17-letter words containing t, u, r, i, c
- sufficient reason — the principle that nothing happens by pure chance, but that an explanation must always be available
- supercolumniation — the placing of one order of columns above another.
- superconductivity — the phenomenon of almost perfect conductivity shown by certain substances at temperatures approaching absolute zero. The recent discovery of materials that are superconductive at temperatures hundreds of degrees above absolute zero raises the possibility of revolutionary developments in the production and transmission of electrical energy.
- support mechanism — any formal system or method of providing support or assistance
- survival instinct — the instinct in humans and animals to do things in a dangerous situation that will prevent them from dying
- synchronous orbit — an orbit in which the orbital period of a satellite is identical to the spin period of the central body
- tactile corpuscle — an oval sense organ made of flattened cells and encapsulated nerve endings, occurring in hairless skin, as the tips of the fingers and toes, and functioning as a touch receptor.
- teacher education — training to become a teacher, usually at an institution of higher education
- technical support — an advising and troubleshooting service provided by a manufacturer, typically a software or hardware developer, to its customers, often online or on the telephone.
- terminal juncture — a form of juncture consisting of a change in pitch before a pause, marking the end of an utterance or a break between utterances, as between clauses. Compare close juncture, juncture (def 7), open juncture.
- territorial court — a court established in U.S. territories that is empowered to hear local and federal cases.
- tertiary consumer — a carnivore at the topmost level in a food chain that feeds on other carnivores; an animal that feeds only on secondary consumers.
- textual criticism — lower criticism.
- the carboniferous — the Carboniferous period or rock system
- the final curtain — the closing of the curtain at the end of the action of a play
- the witching hour — the hour at which witches are supposed to appear, usually midnight
- therapeutic index — the ratio between the dosage of a drug that causes a lethal effect and the dosage that causes a therapeutic effect.
- therapeutic touch — the laying on of hands by a healer
- thermocoagulation — the coagulation of tissue by heat-producing high-frequency electric currents, used therapeutically to remove small growths or to create specific lesions in the brain.
- thiosulfuric acid — an acid, H 2 S 2 O 3 , that may be regarded as sulfuric acid with one oxygen atom replaced by sulfur.
- three-piece suite — a set of three matching pieces of furniture, usually a combination of a sofa and chairs
- three-ring circus — a circus having three adjacent rings in which performances take place simultaneously.
- to lick your lips — If you lick your lips, you move your tongue across your lips as you think about or taste something pleasant.
- to risk your neck — If you say that someone is risking their neck, you mean they are doing something very dangerous, often in order to achieve something.
- to run its course — If something runs its course or takes its course, it develops naturally and comes to a natural end.
- top-security wing — a wing of a prison, mental hospital, etc that has a very high level of precautions against escape
- topological group — a set that is a group and a topological space and for which the group operation and the map of an element to its inverse are continuous functions.
- torricellian tube — a vertical glass tube partly evacuated and partly filled with mercury, the height of which is used as a measure of atmospheric pressure
- transfer function — The transfer function of a circuit is the ratio of the response to the input.
- trapdoor function — a function defined from data by means of a mathematical procedure in such a way that it is easy to obtain the function when the data are known, but when the procedure and data are not known it becomes very difficult to determine the original data: used in cryptography, where the data are the characters of the plain text, or message, and the trapdoor function is the cryptogram.
- triboluminescence — luminescence produced by friction, usually within a crystalline substance.
- tropical aquarium — an aquarium designed for the maintenance and breeding of tropical fish and kept at a suitably warm temperature.
- trucial sheikdoms — an independent federation in E Arabia, formed in 1971, now comprising seven emirates on the S coast (formerly, Pirate Coast or Trucial Coast) of the Persian Gulf, formerly under British protection: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah (joined 1972), and Fujairah. About 32,300 sq. mi. (83,657 sq. km). Capital: Abu Dhabi. Abbreviation: U.A.E.
- tubercle bacillus — the bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, causing tuberculosis.
- tuberculin-tested — (of milk) produced by cows that have been certified as free of tuberculosis
- turbidity current — a turbid, dense current of sediments in suspension moving along the slope and bottom of a lake or ocean.
- turn-down service — In a hotel, a turn-down service is the preparation of a room for a guest to sleep in by slightly turning back the comforter on the bed, turning down the lights, and so on.
- ultraconservative — extremely conservative, especially in politics.
- ultramicrobalance — a balance for weighing precisely, to a hundredth of a microgram or less, minute quantities of material.
- unconformity trap — An unconformity trap is a hydrocarbon trap where the closure is made by an unconformity (= a formation of rock layers which represents a gap in the geological record).
- uncooperativeness — working or acting together willingly for a common purpose or benefit.
- undercompensation — to compensate or pay less than is fair, customary, or expected.
- unify corporation — (company) Developers of the Unify relational database. At one time, before Sybase, they were a competitor of Oracle, et al.
- unofficial strike — a strike that is not approved by the strikers' trade union
- unpredictableness — not predictable; not to be foreseen or foretold: an unpredictable occurrence.
- unreconstructible — not capable of being reconstructed.
- upper paleolithic — See under Paleolithic.
- vacuum aspiration — menstrual extraction.
- vacuum extraction — applying suction to a baby's head during birth to help it emerge
- varix lymphaticus — a similar condition affecting an artery or lymphatic vessel