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15-letter words starting with a

  • active hydrogen — hydrogen in the form of single atoms, rather than molecules, which makes it extremely reactive.
  • active immunity — immunity (to a disease) due to the production of antibodies by the body
  • activity method — a type of teaching in which students acquire knowledge and understanding by participating in a set of specially designed activities, rather than by passively listening to a teacher
  • activity series — a table of metals, listed in the order of their ability to replace other metals while in solution
  • actual argument — (programming)   A value, expression, or reference passed to a function or subroutine when it is called and which replaces or is bound to the corresponding formal argument. See: argument.
  • acute bisectrix — See under bisectrix (def 1).
  • acyclic terpene — (originally) any of a class of monocyclic hydrocarbons of the formula C 10 H 16 , obtained from plants.
  • adamawa-eastern — a branch of the Niger-Congo family of languages, centered in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and the Central African Republic, including Sango and Zande.
  • adaptive optics — a technique used to increase the resolution of a ground-based astronomical telescope by counteracting the effects of the atmosphere on the image. A deforming mirror in the light path of the telescope maintains a pointlike image of the celestial body using either a real star or a laser beam as a reference
  • added-value tax — value-added tax.
  • addressing mode — 1.   (processor, programming)   One of a set of methods for specifying the operand(s) for a machine code instruction. Different processors vary greatly in the number of addressing modes they provide. The more complex modes described below can usually be replaced with a short sequence of instructions using only simpler modes. The most common modes are "register" - the operand is stored in a specified register; "absolute" - the operand is stored at a specified memory address; and "immediate" - the operand is contained within the instruction. Most processors also have indirect addressing modes, e.g. "register indirect", "memory indirect" where the specified register or memory location does not contain the operand but contains its address, known as the "effective address". For an absolute addressing mode, the effective address is contained within the instruction. Indirect addressing modes often have options for pre- or post- increment or decrement, meaning that the register or memory location containing the effective address is incremented or decremented by some amount (either fixed or also specified in the instruction), either before or after the instruction is executed. These are very useful for stacks and for accessing blocks of data. Other variations form the effective address by adding together one or more registers and one or more constants which may themselves be direct or indirect. Such complex addressing modes are designed to support access to multidimensional arrays and arrays of data structures. The addressing mode may be "implicit" - the location of the operand is obvious from the particular instruction. This would be the case for an instruction that modified a particular control register in the CPU or, in a stack based processor where operands are always on the top of the stack. 2. In IBM System 370/XA the addressing mode bit controls the size of the effective address generated. When this bit is zero, the CPU is in the 24-bit addressing mode, and 24 bit instruction and operand effective addresses are generated. When this bit is one, the CPU is in the 31-bit addressing mode, and 31-bit instruction and operand effective addresses are generated.
  • adenocarcinomas — Plural form of adenocarcinoma.
  • adenohypophysis — the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland
  • adenoidectomies — Plural form of adenoidectomy.
  • adhesive factor — the ratio of the force that can be exerted on driving wheels with full traction to the weight on the driving wheels, usually expressed as a percentage.
  • adiabatic chart — a graph for the analysis of adiabatic processes.
  • adjacent angles — two angles that have the same vertex and a side in common
  • adjective group — An adjective group or adjectival group is a group of words based on an adjective, such as 'very nice' or 'interested in football'. An adjective group can also consist simply of an adjective.
  • adjectivization — Grammar. to make into an adjective, as by adding a suffix: The noun mirth can be adjectivized by adding -ful or -less to form the adjectives mirthful and mirthless.
  • adjustable-rate — designating or of a debt obligation, esp. a mortgage on real property, having terms which allow the interest rate to change over time
  • adlai stevenson — Adlai Ewing [ad-ley yoo-ing] /ˈæd leɪ ˈyu ɪŋ/ (Show IPA), 1835–1914, vice president of the U.S. 1893–97.
  • administrations — Plural form of administration.
  • admiralty cloth — melton cloth, used for coats and jackets, especially for the naval service.
  • admiralty court — the court that has jurisdiction in matters relating to maritime law
  • admiralty house — the official residence of the Governor General of Australia, in Sydney
  • admiralty inlet — an arm of the Pacific Ocean in NW Washington, at the entry to Puget Sound.
  • admiralty metal — an alloy of not less than 70 percent copper, about 1 percent tin, small amounts of other elements, and the balance zinc; tin brass.
  • admiralty range — a mountain range in Antarctica, on the coast of Victoria Land, northwest of the Ross Sea
  • adoption agency — an agency that matches children needing adoption with people willing to adopt
  • adoption papers — documentation relating to the adoption of a particular child
  • adrenal medulla — the inner part of the adrenal gland from which adrenaline is secreted
  • adrenalectomies — Plural form of adrenalectomy.
  • adrenaline rush — a feeling of excitement, stimulation and enhanced physical ability produced when the body secretes large amounts of adrenaline in response to a sudden perceived or induced stress situation
  • adrenoreceptors — Plural form of adrenoreceptor.
  • adult education — Adult education is education for adults in a variety of subjects, most of which are practical, not academic. Classes are often held in the evenings.
  • advance payment — a sum of money paid in advance as a part or the whole of the sum due
  • advanced credit — credit toward a degree allowed to a student by a college for courses taken elsewhere or for high scores on preliminary examinations
  • advanced degree — an academic degree conferred for completion of requirements beyond the undergraduate college level, as M.S. or Ph.D.
  • advanced higher — the highest level of qualification offered within the school system, replacing the former Certificate of Sixth Year Studies
  • advantage court — the receiver's left-hand service court, into which the ball is served when one side has the advantage.
  • advent calendar — a large card with a brightly coloured sometimes tinselled design on it that contains small numbered doors for children to open on each of the days of Advent, revealing pictures beneath them
  • adventuresomely — In an adventuresome manner.
  • adventurousness — the quality of being adventurous
  • advertising man — adman (def 1).
  • advocate depute — a Scottish law officer with the functions of public prosecutor
  • adygei republic — a constituent republic of SW Russia, bordering on the Caucasus Mountains: chiefly agricultural but with some mineral resources. Capital: Maikop. Pop: 447 000 (2002). Area: 7600 sq km (2934 sq miles)
  • aegyptopithecus — a genus of extinct anthropoid ape of the Oligocene Period known from remains found in Egypt.
  • aerial cableway — a transport system in which cars, buckets, etc run on cables.
  • aerial pingpong — Australian Rules football
  • aerobic dancing — a system of exercises combining aerobics with dance steps and usually done to music.
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