14-letter words starting with a
- acknowledgment — An acknowledgment is a statement or action which recognizes that something exists or is true.
- acleistocardia — a failure of the foramen ovale of the heart to close.
- acoenaesthesia — loss of the physical awareness of one's body.
- acorn barnacle — any of various barnacles, such as Balanus balanoides, that live attached to rocks and have a volcano-shaped shell from the top of which protrude feathery food-catching appendages (cirri)
- acoustic nerve — either one of the eighth pair of cranial nerves, consisting of sensory fibers that conduct impulses from the organs of hearing and from the semicircular canals to the brain.
- acoustic shock — a condition characterized by dizziness and partial hearing loss suffered by some people exposed to sudden loud noises over telephone or radio headsets; associated esp with workers in call centres
- acquired drive — a drive, like the desire for money, that has not been inherited but is learned, presumably because it leads to the satisfaction of innate drives
- acquired taste — If you describe something as an acquired taste, you mean that a lot of people do not like it when they first experience it, but often start to like it more when they get to know it better.
- across country — If you travel across country, you travel through country areas, avoiding major roads and towns.
- across the way — If something is across the way, it is nearby on the opposite side of a road or area.
- acta sanctorum — a collection of lives of the saints edited by Jesuit scholars and first published in Antwerp in 1643
- actinobacillus — a bacillus causing disease in animals
- actinomycetous — of or relating to the actinomycetes
- activated mine — a mine with a secondary fuze designed to explode if the mine is tampered with.
- active element — An active element is an element capable of generating electrical energy.
- active monitor — (networking) A process in an IBM token ring network which ensures a token is present on the ring, removes circulating frames with unknown or invalid destinations, and performs introductions between machines on the ring.
- active partner — a partner who has supplied some of the capital of a business and who takes an active role in managing that business
- active service — Someone who is on active service is taking part in a war as a member of the armed forces.
- active shooter — a person who is presently using a gun to shoot people in a confined and populated area.
- activity chart — a chart showing the operations or tasks that make up a process, plotted against time
- acute glaucoma — Ophthalmology. abnormally high fluid pressure in the eye, most commonly caused either by blockage of the channel through which aqueous humor drains (open-angle glaucoma or chronic glaucoma) or by pressure of the iris against the lens, which traps the aqueous humor (angle-closure glaucoma or acute glaucoma)
- acute triangle — a triangle that has three acute angles
- ad valorem tax — a tax calculated in proportion to the estimated value of the goods taxed
- ada deficiency — a severe immune system disorder caused by a genetic inability to produce adenosine deaminase.
- adamawa massif — a plateau in W central Africa, in central Cameroon and E Nigeria.
- adaptationally — in an adaptational manner
- adaptativeness — Adaptability.
- adcock antenna — an antenna used for direction-finding, consisting of a pair of vertical dipoles.
- adder's-tongue — any of several terrestrial ferns of the genus Ophioglossum, esp O. vulgatum, that grow in the N hemisphere and have a spore-bearing body that sticks out like a spike from the leaf: family Ophioglossaceae
- adding machine — a mechanical device, operated manually or electrically, for adding and often subtracting, multiplying, and dividing
- additive color — red, green, or blue-violet, as used in the additive process of color photography.
- additive group — a group in which the operation of the group is addition.
- address strobe — (storage) (AS) One of the input signals of a memory device, especially semiconductor memory, which is asserted to tell the memory device that the address inputs are valid. Upon receiving this signal the selected memory device starts the memory access (read/write) indicated by its other inputs. It may be driven directly by the processor or by a memory controller.
- addressability — (computing) The capability of a microprocessor etc. to deal with values of a certain size using a single instruction.
- adelie penguin — a flightless marine bird, Pygoscelis adeliae, of the order Sphenisciformes of cool southern, esp Antarctic, regions: they have wings modified as flippers, webbed feet, and feathers lacking barbs
- adenocarcinoma — a malignant tumour originating in glandular tissue
- adenosclerosis — (medicine) The hardening of a gland.
- adipose tissue — loose connective tissue in which fat cells accumulate.
- adjunctiveness — The state or quality of being adjunctive.
- adjutant stork — a large Indian stork, Leptoptilus dubius, having a pinkish-brown neck and bill, a large naked pouch under the throat, and a military gait.
- administrating — to administer.
- administration — Administration is the range of activities connected with organizing and supervising the way that an organization or institution functions.
- administrative — Administrative work involves organizing and supervising an organization or institution.
- administrators — A person responsible for running a business, organization, etc.
- administratrix — a woman administrator
- admiralty mile — nautical mile.
- admissibleness — The state or quality of being admissible.
- adoption curve — a curve on a graph plotting the number of people using a new product against the time from its initial release
- adoption panel — (in Britain) a committee appointed by an adoption agency, such as a local authority, to make recommendations concerning the suitability of prospective adoption cases
- adrenal glands — one of a pair of ductless glands, located above the kidneys, consisting of a cortex, which produces steroidal hormones, and a medulla, which produces epinephrine and norepinephrine.