Words whose third letter is C

Accelerograph(n.) An apparatus for studying the combustion of powder in guns, etc.

Accent(n.) A superior force of voice or of articulative effort upon some particular syllable of a word or a phrase, distinguishing it from the others.

Accent(n.) A special emphasis of a tone, even in the weaker part of the measure.

Accent(n.) The rhythmical accent, which marks phrases and sections of a period.

Accent(n.) The expressive emphasis and shading of a passage.

Accent(v. t.) To mark emphatically; to emphasize.

Accentuate(v. t.) To bring out distinctly; to make prominent; to emphasize.

Accommodate(v. t.) To show the correspondence of; to apply or make suit by analogy; to adapt or fit, as teachings to accidental circumstances, statements to facts, etc.; as, to accommodate prophecy to events.

Accomplishment(n.) The act of accomplishing; entire performance; completion; fulfillment; as, the accomplishment of an enterprise, of a prophecy, etc.

Account(n.) A statement in general of reasons, causes, grounds, etc., explanatory of some event; as, no satisfactory account has been given of these phenomena. Hence, the word is often used simply for reason, ground, consideration, motive, etc.; as, on no account, on every account, on all accounts.

Alcyonoid(n.) A zoophyte of the order Alcyonaria.

Archaeography(n.) A description of, or a treatise on, antiquity or antiquities.

Archencephala(n. pl.) The division that includes man alone.

Archeus(n.) The vital principle or force which (according to the Paracelsians) presides over the growth and continuation of living beings; the anima mundi or plastic power of the old philosophers.

Archiater(n.) Chief physician; -- a term applied, on the continent of Europe, to the first or body physician of princes and to the first physician of some cities.

Archimedean(a.) Of or pertaining to Archimedes, a celebrated Greek philosopher; constructed on the principle of Archimedes' screw; as, Archimedean drill, propeller, etc.

Architeuthis(n.) A genus of gigantic cephalopods, allied to the squids, found esp. in the North Atlantic and about New Zealand.

Arcograph(n.) An instrument for drawing a circular arc without the use of a central point; a cyclograph.

Ascococcus(n.) A form of micrococcus, found in putrid meat infusions, occurring in peculiar masses

Bachelor's button() A plant with flowers shaped like buttons; especially, several species of Ranunculus, and the cornflower (Centaures cyanus) and globe amaranth (Gomphrena).

Baconian(a.) Of or pertaining to Lord Bacon, or to his system of philosophy.

Bacterium(n.) A microscopic vegetable organism, belonging to the class Algae, usually in the form of a jointed rodlike filament, and found in putrefying organic infusions. Bacteria are destitute of chlorophyll, and are the smallest of microscopic organisms. They are very widely diffused in nature, and multiply with marvelous rapidity, both by fission and by spores. Certain species are active agents in fermentation, while others appear to be the cause of certain infectious diseases.

Baculite(n.) A cephalopod of the extinct genus Baculites, found fossil in the Cretaceous rocks. It is like an uncoiled ammonite.

Becuna(n.) A fish of the Mediterranean (Sphyraena spet). See Barracuda.

Bicephalous(a.) Having two heads.

Bucolic(a.) Of or pertaining to the life and occupation of a shepherd; pastoral; rustic.

Bucolic(n.) A pastoral poem, representing rural affairs, and the life, manners, and occupation of shepherds; as, the Bucolics of Theocritus and Virgil.

Cacajao(n.) A South American short-tailed monkey (Pithecia (/ Brachyurus) melanocephala).

Cachalot(n.) The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). It has in the top of its head a large cavity, containing an oily fluid, which, after death, concretes into a whitish crystal

Cacographic(a.) Pertaining to, or characterized by, cacography; badly written or spelled.

Cacography(n.) Incorrect or bad writing or spelling.

Cacophonic(a.) Alt. of Cacophonious

Cacophonical(a.) Alt. of Cacophonious

Cacophonous(a.) Alt. of Cacophonious

Cacophonious(a.) Harsh-sounding.

Cacophonies(pl. ) of Cacophony

Cacophony(n.) An uncouth or disagreable sound of words, owing to the concurrence of harsh letters or syllables.

Cacophony(n.) A combination of discordant sounds.

Cacophony(n.) An unhealthy state of the voice.

Cacoxenite(n.) A hydrous phosphate of iron occurring in yellow radiated tufts. The phosphorus seriously injures it as an iron ore.

Ciceronianism(n.) Imitation of, or resemblance to, the style or action Cicero; a Ciceronian phrase or expression.

Coccinella(n.) A genus of small beetles of many species. They and their larvae feed on aphids or plant lice, and hence are of great benefit to man. Also called ladybirds and ladybugs.

Coccosphere(n.) A small, rounded, marine organism, capable of braking up into coccoliths.

Cockatoo(n.) A bird of the Parrot family, of the subfamily Cacatuinae, having a short, strong, and much curved beak, and the head ornamented with a crest, which can be raised or depressed at will. There are several genera and many species; as the broad-crested (Plictolophus, / Cacatua, cristatus), the sulphur-crested (P. galeritus), etc. The palm or great black cockatoo of Australia is Microglossus aterrimus.

Cyclamin(n.) A white amorphous substance, regarded as a glucoside, extracted from the corm of Cyclamen Europaeum.

Cycle(n.) An imaginary circle or orbit in the heavens; one of the celestial spheres.

Cycle(n.) An interval of time in which a certain succession of events or phenomena is completed, and then returns again and again, uniformly and continually in the same order; a periodical space of time marked by the recurrence of something peculiar; as, the cycle of the seasons, or of the year.

Cyclide(n.) A surface of the fourth degree, having certain special relations to spherical surfaces. The tore or anchor ring is one of the cyclides.

Cyclograph(n.) See Arcograph.

Cyclone(n.) A violent storm, often of vast extent, characterized by high winds rotating about a calm center of low atmospheric pressure. This center moves onward, often with a velocity of twenty or thirty miles an hour.

Cyclopaedia(n.) The circle or compass of the arts and sciences (originally, of the seven so-called liberal arts and sciences); circle of human knowledge. Hence, a work containing, in alphabetical order, information in all departments of knowledge, or on a particular department or branch; as, a cyclopedia of the physical sciences, or of mechanics. See Encyclopedia.

Cyclops(n. sing. & pl.) One of a race of giants, sons of Neptune and Amphitrite, having but one eye, and that in the middle of the forehead. They were fabled to inhabit Sicily, and to assist in the workshops of Vulcan, under Mt. Etna.

Dactylioglyph(n.) An engraver of gems for rings and other ornaments.

Dactylioglyph(n.) The inscription of the engraver's name on a finger ring or gem.

Dactylioglyphi(n.) The art or process of gem engraving.

Dactyliography(n.) The art of writing or engraving upon gems.

Dactyliography(n.) In general, the literature or history of the art.

Dactylozooid(n.) A kind of zooid of Siphonophora which has an elongated or even vermiform body, with one tentacle, but no mouth. See Siphonophora.

Decacerata(n. pl.) The division of Cephalopoda which includes the squids, cuttlefishes, and others having ten arms or tentacles; -- called also Decapoda. [Written also Decacera.] See Dibranchiata.

Decaphyllous(a.) Having ten leaves.

Decapoda(n. pl.) A division of the dibranchiate cephalopods including the cuttlefishes and squids. See Decacera.

Decayed(a.) Fallen, as to physical or social condition; affected with decay; rotten; as, decayed vegetation or vegetables; a decayed fortune or gentleman.

Decillion(n.) According to the English notation, a million involved to the tenth power, or a unit with sixty ciphers annexed; according to the French and American notation, a thousand involved to the eleventh power, or a unit with thirty-three ciphers annexed. [See the Note under Numeration.]

Deciphered(imp. & p. p.) of Decipher

Deciphering(p. pr. & vb. n.) of Decipher

Decipher(v. t.) To translate from secret characters or ciphers into intelligible terms; as, to decipher a letter written in secret characters.

Decipher(v. t.) To find out, so as to be able to make known the meaning of; to make out or read, as words badly written or partly obliterated; to detect; to reveal; to unfold.

Decipher(v. t.) To stamp; to detect; to discover.

Decipherable(a.) Capable of being deciphered; as, old writings not decipherable.

Decipherer(n.) One who deciphers.

Decipheress(n.) A woman who deciphers.

Decipherment(n.) The act of deciphering.

Dec Dicephalous(a.) Having two heads on one body; double-headed.

Dichotomy(n.) That phase of the moon in which it appears bisected, or shows only half its disk, as at the quadratures.

Dichromatic(a.) Having two color varieties, or two phases differing in color, independently of age or sex, as in certain birds and insects.

Dictionalrian(n.) A lexicographer.

Dictionary(n.) A book containing the words of a language, arranged alphabetically, with explanations of their meanings; a lexicon; a vocabulary; a wordbook.

Dictionary(n.) Hence, a book containing the words belonging to any system or province of knowledge, arranged alphabetically; as, a dictionary of medicine or of botany; a biographical dictionary.

Dicyemata(n. pl.) An order of worms parasitic in cephalopods. They are remarkable for the extreme simplicity of their structure. The embryo exists in two forms.

Docetae(n. pl.) Ancient heretics who held that Christ's body was merely a phantom or appearance.

Docimacy(n.) The art or practice of applying tests to ascertain the nature, quality, etc., of objects, as of metals or ores, of medicines, or of facts pertaining to physiology.

Docoglossa(n. pl.) An order of gastropods, including the true limpets, and having the teeth on the odontophore or lingual ribbon.

Doctor(n.) An academical title, originally meaning a men so well versed in his department as to be qualified to teach it. Hence: One who has taken the highest degree conferred by a university or college, or has received a diploma of the highest degree; as, a doctor of divinity, of law, of medicine, of music, or of philosophy. Such diplomas may confer an honorary title only.

Doctor(n.) One duly licensed to practice medicine; a member of the medical profession; a physician.

Doctor(v. t.) To treat as a physician does; to apply remedies to; to repair; as, to doctor a sick man or a broken cart.

Doctor(v. i.) To practice physic.

Doctrinaire(n.) One who would apply to political or other practical concerns the abstract doctrines or the theories of his own philosophical system; a propounder of a new set of opinions; a dogmatic theorist. Used also adjectively; as, doctrinaire notions.

Duck's-foot(n.) The May apple (Podophyllum peltatum).

Eccentric(a.) Not having the same center; -- said of circles, ellipses, spheres, etc., which, though coinciding, either in whole or in part, as to area or volume, have not the same center; -- opposed to concentric.

Eccentric(a.) Deviating from stated methods, usual practice, or established forms or laws; deviating from an appointed sphere or way; departing from the usual course; irregular; anomalous; odd; as, eccentric conduct.

Ecclesiast(n.) The Apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus.

Ecclesiasticus(n.) A book of the Apocrypha.

Encephalic(a.) Pertaining to the encephalon or brain.

Encephalitis(n.) Inflammation of the brain.

Encephalocele(n.) Hernia of the brain.

Encephaloid(a.) Resembling the material of the brain; cerebriform.

Encephaloid(n.) An encephaloid cancer.

Encephalology(n.) The science which treats of the brain, its structure and functions.

Encephalon(n.) The contents of the cranium; the brain.

Encephalopathy(n.) Any disease or symptoms of disease referable to disorders of the brain; as, lead encephalopathy, the cerebral symptoms attending chronic lead poisoning.

Encephalos(n.) The encephalon.

Encephalotomy(n.) The act or art of dissecting the brain.

Encephalous(a.) Having a head; -- said of most Mollusca; -- opposed to acephalous.

Enchoric(a.) Belonging to, or used in, a country; native; domestic; popular; common; -- said especially of the written characters employed by the common people of ancient Egypt, in distinction from the hieroglyphics. See Demotic.

Encoubert(n.) One of several species of armadillos of the genera Dasypus and Euphractus, having five toes both on the fore and hind feet.

Encyclopaedia(n.) The circle of arts and sciences; a comprehensive summary of knowledge, or of a branch of knowledge; esp., a work in which the various branches of science or art are discussed separately, and usually in alphabetical order; a cyclopedia.

Escape(n.) An apophyge.

Excelsior(n.) A kind of stuffing for upholstered furniture, mattresses, etc., in which curled shreds of wood are substituted for curled hair.

Exclamation(n.) A loud calling or crying out; outcry; loud or emphatic utterance; vehement vociferation; clamor; that which is cried out, as an expression of feeling; sudden expression of sound or words indicative of emotion, as in surprise, pain, grief, joy, anger, etc.

Exclamation(n.) A mark or sign by which outcry or emphatic utterance is marked; thus [!]; -- called also exclamation point.

Exclamatory(a.) Containing, expressing, or using exclamation; as, an exclamatory phrase or speaker.

Excuss(v. t.) To inspect; to investigate; to decipher.

Face(n.) Presence; sight; front; as in the phrases, before the face of, in the immediate presence of; in the face of, before, in, or against the front of; as, to fly in the face of danger; to the face of, directly to; from the face of, from the presence of.

Face(n.) Mode of regard, whether favorable or unfavorable; favor or anger; mostly in Scriptural phrases.

Faculae(n. pl.) Groups of small shining spots on the surface of the sun which are brighter than the other parts of the photosphere. They are generally seen in the neighborhood of the dark spots, and are supposed to be elevated portions of the photosphere.

Faculty(n.) A body of a men to whom any specific right or privilege is granted; formerly, the graduates in any of the four departments of a university or college (Philosophy, Law, Medicine, or Theology), to whom was granted the right of teaching (profitendi or docendi) in the department in which they had studied; at present, the members of a profession itself; as, the medical faculty; the legal faculty, ect.

Fecula(n.) The green matter of plants; chlorophyll.

Hackney(v. t.) To devote to common or frequent use, as a horse or carriage; to wear out in common service; to make trite or commonplace; as, a hackneyed metaphor or quotation.

Hectocotylus(n.) One of the arms of the male of most kinds of cephalopods, which is specially modified in various ways to effect the fertilization of the eggs. In a special sense, the greatly modified arm of Argonauta and allied genera, which, after receiving the spermatophores, becomes detached from the male, and attaches itself to the female for reproductive purposes.

Hectograph(n.) A contrivance for multiple copying, by means of a surface of gelatin softened with glycerin.

Hiccough(n.) A modified respiratory movement; a spasmodic inspiration, consisting of a sudden contraction of the diaphragm, accompanied with closure of the glottis, so that further entrance of air is prevented, while the impulse of the column of air entering and striking upon the closed glottis produces a sound, or hiccough.

Hocco(n.) The crested curassow; -- called also royal pheasant. See Curassow.

-ic() A suffix signifying, in general, relating to, or characteristic of; as, historic, hygienic, telegraphic, etc.

-ic() A suffix, denoting that the element indicated enters into certain compounds with its highest valence, or with a valence relatively higher than in compounds where the name of the element ends in -ous; as, ferric, sulphuric. It is also used in the general sense of pertaining to; as, hydric, sodic, calcic.

Incapable(a.) Wanting in ability or qualification for the purpose or end in view; not large enough to contain or hold; deficient in physical strength, mental or moral power, etc.; not capable; as, incapable of holding a certain quantity of liquid; incapable of endurance, of comprehension, of perseverance, of reform, etc.

Incapacity(n.) Want of capacity; lack of physical or intellectual power; inability.

Inceptive(n.) An inceptive word, phrase, or clause.

Incoherent(a.) Not coherent; wanting cohesion; loose; unconnected; physically disconnected; not fixed to each; -- said of material substances.

Incompetency(n.) The quality or state of being incompetent; want of physical, intellectual, or moral ability; insufficiency; inadequacy; as, the incompetency of a child hard labor, or of an idiot for intellectual efforts.

Incorporative(a.) Incorporating or tending to incorporate; as, the incorporative languages (as of the Basques, North American Indians, etc. ) which run a whole phrase into one word.

Incrassate(v. t.) To make thick or thicker; to thicken; especially, in pharmacy, to thicken (a liquid) by the mixture of another substance, or by evaporating the thinner parts.

Increase(v. i.) The period of increasing light, or luminous phase; the waxing; -- said of the moon.

Incumbency(n.) That which is physically incumbent; that which lies as a burden; a weight.

Incus(n.) The central portion of the armature of the pharynx in the Rotifera.

Jacobite(n.) One of the sect of Syrian Monophysites. The sect is named after Jacob Baradaeus, its leader in the sixth century.

Laccin(n.) A yellow amorphous substance obtained from lac.

Lacewing(n.) Any one of several species of neuropterous insects of the genus Chrysopa and allied genera. They have delicate, lacelike wings and brilliant eyes. Their larvae are useful in destroying aphids. Called also lace-winged fly, and goldeneyed fly.

Lacinia(n.) A narrow, slender portion of the edge of a monophyllous calyx, or of any irregularly incised leaf.

Lacteal(n.) One of the lymphatic vessels which convey chyle from the small intestine through the mesenteric glands to the thoracic duct; a chyliferous vessel.

Lacasterian(a.) Of or pertaining to the monitorial system of instruction followed by Joseph Lancaster, of England, in which advanced pupils in a school teach pupils below them.

Lecithin(n.) A complex, nitrogenous phosphorized substance widely distributed through the animal body, and especially conspicuous in the brain and nerve tissue, in yolk of eggs, and in the white blood corpuscles.

Lichenographic(a.) Alt. of Lichenographical

Lichenographical(a.) Of or pertaining to lichenography.

Lichenographist(n.) One who describes lichens; one versed in lichenography.

Lichenography(n.) A description of lichens; the science which illustrates the natural history of lichens.

Localism(n.) A method of speaking or acting peculiar to a certain district; a local idiom or phrase.

Locality(n.) Position; situation; a place; a spot; esp., a geographical place or situation, as of a mineral or plant.

Locust(n.) The locust tree. See Locust Tree (definition, note, and phrases).

Locution(n.) Speech or discourse; a phrase; a form or mode of expression.

Lucernaria(n.) A genus of acalephs, having a bell-shaped body with eight groups of short tentacles around the margin. It attaches itself by a sucker at the base of the pedicel.

lucernarida(n. pl.) A division of acalephs, including Lucernaria and allied genera; -- called also Calycozoa.

lucernarida(n. pl.) A more extensive group of acalephs, including both the true lucernarida and the Discophora.

Lucifer(n.) The planet Venus, when appearing as the morning star; -- applied in Isaiah by a metaphor to a king of Babylon.

Lucimeter(n.) an instrument for measuring the intensity of light; a photometer.

Lyceum(n.) A place of exercise with covered walks, in the suburbs of Athens, where Aristotle taught philosophy.

Lychnis(n.) A genus of Old World plants belonging to the Pink family (Caryophyllaceae). Most of the species have brilliantly colored flowers and cottony leaves, which may have anciently answered as wicks for lamps. The botanical name is in common use for the garden species. The corn cockle (Lychnis Githago) is a common weed in wheat fields.

Macartney(n.) A fire-backed pheasant. See Fireback.

Maccabees(n. pl.) The name of two ancient historical books, which give accounts of Jewish affairs in or about the time of the Maccabean princes, and which are received as canonical books in the Roman Catholic Church, but are included in the Apocrypha by Protestants. Also applied to three books, two of which are found in some MSS. of the Septuagint.

Machinery(n.) The supernatural means by which the action of a poetic or fictitious work is carried on and brought to a catastrophe; in an extended sense, the contrivances by which the crises and conclusion of a fictitious narrative, in prose or verse, are effected.

Macho(n.) The striped mullet of California (Mugil cephalus, / Mexicanus).

Macrencephalic(a.) Alt. of Macrencephalous

Macrencephalous(a.) Having a large brain.

Macrocephalous(a.) Having a large head.

Macrocephalous(a.) Having the cotyledons of a dicotyledonous embryo confluent, and forming a large mass compared with the rest of the body.

Macroglossia(n.) Enlargement or hypertrophy of the tongue.

Macrophyllous(a.) Having long or large leaves.

Mechanico-chemical(a.) Pertaining to, connected with, or dependent upon, both mechanics and chemistry; -- said especially of those sciences which treat of such phenomena as seem to depend on the laws both of mechanics and chemistry, as electricity and magnetism.

Mechanist(n.) One who regards the phenomena of nature as the effects of forces merely mechanical.

Mechanograph(n.) One of a number of copies of anything multiplied mechanically.

Mechanographic(a.) Treating of mechanics.

Mechanographic(a.) Written, copied, or recorded by machinery; produced by mechanography; as, a mechanographic record of changes of temperature; mechanographic prints.

Mechanographist(n.) An artist who, by mechanical means, multiplies copies of works of art.

Mechanography(n.) The art of mechanically multiplying copies of a writing, or any work of art.

Meconidine(n.) An alkaloid found in opium, and extracted as a yellow amorphous substance which is easily decomposed.

Meconidium(n.) A kind of gonophore produced by hydroids of the genus Gonothyraea. It has tentacles, and otherwise resembles a free medusa, but remains attached by a pedicel.

Micrencephalous() Having a small brain.

Microcephalic(a.) Alt. of Microcephalous

Microcephalous(a.) Having a small head; having the cranial cavity small; -- opposed to megacephalic.

Micrococcus(n.) A genus of Spherobacteria, in the form of very small globular or oval cells, forming, by transverse division, filaments, or chains of cells, or in some cases single organisms shaped like dumb-bells (Diplococcus), all without the power of motion. See Illust. of Ascoccus.

Microcosmography(n.) Description of man as a microcosm.

Microcrystal Micrograph(n.) An instrument for executing minute writing or engraving.

Micrographic(a.) Of or pertaining to micrography.

Micrography(n.) The description of microscopic objects.

Micropantograph(n.) A kind of pantograph which produces copies microscopically minute.

Micropegmatite(n.) A rock showing under the microscope the structure of a graphic granite (pegmatite).

Microphone(n.) An instrument for intensifying and making audible very feeble sounds. It produces its effects by the changes of intensity in an electric current, occasioned by the variations in the contact resistance of conducting bodies, especially of imperfect conductors, under the action of acoustic vibrations.

Microphonics(n.) The science which treats of the means of increasing the intensity of low or weak sounds, or of the microphone.

Microphonous(a.) Serving to augment the intensity of weak sounds; microcoustic.

Microphotograph(n.) A microscopically small photograph of a picture, writing, printed page, etc.

Microphotograph(n.) An enlarged representation of a microscopic object, produced by throwing upon a sensitive plate the magnified image of an object formed by a microscope or other suitable combination of lenses.

Microphotography(n.) The art of making microphotographs.

Microphthalmia(n.) Alt. of Microphthalmy

Microphthalmy(n.) An unnatural smallness of the eyes, occurring as the result of disease or of imperfect development.

Microphyllous(a.) Small-leaved.

Microphytal(a.) Pertaining to, or of the nature of, microphytes.

Microphyte(n.) A very minute plant, one of certain unicellular algae, such as the germs of various infectious diseases are believed to be.

Mockbird(n.) The European sedge warbler (Acrocephalus phragmitis).

Mucedin(n.) A yellowish white, amorphous, nitrogenous substance found in wheat, rye, etc., and resembling gluten; -- formerly called also mucin.

Necessarian(n.) An advocate of the doctrine of philosophical necessity; a nacessitarian.

Necessarianism(n.) The doctrine of philosophical necessity; necessitarianism.

Necessitarian(a.) Of or pertaining to the doctrine of philosophical necessity in regard to the origin and existence of things, especially as applied to the actings or choices of the will; -- opposed to libertarian.

Necessitarianism(n.) The doctrine of philosophical necessity; the doctrine that results follow by invariable sequence from causes, and esp. that the will is not free, but that human actions and choices result inevitably from motives; deteminism.

Necessity(n.) That which makes an act or an event unavoidable; irresistible force; overruling power; compulsion, physical or moral; fate; fatality.

Necessity(n.) The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism.

Necrobiosis(n.) The death of a part by molecular disintegration and without loss of continuity, as in the processes of degeneration and atrophy.

Necrobiotic(a.) Of or pertaining to necrobiosis; as, a necrobiotic metamorphosis.

Necrophagan(a.) Eating carrion.

Necrophagan(n.) Any species of a tribe (Necrophaga) of beetles which, in the larval state, feed on carrion; a burying beetle.

Necrophagous(a.) Of or pertaining to the Necrophaga; eating carrion. See Necrophagan.

Necrophobia(n.) An exaggerated fear of death or horror of dead bodies.

Necrophore(n.) Any one of numerous species of beetles of the genus Necrophorus and allied genera; -- called also burying beetle, carrion beetle, sexton beetle.

Nectocalyx(n.) One of the zooids of certain Siphonophora, having somewhat the form, and the essential structure, of the bell of a jellyfish, and acting as a swimming organ.

Nectostem(n.) That portion of the axis which bears the nectocalyces in the Siphonophora.

Nice(superl.) Done or made with careful labor; suited to excite admiration on account of exactness; evidencing great skill; exact; fine; finished; as, nice proportions, nice workmanship, a nice application; exactly or fastidiously discriminated; requiring close discrimination; as, a nice point of law, a nice distinction in philosophy.

Nickel(n.) A bright silver-white metallic element. It is of the iron group, and is hard, malleable, and ductile. It occurs combined with sulphur in millerite, with arsenic in the mineral niccolite, and with arsenic and sulphur in nickel glance. Symbol Ni. Atomic weight 58.6.

Nicolaitan(n.) One of certain corrupt persons in the early church at Ephesus, who are censured in rev. ii. 6, 15.

Nicotianine(n.) A white waxy substance having a hot, bitter taste, extracted from tobacco leaves and called also tobacco camphor.

Noctiluca(n.) That which shines at night; -- a fanciful name for phosphorus.

Noctiluca(n.) A genus of marine flagellate Infusoria, remarkable for their unusually large size and complex structure, as well as for their phosphorescence. The brilliant diffuse phosphorescence of the sea is often due to myriads of Noctilucae.

Noctilucin(n.) A fatlike substance in certain marine animals, to which they owe their phosphorescent properties.

Noctograph(n.) A kind of writing frame for the blind.

Noctograph(n.) An instrument or register which records the presence of watchmen on their beats.

Nuclein(n.) A constituent of the nuclei of all cells. It is a colorless amorphous substance, readily soluble in alka

Nucleus(n.) A body, usually spheroidal, in a cell or a protozoan, distinguished from the surrounding protoplasm by a difference in refrangibility and in behavior towards chemical reagents. It is more or less protoplasmic, and consists of a clear fluid (achromatin) through which extends a network of fibers (chromatin) in which may be suspended a second rounded body, the nucleolus (see Nucleoplasm). See Cell division, under Division.

Nyctophile(n.) Any Australian bat of the genus Nyctophilus, having a very simple nasal appendage.

Archoplasm(n.) The substance from which attraction spheres develop in mitotic cell division, and of which they consist.

Ascocarp(n.) In ascomycetous fungi, the spherical, discoid, or cup-shaped body within which the asci are collected, and which constitutes the mature fructification. The different forms are known in mycology under distinct names. Called also spore fruit.

Ascomycetes(n. pl.) A large class of higher fungi distinguished by septate hyphae, and by having their spores formed in asci, or spore sacs. It comprises many orders, among which are the yeasts, molds, mildews, truffles, morels, etc.

Baconian(n.) One who adheres to the philosophy of Lord Bacon.

Becquerel rays() Radiations first observed by the French physicist Henri Becquerel, in working with uranium and its compounds. They consist of a mixture of alpha, beta, and gamma rays.

Bucephalus(n.) The celebrated war horse of Alexander the Great.

Bucephalus(n.) Hence, any riding horse.

Cyclone(n.) In general, a condition of the atmosphere characterized by a central area of pressure much lower than that of surrounding areas, and a system of winds blowing inward and around (clockwise in the southern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the northern); -- called also a low-area storm. It is attended by high temperature, moist air, abundant precipitation, and clouded sky. The term includes the hurricane, typhoon, and tropical storms;

Dictagraph() Var. of Dictograph.

Dictaphone(n.) A form of phonographic recorder and reproducer adapted for use in dictation, as in business.

Dictograph(n.) A telephonic instrument for office or other similar use, having a sound-magnifying device enabling the ordinary mouthpiece to be dispensed with. Much use has been made of it for overhearing, or for recording, conversations for the purpose of obtaining evidence for use in litigation.

Facultative(a.) Having the power to live under different conditions; as, a facultative parasite, a plant which is normally saprophytic, but which may exist wholly or in part as a parasite; -- opposed to obligate.

Macrograph(n.) A picture of an object as seen by the naked eye (that is, unmagnified); as, a macrograph of a metallic fracture.

Macrography(n.) Examination or study with the naked eye, as distinguished from micrography.

Microanalysis(n.) Analysis of the structure of materials from careful observation of photomicrographs.

Microbarograph(n.) An instrument for recording minor fluctuations of atmospheric pressure, as opposed to general barometric surges.

Micrography(n.) Examination or study by means of the microscope, as of an etched surface of metal to determine its structure.

Microphonic(a.) Of or pert. to a microphone; serving to intensify weak sounds.

Microseismograph(n.) A microseismometer; specif., a microseismometer producing a graphic record.

Muckrake(v. i.) To seek for, expose, or charge, esp. habitually, corruption, real or alleged, on the part of public men and corporations. On April 14, 1906, President Roosevelt delivered a speech on "The Man with the Muck Rake," in which he deprecated sweeping and unjust charges of corruption against public men and corporations. The phrase was taken up by the press, and the verb to muck"rake`, in the above sense, and the noun muck"rak`er (/), to designate one so engaged, were speedily coined

Oscillator(n.) Any device for producing electric oscillations; esp., an apparatus for generating electric waves in a system of wireless telegraphy.

Oscillogram(n.) An autographic record made by an oscillograph.

Oscillograph(n.) An apparatus for recording or indicating alternating-current wave forms or other electrical oscillations, usually consisting of a galvanometer with strong field, in which the mass of the moving part is very small and frequency of vibration very high.

Oscilloscope(n.) An instrument for showing visually the changes in a varying current; an oscillograph.

Tachograph(n.) A recording or registering tachometer; also, its autographic record.

Tachygraph(n.) An example of tachygraphy; esp., an ancient Greek or Roman tachygraphic manuscript.

Tachygrapher(n.) One who writes shorthand; a stenographer; esp., an ancient Greek or Roman notary.

Tachyscope(n.) An early form of antimated-picture machine, devised in 1889 by Otto Anschutz of Berlin, in which the chronophotographs were mounted upon the periphery of a rotating wheel.

T connection() The connection of two coils diagrammatically as a letter T, chiefly used as a connection for passing transformers. When the three free ends are connected to a source of three-phase current, two-phase current may be derived from the secondary circuits. The reverse arrangement may be used to transform from two-phase.

Techniphone(n.) A dumb gymnastic apparatus for training the hands of pianists and organists, as to a legato touch.

Technography(n.) Description of the arts and crafts of tribes and peoples.

Ticker(n.) A telegraphic receiving instrument that automatically prints off stock quotations (stock ticker) and other news on a paper ribbon or "tape."

Vacuum cleaner() A machine for cleaning carpets, tapestry, upholstered work, etc., by suction.

Y current() The current through one branch of the star arrangement of a three-phase circuit.

Occasionalism(n.) The system of occasional causes; -- a name given to certain theories of the Cartesian school of philosophers, as to the intervention of the First Cause, by which they account for the apparent reciprocal action of the soul and the body.

Occident(n.) The part of the horizon where the sun last appears in the evening; that part of the earth towards the sunset; the west; -- opposed to orient. Specifically, in former times, Europe as opposed to Asia; now, also, the Western hemisphere.

Occultism(n.) A certain Oriental system of theosophy.

Oncograph(n.) An instrument for registering the changes observable with an oncometer.

Orcein(n.) A reddish brown amorphous dyestuff, /, obtained from orcin, and forming the essential coloring matter of cudbear and archil. It is closely related to litmus.

Orchesography(n.) A treatise upon dancing.

Orchestian(n.) Any species of amphipod crustacean of the genus Orchestia, or family Orchestidae. See Beach flea, under Beach.

Orchestra(n.) Strictly: A band suitable for the performance of symphonies, overtures, etc., as well as for the accompaniment of operas, oratorios, cantatas, masses, and the like, or of vocal and instrumental solos.

Pachydermata(n. pl.) A group of hoofed mammals distinguished for the thickness of their skins, including the elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, tapir, horse, and hog. It is now considered an artificial group.

Pacinian(a.) Of, pertaining to, or discovered by, Filippo Pacini, an Italian physician of the 19th century.

Pectic(a.) Of or pertaining to pectin; specifically, designating an acid obtained from ordinary vegetable jelly (pectin) as an amorphous substance, tough and horny when dry, but gelatinous when moist.

Pectose(n.) An amorphous carbohydrate found in the vegetable kingdom, esp. in unripe fruits. It is associated with cellulose, and is converted into substances of the pectin group.

Pectostraca(n. pl.) A degenerate order of Crustacea, including the Rhizocephala and Cirripedia.

Pica(n.) A vitiated appetite that craves what is unfit for food, as chalk, ashes, coal, etc.; chthonophagia.

Picea(n.) A genus of coniferous trees of the northen hemisphere, including the Norway spruce and the American black and white spruces. These trees have pendent cones, which do not readily fall to pieces, in this and other respects differing from the firs.

Pichiciago(n.) A small, burrowing, South American edentate (Chlamyphorus truncatus), allied to the armadillos. The shell is attached only along the back.

Pickle(v. t.) A bath of dilute sulphuric or nitric acid, etc., to remove burnt sand, scale rust, etc., from the surface of castings, or other articles of metal, or to brighten them or improve their color.

Pico Picryl(n.) The hypothetical radical of picric acid, analogous to phenyl.

Pictograph(n.) A picture or hieroglyph representing and expressing an idea.

Picture(n.) A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, produced by means of painting, drawing, engraving, photography, etc.; a representation in colors. By extension, a figure; a model.

Picturesque(a.) Forming, or fitted to form, a good or pleasing picture; representing with the clearness or ideal beauty appropriate to a picture; expressing that peculiar kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture, natural or artificial; graphic; vivid; as, a picturesque scene or attitude; picturesque language.

Poco(adv.) A little; -- used chiefly in phrases indicating the time or movement; as, poco piu allegro, a little faster; poco largo, rather slow.

Puceron(n.) Any plant louse, or aphis.

Receiver(n.) That portion of a telephonic apparatus, or similar system, at which the message is received and made audible; -- opposed to transmitter.

Recording(a.) Keeping a record or a register; as, a recording secretary; -- applied to numerous instruments with an automatic appliance which makes a record of their action; as, a recording gauge or telegraph.

Rickets(n. pl.) A disease which affects children, and which is characterized by a bulky head, crooked spine and limbs, depressed ribs, enlarged and spongy articular epiphyses, tumid abdomen, and short stature, together with clear and often premature mental faculties. The essential cause of the disease appears to be the nondeposition of earthy salts in the osteoid tissues. Children afflicted with this malady stand and walk unsteadily. Called also rachitis.

Roccellin(n.) A red dyestuff, used as a substitute for cochineal, archil, etc. It consists of the sodium salt of a complex azo derivative of naphtol.

Rocket(n.) An artificial firework consisting of a cylindrical case of paper or metal filled with a composition of combustible ingredients, as niter, charcoal, and sulphur, and fastened to a guiding stick. The rocket is projected through the air by the force arising from the expansion of the gases liberated by combustion of the composition. Rockets are used as projectiles for various purposes, for signals, and also for pyrotechnic display.

Rocketer(n.) A bird, especially a pheasant, which, being flushed, rises straight in the air like a rocket.

Rockfish(n.) Any one of several species of Florida and Bermuda groupers of the genus Epinephelus.

Saccate(a.) Of or pertaining to the Saccata, a suborder of ctenophores having two pouches into which the long tentacles can be retracted.

Saccharic(a.) Of, pertaining to, or obtained from, saccharine substances; specifically, designating an acid obtained, as a white amorphous gummy mass, by the oxidation of mannite, glucose, sucrose, etc.

Saccharine(n.) A trade name for benzoic sulphinide.

Sacchulmic(a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, an acid obtained as a dark amorphous substance by the long-continued boiling of sucrose with very dilute sulphuric acid. It resembles humic acid.

Sacchulmin(n.) An amorphous huminlike substance resembling sacchulmic acid, and produced together with it.

Secessionist(n.) One who upholds secession.

Seckel(n.) A small reddish brown sweet and juicy pear. It originated on a farm near Philadelphia, afterwards owned by a Mr. Seckel.

Secondary(a.) Dependent or consequent upon another disease; as, Bright's disease is often secondary to scarlet fever. (b) Occuring in the second stage of a disease; as, the secondary symptoms of syphilis.

Second-sight(n.) The power of discerning what is not visible to the physical eye, or of foreseeing future events, esp. such as are of a disastrous kind; the capacity of a seer; prophetic vision.

Sect(n.) Those following a particular leader or authority, or attached to a certain opinion; a company or set having a common belief or allegiance distinct from others; in religion, the believers in a particular creed, or upholders of a particular practice; especially, in modern times, a party dissenting from an established church; a denomination; in philosophy, the disciples of a particular master; a school; in society and the state, an order, rank, class, or party.

Sectarian(n.) One of a sect; a member or adherent of a special school, denomination, or religious or philosophical party; one of a party in religion which has separated itself from established church, or which holds tenets different from those of the prevailing denomination in a state.

Sectary(n.) A sectarian; a member or adherent of a sect; a follower or disciple of some particular teacher in philosophy or religion; one who separates from an established church; a dissenter.

Section(n.) A distinct part or portion of a book or writing; a subdivision of a chapter; the division of a law or other writing; a paragraph; an article; hence, the character /, often used to denote such a division.

Section(n.) A distinct part of a country or people, community, class, or the like; a part of a territory separated by geographical Section(n.) A part of a musical period, composed of one or more phrases. See Phrase.

Sectionalize(v. t.) To divide according to gepgraphical sections or local interests.

Socinianism(n.) The tenets or doctrines of Faustus Socinus, an Italian theologian of the sixteenth century, who denied the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the personality of the Devil, the native and total depravity of man, the vicarious atonement, and the eternity of future punishment. His theory was, that Christ was a man divinely commissioned, who had no existence before he was conceived by the Virgin Mary;

Sociology(n.) That branch of philosophy which treats of the constitution, phenomena, and development of human society; social science.

Socratical(a.) Of or pertaining to Socrates, the Grecian sage and teacher. (b. c. 469-399), or to his manner of teaching and philosophizing.

Socratism(n.) The philosophy or the method of Socrates.

-ical(a.) See Stratographic.

Suck(v. t.) To draw, as a liquid, by the action of the mouth and tongue, which tends to produce a vacuum, and causes the liquid to rush in by atmospheric pressure; to draw, or apply force to, by exhausting the air.

Sucker(n.) A small piece of leather, usually round, having a string attached to the center, which, when saturated with water and pressed upon a stone or other body having a smooth surface, adheres, by reason of the atmospheric pressure, with such force as to enable a considerable weight to be thus lifted by the string; -- used by children as a plaything.

Suctoria(n. pl.) Same as Rhizocephala.

Sycophancy(n.) The character or characteristic of a sycophant.

Sycophancy(n.) False accusation; calumniation; talebearing.

Sycophancy(n.) Obsequious flattery; servility.

Sycophant(n.) An informer; a talebearer.

Sycophant(n.) A base parasite; a mean or servile flatterer; especially, a flatterer of princes and great men.

Sycophant(v. t.) To inform against; hence, to calumniate.

Sycophant(v. t.) To play the sycophant toward; to flatter obsequiously.

Sycophant(v. i.) To play the sycophant.

Sycophantcy(n.) Sycophancy.

Sycophantic(a.) Alt. of Sycophantical

Sycophantical(a.) Of or pertaining to a sycophant; characteristic of a sycophant; meanly or obsequiously flattering; courting favor by mean adulation; parasitic.

Sycophantish(a.) Like a sycophant; obsequiously flattering.

Sycophantism(n.) Sycophancy.

Sycophantize(v. i.) To play the sycophant.

Sycophantry(n.) Sycophancy.

Tacamahaca(n.) A bitter balsamic resin obtained from tropical American trees of the genus Elaphrium (E. tomentosum and E. Tacamahaca), and also from East Indian trees of the genus Calophyllum; also, the resinous exhudation of the balsam poplar.

Tachygraphic(a.) Alt. of Tachygraphical

Tachygraphical(a.) Of or pertaining to tachygraphy; written in shorthand.

Tachygraphy(n.) The art or practice of rapid writing; shorthand writing; stenography.

Tectology(n.) A division of morphology created by Haeckel; the science of organic individuality constituting the purely structural portion of morphology, in which the organism is regarded as composed of organic individuals of different orders, each organ being considered an individual. See Promorphology, and Morphon.

Ticker(n.)

Toco(n.) A toucan (Ramphastos toco) having a very large beak. See Illust. under Toucan.

Tucan(n.) The Mexican pocket gopher (Geomys Mexicanus). It resembles the common pocket gopher of the Western United States, but is larger. Called also tugan, and tuza.

Uncipher(v. t.) To decipher; as, to uncipher a letter.

Uncle(n.) The brother of one's father or mother; also applied to an aunt's husband; -- the correlative of aunt in sex, and of nephew and niece in relationship.

Uncypher(v. t.) See Uncipher.

Vacuum(n.) The condition of rarefaction, or reduction of pressure below that of the atmosphere, in a vessel, as the condenser of a steam engine, which is nearly exhausted of air or steam, etc.; as, a vacuum of 26 inches of mercury, or 13 pounds per square inch.

Victorious(a.) Of or pertaining to victory, or a victor' being a victor; bringing or causing a victory; conquering; winning; triumphant; as, a victorious general; victorious troops; a victorious day.

Victory(n.) The defeat of an enemy in battle, or of an antagonist in any contest; a gaining of the superiority in any struggle or competition; conquest; triumph; -- the opposite of defeat.

Vocabulary(n.) A list or collection of words arranged in alphabetical order and explained; a dictionary or lexicon, either of a whole language, a single work or author, a branch of science, or the like; a word-book.

Vocabulist(n.) The writer or maker of a vocabulary; a lexicographer.

Vocal(n.) A vocal sound; specifically, a purely vocal element of speech, unmodified except by resonance; a vowel or a diphthong; a tonic element; a tonic; -- distinguished from a subvocal, and a nonvocal.

About the author

Mark McCracken Author: Mark McCracken is a corporate trainer and author living in Higashi Osaka, Japan. He is the author of thousands of online articles as well as the Business English textbook, "25 Business Skills in English".

Copyright © 2011 Mark McCracken , All Rights Reserved.