12-letter words containing y, a, m
- birth family — one's biological parents and siblings, as contrasted with one's adoptive family.
- black comedy — a comedy dealing with an unpleasant situation in a pessimistic or macabre manner
- blastomycete — any of a genus (Blastomyces) of yeastlike imperfect fungi that cause diseases in people and animals
- body fascism — intolerance of those whose bodies do not conform to a particular view of what is desirable
- bog rosemary — any of several species (genus Andromeda) of evergreen shrubs of the heath family, native to cold bogs of North America and Europe, with pink flowers and narrow leaves
- bomb factory — a site or building in which terrorists illicitly and secretly create bombs
- bombay hills — a row of hills marking the southern boundary of greater Auckland on the North Island, New Zealand
- bottom yeast — a yeast whose cells, in the manufacture of wine and lager beer, fall to the bottom as a sediment.
- boyoma falls — a series of seven cataracts in the NE Democratic Republic of Congo, on the upper River Congo: forms an unnavigable stretch of 90 km (56 miles), which falls 60 m (200 ft)
- brahmacharya — the stage of life of the student, entailing study of the Vedas and complete celibacy, usually lasting for twelve years.
- brambleberry — the fruit of a bramble.
- brigham city — a city in N Utah.
- buy the farm — a tract of land, usually with a house, barn, silo, etc., on which crops and often livestock are raised for livelihood.
- by all means — You can say 'by all means' to tell someone that you are very willing to allow them to do something.
- by any means — in any way possible; at all; somehow
- cache memory — a small area of memory in a computer that can be accessed very quickly
- calamitously — In a calamitous manner.
- call-by-name — (reduction) (CBN) (Normal order reduction, leftmost, outermost reduction). An argument passing convention (first provided by ALGOL 60?) where argument expressions are passed unevaluated. This is usually implemented by passing a pointer to a thunk - some code which will return the value of the argument and an environment giving the values of its free variables. This evaluation strategy is guaranteed to reach a normal form if one exists. When used to implement functional programming languages, call-by-name is usually combined with graph reduction to avoid repeated evaluation of the same expression. This is then known as call-by-need. The opposite of call-by-name is call-by-value where arguments are evaluated before they are passed to a function. This is more efficient but is less likely to terminate in the presence of infinite data structures and recursive functions. Arguments to macros are usually passed using call-by-name.
- calumet city — a city in NE Illinois, near Chicago.
- calumniatory — of, involving, or using calumny; slanderous; defamatory.
- calumniously — in a calumnious manner
- calycanthemy — the abnormal development of the calyx of a flower into a structure resembling a corolla
- cam ranh bay — an inlet of the South China Sea, on the SE coast of Vietnam: U. S. military facility during the Vietnam War.
- camera ready — (publication) A final edition of a document or graphic (e.g. a newspaper advertisement or a technical paper for a journal) that is of suitable quality for mass reproduction by making printing plates from the negatives by photoengraving.
- caméra stylo — the use of the camera as a means of personal expression, esp as practised by some directors of the New Wave
- camera-ready — designating or of copy, artwork, etc. that is ready to be photographed for making into a plate for printing
- candygrammar — (language) A programming-language grammar that is mostly syntactic sugar; a play on "candygram". COBOL, Apple Computer's Hypertalk language, and many 4GLs share this property. The intent is to be as English-like as possible and thus easier for unskilled people to program. However, syntax isn't what makes programming hard; it's the mental effort and organisation required to specify an algorithm precisely. Thus "candygrammar" languages are just as difficult to program in, and far more painful for the experienced hacker.
- caper family — the plant family Capparidaceae (or Capparaceae), characterized by herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees having alternate, simple, or palmate leaves, irregular flowers with four petals, and fruit in the form of elongated capsules or berries, including the caper and cleome.
- carbamylurea — biuret.
- cardiomegaly — abnormal enlargement of the heart.
- carry permit — a license to carry a handgun on one's person.
- cash economy — an economic system, or part of one, in which financial transactions are carried out in cash rather than via direct debit, standing order, bank transfer, or credit card
- cash payment — an immediate payment in cash
- caste system — the division of Hindu society into four major hereditary classes
- cephalometry — measurement of the dimensions of the human head by radiography: used mainly in orthodontics
- ceramography — the study, analysis, and preparation of ceramic microstructures, usually for industrial use
- ceremonially — of, relating to, or characterized by ceremony; formal; ritual: a ceremonial occasion.
- chamaephytes — Plural form of chamaephyte.
- chemotherapy — Chemotherapy is the treatment of disease using chemicals. It is often used in treating cancer.
- chickahominy — a member of a North American Indian tribe of the Powhatan confederacy that inhabited eastern Virginia.
- chimerically — In a chimerical manner.
- chimneyboard — a partition or a cover to shut off a fireplace
- chlorenchyma — plant tissue consisting of parenchyma cells that contain chlorophyll
- chrestomathy — a collection of literary passages, used in the study of language
- chromaticity — the quality of a colour or light with reference to its purity and its dominant wavelength
- chromatology — chromatics.
- chromography — (obsolete) chromolithography.
- circumbinary — (astronomy) Of, pertaining to, or having an orbit around a binary star.
- circumgyrate — to cause (something) to move in a circular motion
- circumrotary — Alternative form of circumrotatory.