of; have (or attain) a proper understanding of
- be for the high jump — to be liable to receive a severe reprimand or punishment
- be getting somewhere — If you say that you are getting somewhere, you mean that you are making progress towards achieving something.
- be in the market for — to wish to buy or acquire