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20-letter words starting with a

  • animal liberationist — a person who campaigns for animal rights, often by using direct action
  • anniversary reaction — a psychological reaction, as depression, occurring at a regularly fixed time and associated with the recollection of an emotionally upsetting past experience, as loss of a loved one.
  • anomalous dispersion — a sudden change in the refractive index of a material for wavelengths in the vicinity of absorption bands in the spectrum of the material.
  • anthemius of tralles — c474–c534, Greek mathematician and architect, active in Lydia.
  • anthropomorphization — Endowing with human qualities.
  • anti-corn law league — an organization founded in 1839 by Richard Cobden and John Bright to oppose the Corn Laws, which were repealed in 1846
  • anti-intellectualism — a feeling of hostility and dislike towards intellectuals and intellectual activities
  • anti-motion-sickness — combatting the effects of motion sickness
  • anti-supernaturalism — supernatural character or agency.
  • antiauthoritarianism — Opposition to authority; the quality of being antiauthoritarian.
  • anticrepuscular arch — antitwilight arch.
  • antidandruff shampoo — a shampoo that prevents or treats dandruff
  • antidisestablishment — Opposed to the separation of church and state.
  • antidiuretic hormone — vasopressin. Abbreviation: ADH.
  • antifriction bearing — a roller bearing or ball bearing.
  • antigestational drug — a drug that averts a pregnancy by preventing the fertilized egg from becoming implanted in the uterine wall.
  • antimony oxychloride — a white, water-insoluble powder, SbOCl, used chiefly in the manufacture of antimony salts.
  • antimony trifluoride — a white to grayish-white, crystalline, hygroscopic, water-soluble, poisonous solid, SbF 3 , used chiefly in dyeing textiles.
  • antonello da messina — ?1430–?79, Italian painter, born in Sicily. His paintings include St Jerome in His Study and Portrait of a Man
  • antony and cleopatra — a tragedy (1606–07?) by Shakespeare.
  • aortic insufficiency — abnormal closure of the aortic valve resulting in regurgitation of blood to the left ventricle.
  • apollonius of rhodes — 3rd century bc, Greek epic poet and head of the Library of Alexandria. His principal work is the four-volume Argonautica
  • apostolic succession — the doctrine that the authority of Christian bishops derives from the Apostles through an unbroken line of consecration
  • apothecaries' weight — a system of weights, formerly used in pharmacy, based on the Troy ounce, which contains 480 grains. 1 grain is equal to 0.065 gram
  • appalachian dulcimer — dulcimer (def 2).
  • apparent candlepower — a measure of the luminous intensity of an extended source of light in terms of the candlepower of a point source of light that has an equivalent luminous intensity when placed at the same distance as the extended source.
  • apparent temperature — heat index.
  • apple computer, inc. — (company)   Manufacturers of the Macintosh range of personal computers as well as the earlier Apple I, Apple II and Lisa. Founded on 1 April 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Apples were among the first microcomputers. They originally used the 6502 processor and are still being made (August 1994), now using the 65816. The Apple II line, which includes the Apple I, is the longest existing line of microcomputers. Steve Jobs left Apple (involuntarily) and started NeXT and later returned when Apple bought NeXT in late 1997(?). Quarterly sales $2150M, profits $138M (Aug 1994). http://apple.com/.
  • application software — software designed for a specific need or purpose
  • applications package — a specialized program or set of specialized programs and associated documentation designed to carry out a particular task
  • applications program — a program that is written and designed for specific needs or purposes
  • applicative language — (language)   A functional language. Sometimes used loosely for any declarative language though logic programming languages are declarative but not applicative.
  • aquila degli abruzzi — a city in central Italy, capital of Abruzzi region. Pop: 68 503 (2001)
  • arbitration tribunal — a tribunal set up to settle a dispute by arbitration
  • arches national park — a national park in E Utah: natural arch formations. 114 sq. mi. (295 sq. km).
  • archiepiscopal cross — patriarchal cross.
  • architectural bronze — a brass alloy of about 57 percent copper, 41 percent zinc, and 2 percent lead.
  • argument from design — the argument for the existence of God based on the assumption that order in the universe implies an orderer and cannot be a natural feature of the universe.
  • aristarchus of samos — 3rd century bc, Greek astronomer who anticipated Copernicus in advancing the theory that the earth revolves around the sun
  • armchair quarterback — a person who is not a quarterback (or general, etc.), but offers opinions and criticism on the performance or decisions of those who are
  • arrested development — physical development that is not complete
  • articulatory feature — a property of a speech sound based on its voicing or on its place or manner of articulation in the vocal tract, as voiceless, bilabial, or stop used in describing the sound (p).
  • artificial harmonics — harmonics of a note produced on a stringed instrument by lightly touching a stopped sounded string.
  • artificial pacemaker — an electronic device for use in certain cases of heart disease to assume the functions of the natural cardiac pacemaker
  • artificial satellite — a man-made device orbiting around the earth, moon, or another planet transmitting to earth scientific information or used for communication
  • artificial selection — a process in the breeding of animals and in the cultivation of plants by which the breeder chooses to perpetuate only those forms having certain desirable inheritable characteristics.
  • as right as a trivet — in perfect health
  • as straight as a die — perfectly honest
  • aschheim-zondek test — a test used to detect whether a woman is pregnant by noting the effect on the ovaries of an immature mouse or rabbit injected with her urine.
  • asexual reproduction — reproduction, as budding, fission, or spore formation, not involving the union of gametes.
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