16-letter words containing t, o, a, f
- day of atonement — Yom Kippur
- dead-man's float — a prone floating position, used especially by beginning swimmers, with face downward, legs extended backward, and arms stretched forward.
- dead-smooth file — the smoothest grade of file commonly used
- deboursification — (jargon) Removal of irrelevant newsgroups from the Newsgroups header of a followup. The term applies particularly to the removal of frivolous groups added by one of the Kooks. See also: sneck.
- decimal fraction — a fraction whose denominator is some power of 10, usually indicated by a dot (decimal point or point) written before the numerator: as 0.4 = 4/10; 0.126 = 126/1000.
- declassification — to remove the classification from (information, a document, etc.) that restricts access in terms of secrecy, confidentiality, etc. Compare classification (def 5).
- deflationary gap — a situation in which total spending in an economy is insufficient to buy all the output that can be produced with full employment
- dehumidification — Dehumidification is the removal of vapor from a gas-vapor mixture.
- dictionary flame — [Usenet] An attempt to sidetrack a debate away from issues by insisting on meanings for key terms that presuppose a desired conclusion or smuggle in an implicit premise. A common tactic of people who prefer argument over definitions to disputes about reality. Compare spelling flame.
- disqualification — an act or instance of disqualifying.
- dissatisfactions — Plural form of dissatisfaction.
- distrito federal — Federal District. Abbreviation: D.F.
- diversifications — Plural form of diversification.
- documentary film — factual, informative film
- dolce far niente — pleasing inactivity.
- dorothy canfield — Dorothy, Fisher, Dorothy Canfield.
- drag coefficient — a measure of the drag of an object in a moving fluid, esp air
- drift transistor — a transistor in which the impurity concentration in the base increases from the collector-base junction to the emitter-base junction, producing a resistivity gradient that greatly increases its high-frequency response
- dysfunctionality — (uncountable) The condition of being dysfunctional.
- east coast fever — a disease of cattle, endemic in east and central Africa, caused by a parasite, Theileria parva, that is carried by ticks
- elected official — person voted into office
- electronic flash — Photography
- equation of time — the difference between apparent solar time and mean solar time, being at a maximum in February (over 14 minutes) and November (over 16 minutes)
- exemplifications — Plural form of exemplification.
- exhaust manifold — An exhaust manifold is a heat-resistant tube that connects an engine to an exhaust pipe.
- extrinsic factor — vitamin B12
- face recognition — the ability of a computer to scan, store, and recognize human faces for use in identifying people
- faction fighting — dissension
- factor of safety — the ratio of the maximum stress that a structural part or other piece of material can withstand to the maximum stress estimated for it in the use for which it is designed.
- fade-in fade-out — an optical effect in which a shot appears gradually out of darkness and then gradually disappears
- fair to middling — free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice: a fair decision; a fair judge.
- falsificationism — (epistemology) A scientific philosophy based on the requirement that hypotheses must be falsifiable in order to be scientific; if a claim is not able to be refuted it is not a scientific claim.
- fantail goldfish — an artificially bred, hardy variety of goldfish, usually oval-shaped and deep orange or calico, with a deeply cleft, four-lobed tail held in line with the body.
- fantasy football — imagination, especially when extravagant and unrestrained.
- farewell to arms — a novel (1929) by Ernest Hemingway.
- farmington hills — a city in SE Michigan.
- fashion industry — the industry that deals with the world of fashion
- fast of gedaliah — Tzom Gedaliah.
- father confessor — confessor (def 2).
- father-surrogate — a male who replaces an absent father and becomes an object of attachment.
- federation wheat — an early-maturing drought-resistant variety of wheat developed by William Farrar in 1902
- feedback control — (electronics) A control system which monitors its effect on the system it is controlling and modifies its output accordingly. For example, a thermostat has two inputs: the desired temperature and the current temperature (the latter is the feedback). The output of the thermostat changes so as to try to equalise the two inputs. Computer disk drives use feedback control to position the read/write heads accurately on a recording track. Complex systems such as the human body contain many feedback systems that interact with each other; the homeostasis mechanisms that control body temperature and acidity are good examples.
- feel constrained — If you feel constrained to do something, you feel that you must do it, even though you would prefer not to.
- feel-good factor — When journalists refer to the feel-good factor, they mean that people are feeling hopeful and optimistic about the future.
- fellow traveller — a companion on a journey
- feme-sole trader — a married woman who is entitled to carry on business on her own account and responsibility, independently of her husband.
- fermat's theorem — the theorem that an integer raised to a prime power leaves the same remainder as the integer itself when divided by the prime.
- ferrous sulphate — an iron salt with a saline taste, usually obtained as greenish crystals of the heptahydrate, which are converted to the white monohydrate above 100°C: used in inks, tanning, water purification, and in the treatment of anaemia. Formula: FeSO4
- fertility factor — a sex-determining chromosome or gene.
- feulgen reaction — a reaction in which an aldehyde combines with a modified Schiff's reagent to produce a purplish compound: used especially to test for the presence of DNA