20-letter words containing the
- chemotherapeutically — By means of chemotherapy.
- childhood sweetheart — a boyfriend or girlfriend from an early stage of life
- clinical thermometer — a finely calibrated thermometer for determining the temperature of the body, usually placed under the tongue, in the armpit, or in the rectum
- clothes manufacturer — a business concern that manufactures clothes
- cold-weather payment — (in Britain) a payment made by the government to people on low incomes when the temperature falls below a certain level for a specific number of days
- come out in the wash — If you say that something will come out in the wash, you mean that people will eventually find out the truth about it.
- communication theory — information theory.
- computability theory — (mathematics) The area of theoretical computer science concerning what problems can be solved by any computer. A function is computable if an algorithm can be implemented which will give the correct output for any valid input. Since computer programs are countable but real numbers are not, it follows that there must exist real numbers that cannot be calculated by any program. Unfortunately, by definition, there isn't an easy way of describing any of them! In fact, there are many tasks (not just calculating real numbers) that computers cannot perform. The most well-known is the halting problem, the busy beaver problem is less famous but just as fascinating.
- continuum hypothesis — the assertion that there is no set whose cardinality is greater than that of the integers and smaller than that of the reals
- council of the reich — the Reichsrat.
- council of the union — the legislature of the former Soviet Union and its successor states, consisting of an upper house (Soviet of the Union or Council of the Union) whose delegates are elected on the basis of population, and a lower house (Soviet of Nationalities or Council of Nationalities) whose delegates are elected to represent the various nationalities.
- craniosacral therapy — a form of therapy for various disorders in which the therapist manipulates the bones of the skull
- cut the gordian knot — to find a quick, bold solution for a perplexing problem
- deduct from the bill — If you deduct an item or expense from the bill at a restaurant or hotel, you take a charge out of a customer's bill.
- defender of the bond — an official appointed in each diocese to uphold marriages of disputed validity.
- dialectical theology — a form of neoorthodox theology emphasizing the infinite tensions, paradoxes, and basic ambiguities inherent in Christian existence, and holding, against rationalism, that God is unknowable to humans except through divine grace and revelation.
- diamond in the rough — a diamond in its natural state
- doctor of the church — a title conferred on an ecclesiastic for great learning and saintliness.
- double-aspect theory — a monistic theory that holds that mind and body are not distinct substances but merely different aspects of a single substance
- draw the short straw — to be the person (as in drawing lots) to whom an unwelcome task or fate falls
- dressed to the nines — a cardinal number, eight plus one.
- drink with the flies — to drink alone
- dry-bulb thermometer — a thermometer having a dry bulb: used in conjunction with a wet-bulb thermometer in a psychrometer.
- eat high off the hog — a hoofed mammal of the family Suidae, order Artiodactyla, comprising boars and swine.
- edward the confessor — Saint, 1002?–66, English king 1042–66: founder of Westminster Abbey.
- electroshock therapy — a form of shock therapy in which electric current is applied to the brain
- elephant in the room — an obvious truth deliberately ignored by all parties in a situation
- epidural anaesthesia — numbing injection in the spine
- erythema infectiosum — a mild infectious disease of childhood, caused by a virus, characterized by fever and a red rash spreading from the cheeks to the limbs and trunk
- father of the chapel — (in British trade unions in the publishing and printing industries) a shop steward
- feather in one's cap — one of the horny structures forming the principal covering of birds, consisting typically of a hard, tubular portion attached to the body and tapering into a thinner, stemlike portion bearing a series of slender, barbed processes that interlock to form a flat structure on each side.
- flavour of the month — If you think that something or someone is very popular at a particular time, you can say that they are flavour of the month.
- for the rest of them — for The Rest Of Us
- for the sake of sthg — If you do something for the sake of something, you do it for that purpose or in order to achieve that result. You can also say that you do it for something's sake.
- freedom of the press — the right to publish newspapers, magazines, and other printed matter without governmental restriction and subject only to the laws of libel, obscenity, sedition, etc.
- friends of the earth — an organization of environmentalists and conservationists whose aim is to promote the sustainable use of the earth's resources
- frosting on the cake — a sweet mixture, cooked or uncooked, for coating or filling cakes, cookies, and the like; icing.
- full to the gunwales — completely full; full to overflowing
- get to the bottom of — to discover the real truth about
- get/give so the bird — If an audience gives someone the bird, they shout loudly in order to show their disappointment or disapproval.
- gill-over-the-ground — ground ivy.
- give sb/get the push — If you get the push or are given the push, you are told that you are not wanted any more, either in your job or by someone you are having a relationship with.
- give someone the air — a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and minute amounts of other gases that surrounds the earth and forms its atmosphere.
- give someone the eye — the organ of sight, in vertebrates typically one of a pair of spherical bodies contained in an orbit of the skull and in humans appearing externally as a dense, white, curved membrane, or sclera, surrounding a circular, colored portion, or iris, that is covered by a clear, curved membrane, or cornea, and in the center of which is an opening, or pupil, through which light passes to the retina.
- go against the grain — If you say that an idea or action goes against the grain, you mean that it is very difficult for you to accept it or do it, because it conflicts with your previous ideas, beliefs, or principles.
- go like the clappers — to move extremely fast
- grand unified theory — a possible future quantum field theory that would encompass both the electroweak theory and quantum chromodynamics. Abbreviation: GUT.
- great northern diver — a large northern bird, Gavia immer, with a black-and-white chequered back and a black head and neck in summer: family Gaviidae (divers)
- hit the panic button — an alarm button for use in an emergency, as to summon help.
- hot under the collar — the part of a shirt, coat, dress, blouse, etc., that encompasses the neckline of the garment and is sewn permanently to it, often so as to fold or roll over.