16-letter words containing t, u
- destructibleness — The quality of being destructible.
- deuterocanonical — of or constituting a second or subsequent canon; specif., designating certain Biblical books accepted as canonical in the Roman Catholic Church, but held by Protestants to be apocryphal
- diethyltoluamide — a liquid, C 12 H 17 NO, used as an insect repellent and resin solvent.
- digestive juices — fluids secreted in the stomach or intestines that assist in the digestion of food
- digital computer — a computer that processes information in digital form.
- dimethyl sulfate — a colorless or yellow, slightly water-soluble, poisonous liquid, (CH 3) 2 SO 2 , used chiefly in organic synthesis.
- dinosaurs mating — (humour) The activity said to occur when yet another big iron merger or buy-out occurs; reflects a perception by hackers that these signal another stage in the long, slow dying of the mainframe industry. Also described as "elephants mating": lots of noise and action at a high level, with an eventual outcome in the somewhat distant future. In its glory days of the 1960s, it was "IBM and the Seven Dwarves": Burroughs, Control Data, General Electric, Honeywell, NCR, RCA, and Univac. Early on, RCA sold out to Univac and GE also sold out, and it was "IBM and the BUNCH" (an acronym for Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data, and Honeywell) for a while. Honeywell was bought out by Bull. Univac in turn merged with Sperry to form Sperry/Univac, which was later merged (although the employees of Sperry called it a hostile takeover) with Burroughs to form Unisys in 1986 (this was when the phrase "dinosaurs mating" was coined). In 1991 AT&T absorbed NCR, only to spit it out again in 1996. Unisys bought Convergent Technologies in 1988 and later others. More such earth-shaking unions of doomed giants seem inevitable.
- diplomatic pouch — a sealed mailbag containing diplomatic correspondence that is sent free of inspection between a foreign office and its diplomatic or consular post abroad or from one such post to another.
- direct discourse — quotation of a speaker in which the speaker's exact words are repeated.
- direction number — the component of a vector along a given line; any number proportional to the direction cosines of a given line.
- discombobulating — Present participle of discombobulate.
- discombobulation — to confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate: The speaker was completely discombobulated by the hecklers.
- discountenancing — Present participle of discountenance.
- discourteousness — The state or quality of being discourteous.
- disequilibration — to put out of equilibrium; unbalance: A period of high inflation could disequilibrate the monetary system.
- disputatiousness — The state or quality of being disputatious or argumentative; contentiousness.
- disqualification — an act or instance of disqualifying.
- disreputableness — The state or quality of being disreputable or disgraceful; disreputability.
- distance modulus — a measure of the distance, r, of a celestial object too far away to show measurable parallax. It is given by m–M = 5 log(r/10), where m is its apparent magnitude (corrected for interstellar absorption) and M is its absolute magnitude
- distinguishments — to mark off as different (often followed by from or by): He was distinguished from the other boys by his height.
- distributed term — a term applying equally to every member of the class it designates, as doctors in no doctors are overworked
- distributionally — In a distributional manner.
- distributive law — a theorem asserting that one operator can validly be distributed over another
- district council — the local ruling body of an urban or rural district.
- diverticulectomy — (surgery) The surgical removal of a diverticulum.
- divisional court — a high court in which at least two judges sit
- do business with — trade or deal with
- do-it-yourselfer — an advocate or enthusiast of do-it-yourself
- doctor's surgery — A doctor's surgery is the same as a doctor's office.
- document imaging — the process of converting paper documents into an electronic or digital format
- documentary film — factual, informative film
- double centering — a method of extending a survey line by taking the average of two foresights, one with the telescope direct and one with it inverted, made each time by transiting the telescope after a backsight.
- double indemnity — a clause in a life-insurance or accident-insurance policy providing for payment of twice the face value of the policy in the event of accidental death.
- double monastery — a religious community of both men and women who live in separate establishments under the same superior and who worship in a common church.
- double solitaire — a game of solitaire for two persons, each player usually having a pack and layout but pooling foundations with the opponent.
- double-breasting — the practice of employing nonunion workers, especially in a separate division, to supplement the work of higher-paid union workers.
- double-clutching — (of a bird) to produce a second clutch of eggs after the first has been removed, usually for hatching in an incubator.
- draught excluder — a device (such as a strip of wood, or a long cylindrical cushion) placed at the bottom of a door to keep out draughts
- draw and quarter — to disembowel and dismember (a person) after hanging
- drinking-up time — (in Britain) a short time allowed for finishing drinks before closing time in a public house
- driver education — a course of study, as for high-school students, that teaches the techniques of driving a vehicle, along with basic vehicle maintenance, safety precautions, and traffic regulations and laws.
- drogue parachute — Also called drogue. a small parachute that deploys first in order to pull a larger parachute from its pack.
- drug trafficking — smuggling illegal drugs
- drugstore cowboy — a young man who loafs around drugstores or on street corners.
- dual citizenship — Also called dual nationality. the status of a person who is a legal citizen of two or more countries.
- dual nationality — dual citizenship (def 1).
- dual personality — a disorder in which an individual possesses two dissociated personalities.
- dual-nationality — Also called dual nationality. the status of a person who is a legal citizen of two or more countries.
- ducktail-haircut — DA.
- dumont d'urville — Jules Sébastien César [zhyl sey-bas-tyan sey-zar] /ʒül seɪ basˈtyɛ̃ seɪˈzar/ (Show IPA), 1790–1842, French naval officer: explored South Pacific and Antarctic.