21-letter words containing v, i, r
- progressive education — any of various reformist educational philosophies and methodologies since the late 1800s, applied especially to elementary schools, that reject the rote recitation and strict discipline of traditional, single-classroom teaching, favoring instead more stimulation of the individual pupil as well as group discussion, more informality in the classroom, a broader curriculum, and use of laboratories, gymnasiums, kitchens, etc., in the school.
- projection television — a television picture display system consisting of a special receiver and an optical system that projects an enlarged picture on a screen.
- protective coloration — coloration or anything likened to it that eliminates or reduces visibility or conspicuousness.
- public health service — the agency that is responsible for the health of the general public
- put something over on — to deceive; trick
- quality point average — grade point average.
- radius of convergence — a positive number so related to a given power series that the power series converges for every number whose absolute value is less than this particular number.
- record of achievement — a statement of the personal and educational development of each pupil
- relative permeability — the ratio of the permeability of a medium to that of free space
- relative permittivity — Electricity. the ratio of the flux density produced by an electric field in a given dielectric to the flux density produced by that field in a vacuum.
- reverberation chamber — a room with walls that reflect sound. It is used to make acoustic measurements and as a source of reverberant sound to be mixed with direct sound for recording or broadcasting
- reverse polish syntax — postfix notation
- reverse transcriptase — a retrovirus enzyme that synthesizes DNA from viral RNA, the reverse of the usual DNA-to-RNA replication: used in genetic engineering to clone genes from RNA strands.
- revillagigedo islands — an uninhabited island group belonging to Mexico, in the Pacific Ocean, SSW of the Baja California peninsula: Socorro is the largest island. 320 sq. mi. (830 sq. km).
- rio de la plata river — Rí·o de la [ree-aw th e lah] /ˈri ɔ ðɛ lɑ/ (Show IPA) an estuary on the SE coast of South America between Argentina and Uruguay, formed by the Uruguay and Paraná rivers, about 185 miles (290 km) long.
- royal victorian order — (in Britain) an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1896, membership of which is conferred for special services to the sovereign
- satisficing behaviour — the form of behaviour demonstrated by firms who seek satisfactory profits and satisfactory growth rather than maximum profits
- saving your reverence — a form of apology for using an obscene or taboo expression
- short message service — (messaging) (SMS) A message service offered by the GSM digital mobile telephone system. Using SMS, a short alphanumeric message (160 alphanumeric characters) can be sent to a mobile phone to be displayed there, much like in an alphanumeric pager system. The message is buffered by the GSM network until the phone becomes active.
- sieve of eratosthenes — a method of obtaining prime numbers by sifting out the composite numbers from the set of natural numbers so that only prime numbers remain.
- sir roger de coverley — Sir Roger de, a literary figure representing the ideal of the early 18th-century squire in The Spectator, by Addison and Steele.
- sovereign wealth fund — an investment fund created using the financial assets of a national government
- sport utility vehicle — a rugged vehicle with a trucklike chassis and four-wheel drive, designed for occasional off-road use. Abbreviation: SUV.
- sport-utility vehicle — a rugged vehicle with a trucklike chassis and four-wheel drive, designed for occasional off-road use. Abbreviation: SUV.
- st. christopher-nevis — St. Kitts-Nevis.
- steady state universe — a universe described by the steady state theory.
- surface acoustic wave — an acoustic wave generated on the surface of a piezoelectric substrate: used as a filter in electronic circuits
- surface of revolution — a surface formed by revolving a plane curve about a given line.
- sympathetic vibration — a vibration induced by resonance.
- take under advisement — to consider carefully
- temperature inversion — inversion (def 12).
- the barber of seville — Italian Il barbiere di Siviglia. a comic opera (1816) by Gioacchino Rossini based on a comedy (1775) by Beaumarchais.
- the built environment — the buildings and all other things constructed by human beings
- the central provinces — the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec
- the probation service — a criminal justice service that is mainly responsible for dealing with offenders by placing them under the supervision of a probation officer
- threatening behaviour — intimidation or intentional behaviour that causes another person to fear injury or harm
- to have green fingers — If someone has green fingers, they are very good at gardening and their plants grow well.
- topological invariant — a property of a topological space that is a property of every space related to the given space by a homeomorphism.
- total recoverable oil — Total recoverable oil is the amount of oil which is still left in the ground in oilfields that have already been worked.
- toussaint l'ouverture — François Dominique [frahn-swa dawmee-neek] /frɑ̃ˈswa dɔmiˈnik/ (Show IPA), 1743–1803, Haitian patriot and leader of the Haitian Revolution slave rebellion.
- traveling salesperson — a representative of a business firm who travels in an assigned territory soliciting orders for a company's services.
- turn queen's evidence — (of an accomplice) to act as witness for the prosecution and testify against those associated with him or her in crime
- turn state's evidence — If someone who is accused of a crime turns state's evidence, they agree to give evidence in a law court against another person such as a former accomplice, usually in exchange for a reduced sentence for themselves.
- two-point perspective — a mathematical system for representing three-dimensional objects and space on a two-dimensional surface by means of intersecting lines that are drawn vertically and horizontally and that radiate from one point (one-point perspective) two points (two-point perspective) or several points on a horizon line as perceived by a viewer imagined in an arbitrarily fixed position.
- uk overseas territory — any of the territories that are governed by the UK but lie outside the British Isles; many were formerly British crown colonies: includes Bermuda, Falkland Islands, and Montserrat
- ultraviolet astronomy — the branch of astronomy that deals with celestial objects emitting electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet range.
- unit investment trust — Also called fixed investment trust, fixed trust. an investment company that has a fixed portfolio of securities, usually of a single type, such as municipal bonds or corporate bonds, which are held to maturity: each investor receives a share in the amount proportionate to his or her holding.
- universal affirmative — a proposition of the form “All S is P.” Symbol: A, a.
- universal disk format — (storage, standard) (UDF) A CD-ROM file system standard that is required for DVD ROMs. UDF is the OSTA's replacement for the ISO 9660 file system used on CD-ROMs, but will be mostly used on DVD. DVD multimedia disks use UDF to contain MPEG audio and video streams. To read DVDs you need a DVD drive, the kernel driver for the drive, MPEG video support, and a UDF driver. DVDs containing both UDF filesystems and ISO 9660 filesystems can be read without UDF support. UDF can also be used by CD-R and CD-RW recorders in packet writing mode.
- universe of discourse — the totality of known or supposed objects and phenomena throughout space; the cosmos; macrocosm.