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19-letter words containing v, e

  • neats vs. scruffies — (artificial intelligence, jargon)   The label used to refer to one of the continuing holy wars in artificial intelligence research. This conflict tangles together two separate issues. One is the relationship between human reasoning and AI; "neats" tend to try to build systems that "reason" in some way identifiably similar to the way humans report themselves as doing, while "scruffies" profess not to care whether an algorithm resembles human reasoning in the least as long as it works. More importantly, neats tend to believe that logic is king, while scruffies favour looser, more ad-hoc methods driven by empirical knowledge. To a neat, scruffy methods appear promiscuous, successful only by accident and not productive of insights about how intelligence actually works; to a scruffy, neat methods appear to be hung up on formalism and irrelevant to the hard-to-capture "common sense" of living intelligences.
  • negative income tax — a system of income subsidy through which persons having less than a certain annual income receive money from the government rather than pay taxes to it.
  • negative resistance — a characteristic of certain electronic components in which an increase in the applied voltage increases the resistance, producing a proportional decrease in current
  • nerve growth factor — a protein that promotes the growth, organization, and maintenance of sympathetic and some sensory nerve cells. Abbreviation: NGF.
  • neville chamberlain — (Arthur) Neville, 1869–1940, British statesman: prime minister 1937–40.
  • new york university — (NYU) Established in 1831, New York University today includes thirteen schools, colleges and divisions located in New York City's borough of Manhattan, as well as research centers and programs in the surrounding suburbs and abroad.
  • niccolo machiavelli — Niccolò di Bernardo [neek-kaw-law dee ber-nahr-daw] /ˌnik kɔˈlɔ di bɛrˈnɑr dɔ/ (Show IPA), 1469–1527, Italian statesman, political philosopher, and author.
  • no shrinking violet — If you say that someone is no shrinking violet, you mean that they are not at all shy.
  • nominative absolute — a construction consisting in English of a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun in the nominative case followed by a predicate lacking a finite verb, used as a loose modifier of the whole sentence, as the play done in The play done, the audience left the theater.
  • non-interventionism — abstention by a nation from interference in the affairs of other nations or in those of its own political subdivisions.
  • non-volatile memory — non-volatile storage
  • nonforfeiture value — any benefit, as cash or other form of insurance, available to a life-insurance policyholder who discontinues premium payments on the policy.
  • north valley stream — a town on W Long Island, in SE New York.
  • not care/give a fig — If you say that someone doesn't care a fig or doesn't give a fig about something, you are emphasizing that they think it is unimportant or that they are not interested in it.
  • novell data systems — (company)   A small computer hardware company building CP/M Z80-based systems. They later went on to become Novell, Inc. and develop Novell Netware.
  • oak-leaved geranium — a geranium, Pelargonium quercifolium, of southern Africa, having oaklike leaves with purple veins and sparse clusters of purple flowers with darker markings.
  • observation balloon — a balloon that is used for gathering information and reconnaissance purposes and spotting aircraft
  • off-highway vehicle — An off-highway vehicle is a vehicle, such as one used for construction or agriculture, that is intended for use on steep or uneven ground.
  • olive-backed thrush — Swainson's thrush.
  • ordnance survey map — An Ordnance Survey map is a detailed map produced by the British or Irish government map-making organization.
  • outstation movement — the programme to resettle native Australians on their tribal lands
  • over sb's dead body — You can say over my dead body to emphasize that you feel very strongly that something should not happen, and that you will do everything you can to prevent it.
  • over someone's head — the upper part of the body in humans, joined to the trunk by the neck, containing the brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
  • over-centralization — the act or fact of centralizing; fact of being centralized.
  • over-commercialized — to make commercial in character, methods, or spirit.
  • over-interpretation — the act of interpreting; elucidation; explication: This writer's work demands interpretation.
  • over-sentimentality — the quality or state of being sentimental or excessively sentimental.
  • overhead projection — the projection (using an overhead projector) of an enlarged image of a transparency onto a surface above and behind the person using it
  • overplay one's hand — If you say that someone is overplaying something such as a problem, you mean that they are making it seem more important than it really is.
  • palomar observatory — an astronomical observatory situated on Palomar Mountain in S California, having a 200-inch (508-cm) reflecting telescope and a 48-inch (122-cm) Schmidt telescope.
  • parainfluenza virus — any of a group of viruses that cause respiratory infections with influenza-like symptoms, esp in children
  • particular negative — a proposition of the form “Some S is not P.” Symbol: O.
  • peak envelope power — (communications)   (PEP) The maximum power output by a radio transmitter over one complete RF cycle at any modulation.
  • pecuniary advantage — financial advantage that is dishonestly obtained by deception and that constitutes a criminal offence
  • perfect progressive — a verb form including the auxiliary have followed by been and a present participle, noting the continuation of an activity or event, its incompleteness or interruption, and its connection to the temporal point of reference, as in I've been waiting for over an hour, They had been talking about her before she came into the room, or In July, he will have been living here for two years.
  • perpetual inventory — a form of stock control in which running records are kept of all acquisitions and disposals
  • photovoltaic effect — the phenomenon in which the incidence of light or other electromagnetic radiation upon the junction of two dissimilar materials, as a metal and a semiconductor, induces the generation of an electromotive force.
  • piggyback investing — Piggyback investing is a situation in which a broker repeats a trade on his own behalf immediately after trading for an investor, because he thinks the investor may have inside information.
  • play the devil with — Theology. (sometimes initial capital letter) the supreme spirit of evil; Satan. a subordinate evil spirit at enmity with God, and having power to afflict humans both with bodily disease and with spiritual corruption.
  • pneumatic conveying — Pneumatic conveying is the movement of powdered or granulated solids using air.
  • pneumogastric nerve — the vagus nerve.
  • police intervention — the physical involvement of police officers in an incident, esp where officers use force to control public disorder, such as a riot
  • popular sovereignty — the doctrine that sovereign power is vested in the people and that those chosen to govern, as trustees of such power, must exercise it in conformity with the general will.
  • pre-order traversal — traversal
  • predicate adjective — an adjective used in the predicate, especially with a copulative verb and attributive to the subject, as in He is dead, or attributive to the direct object, as in It made him sick.
  • predicate objective — objective complement.
  • preferential voting — a system of voting designed to permit the voter to indicate an order of preference for the candidates on the ballot.
  • pretty good privacy — (tool, cryptography)   (PGP) A high security RSA public-key encryption application for MS-DOS, Unix, VAX/VMS, and other computers. It was written by Philip R. Zimmermann <[email protected]> of Phil's Pretty Good(tm) Software and later augmented by a cast of thousands, especially including Hal Finney, Branko Lankester, and Peter Gutmann. PGP was distributed as "guerrilla freeware". The authors don't mind if it is distributed widely, just don't ask Philip Zimmermann to send you a copy. PGP uses a public-key encryption algorithm claimed by US patent #4,405,829. The exclusive rights to this patent are held by a California company called Public Key Partners, and you may be infringing this patent if you use PGP in the USA. This is explained in the PGP User's Guide, Volume II. PGP allows people to exchange files or messages with privacy and authentication. Privacy and authentication are provided without managing the keys associated with conventional cryptographic software. No secure channels are needed to exchange keys between users, which makes PGP much easier to use. This is because PGP is based on public-key cryptography. PGP encrypts data using the International Data Encryption Algorithm with a random session key, and uses the RSA algorithm to encrypt the session key. In December 1994 Philip Zimmermann faced prosecution for "exporting" PGP out of the United States but in January 1996 the US Goverment dropped the case. A US law prohibits the export of encryption software out of the country. Zimmermann did not do this, but the US government hoped to establish the proposition that posting an encryption program on a BBS or on the Internet constitutes exporting it - in effect, stretching export control into domestic censorship. If the government had won it would have had a chilling effect on the free flow of information on the global network, as well as on everyone's privacy from government snooping.
  • preventive medicine — the branch of medical science that deals with prevention of disease.
  • primitive methodist — a member of a Protestant denomination (Primitive Methodist Church) founded in England in 1812 and later established in the U.S., characterized by its adherence to the basic doctrines, principles, and practices taught by John Wesley.
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