21-letter words containing n, a, r
- america on-line, inc. — (company, communications) (AOL) A US on-line service provider based in Vienna, Virginia, USA. AOL claims to be the largest and fastest growing provider of on-line services in the world, with the most active subscriber base. AOL offers its three million subscribers electronic mail, interactive newspapers and magazines, conferencing, software libraries, computing support, and on-line classes. In October 1994 AOL made Internet FTP available to its members and in May 1995, full Internet access including web. AOL's main competitors are Prodigy and Compuserve.
- american red squirrel — either of two reddish-brown squirrels, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus or T. douglasii, inhabiting forests of North America
- american saddle horse — one of a breed of horses, raised originally in the U.S., that have high-stepping gaits and are bred to the three-gaited or five-gaited type.
- amicus humani generis — a philanthropist.
- ammonioferric oxalate — ferric ammonium oxalate.
- amnesty international — an international organization founded in Britain in 1961 that works to secure the release of people imprisoned for their beliefs, to ban the use of torture, and to abolish the death penalty
- anaesthetic awareness — the gaining of consciousness by an anaesthetized patient during a surgical operation
- anders jonas ångström — Anders Jonas [an-derz joh-nuh s;; Swedish ahn-duh rs-yoo-nahs] /ˈæn dərz ˈdʒoʊ nəs;; Swedish ˈɑn dərsˈyu nɑs/ (Show IPA), 1814–74, Swedish astronomer and physicist.
- andrew message system — (messaging) A multimedia interface to electronic mail and bulletin boards, developed as part of the Andrew Project.
- angle of polarization — the law that light will receive maximum polarization from a reflecting surface when it is incident to the surface at an angle (angle of polarization or polarizing angle) having a tangent equal to the index of refraction of the surface.
- angular magnification — the ratio of the angle subtended at the eye by an image formed by an optical instrument to the angle subtended at the unaided eye by the object
- aniline hydrochloride — a white, crystalline, water-soluble solid, C 6 H 5 NH 2 ⋅HCl, used chiefly as an intermediate in the manufacture of dyes, especially aniline black.
- annual change traffic — (software) (ACT) The fraction of the software product's source code which changes during a year, either through addition or modification. The ACT can be used to determine the product size in order to estimate software maintenance effort.
- antarctic archipelago — a group of islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, off the NW coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
- antarctic convergence — the fairly well-defined boundary that exists between the cold antarctic waters and the warmer waters to the north and can be traced around the world.
- antenuptial agreement — Law. a contract between two people who are about to marry regarding their respective property and support rights upon termination of the marriage by divorce or death, and sometimes regarding property rights during the marriage.
- anti-aircraft defence — military measures or resources aimed at destroying enemy aircraft
- anti-aircraft missile — a missile intended to destroy enemy aircraft
- antiferromagnetically — In an antiferromagnetic manner.
- antigenic determinant — the specific part of an antigen molecule to which an antibody becomes attached
- antihemophilic factor — a protein that is essential to normal blood clotting and is lacking or deficient in persons having hemophilia A. Abbreviation: AHF.
- appellation controlee — a designation on the label of certain French wines, brandies, etc. guaranteeing that the contents meet established standards, as type of grape and location of vineyard
- appendicular skeleton — the girdles and skeleton of the limbs
- application developer — (job) Someone who does application development.
- applications software — application program
- appropriation account — an account showing how funds have been used
- apres-midi d'un faune — L'Après-midi d'un Faune.
- archimedes' principle — a law of physics stating that the apparent upward force (buoyancy) of a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight of the displaced fluid
- architecture parlante — the architecture of buildings that, in their plans or elevations, create an image that suggests their functions.
- area drainage pattern — The area drainage pattern is the way in which streams and rivers allow water to flow from an area.
- argumentum ad hominem — fallacious argument that attacks not an opponent's beliefs but his motives or character
- arithmetic logic unit — the part of a central processing unit that performs arithmetic and logical operations
- arithmetic/logic unit — ALU.
- articles of agreement — a contract between the captain of a ship and a crew member regarding stipulations of a voyage, signed prior to and upon termination of a voyage.
- as good as one's word — doing what one has undertaken or promised to do
- assisted reproduction — the use of medical techniques to bring about the conception and birth of a child, including artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, egg and embryo donation, and drug therapy.
- astronomical distance — the distance from one celestial body to another, measured in astronomical units, light-years, or parsecs.
- astronomical latitude — the angle between the direction of gravity at the observer's position and the plane of the celestial equator
- astronomical triangle — the spherical triangle formed by the great circles connecting a celestial object, the zenith, and the celestial pole.
- astronomical twilight — the period of time during which the sun is 18° below the horizon
- atmospheric inversion — inversion (def 12).
- atmospheric-inversion — an act or instance of inverting.
- atomic disintegration — a process resulting in the change of a radioactive nucleus, either by emission of an alpha, beta, or gamma ray or by fission, and producing a change in the original mass, atomic number, or energy
- atrioventricular node — a small mass of muscular fibers at the base of the wall between the atria, conducting impulses received from the sinoatrial node by way of the atrioventricular bundles and, under certain conditions, functioning for the sinoatrial node as pacemaker of the heart. Abbreviation: A-V node.
- augustin jean fresnel — Augustin Jean, 1788–1827, French physicist.
- australian cattle dog — a compact strongly-built dog of a breed with pricked ears and a smooth bluish-grey coat, often used for controlling and moving cattle
- averaging light meter — an exposure meter that evaluates light measured from all parts of the picture area to generate an average reading.
- aversive conditioning — a type of behavior conditioning in which noxious stimuli are associated with undesirable or unwanted behavior that is to be modified or abolished, as the use of nausea-inducing drugs in the treatment of alcoholism.
- back, sack, and crack — (cosmetic depilation of) the back, scrotum, and the area between the buttocks
- background processing — the ability of a system to perform a low-priority task while, at the same time, dealing with a main application