Words whose 12th letter is N

Abbreviation (n.) One dash, or more, through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, or demi-semiquavers.

Acceleration (n.) The act of accelerating, or the state of being accelerated; increase of motion or action; as, a falling body moves toward the earth with an acceleration of velocity; -- opposed to retardation.

Aforementioned (a.) Previously mentioned; before-mentioned.

Alliteration (n.) The repetition of the same letter at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals; as in the following lines: -

Amalgamation (n.) The act or operation of compounding mercury with another metal; -- applied particularly to the process of separating gold and silver from their ores by mixing them with mercury.

Appreciation (n.) A rise in value; -- opposed to depreciation.

Aristotelian (a.) Of or pertaining to Aristotle, the famous Greek philosopher (384-322 b. c.).

Assibilation (n.) Change of a non-sibilant letter to a sibilant, as of -tion to -shun, duke to ditch.

Bearing rein () A short rein looped over the check hook or the hames to keep the horse's head up; -- called in the United States a checkrein.

Butting joint () A joint between two pieces of timber or wood, at the end of one or both, and either at right angles or oblique to the grain, as the joints which the struts and braces form with the truss posts; -- sometimes called abutting joint.

Cachinnation (n.) Loud or immoderate laughter; -- often a symptom of hysterical or maniacal affections.

Callisection (n.) Painless vivisection; -- opposed to sentisection.

Calorificient (a.) Having, or relating to the power of producing heat; -- applied to foods which, being rich in carbon, as the fats, are supposed to give rise to heat in the animal body by oxidation.

Chylifaction (n.) The act or process by which chyle is formed from food in animal bodies; chylification, -- a digestive process.

Compensation (n.) The extinction of debts of which two persons are reciprocally debtors by the credits of which they are reciprocally creditors; the payment of a debt by a credit of equal amount; a set-off.

Compurgation (v. t.) The act or practice of justifying or confirming a man's veracity by the oath of others; -- called also wager of law. See Purgation; also Wager of law, under Wager.

Congregation (n.) The whole body of the Jewish people; -- called also Congregation of the Lord.

Consistorian (a.) Pertaining to a Presbyterian consistory; -- a contemptuous term of 17th century controversy.

Contribution (n.) That which is contributed; -- either the portion which an individual furnishes to the common stock, or the whole which is formed by the gifts of individuals.

Conversazioni (pl. ) of Conversazi-one

Crastination (n.) Procrastination; a putting off till to-morrow.

Crystallogenical (a.) Pertaining to the production of crystals; crystal-producing; as, crystallogenic attraction.

Deuterocanonical (a.) Pertaining to a second canon, or ecclesiastical writing of inferior authority; -- said of the Apocrypha, certain Epistles, etc.

Diencephalon (n.) The interbrain or thalamencephalon; -- sometimes abbreviated to dien. See Thalamencephalon.

Disconvenient (a.) Not convenient or congruous; unsuitable; ill-adapted.

Disparagement (n.) Injurious comparison with an inferior; a depreciating or dishonoring opinion or insinuation; diminution of value; dishonor; indignity; reproach; disgrace; detraction; -- commonly with to.

Dissociation (n.) The process by which a compound body breaks up into simpler constituents; -- said particularly of the action of heat on gaseous or volatile substances; as, the dissociation of the sulphur molecules; the dissociation of ammonium chloride into hydrochloric acid and ammonia.

Entoplastron (n.) The median plate of the plastron of turtles; -- called also entosternum.

Frankalmoigne (a.) A tenure by which a religious corporation holds lands given to them and their successors forever, usually on condition of praying for the soul of the donor and his heirs; -- called also tenure by free alms.

Glossopharyngeal (a.) Pertaining to both the tongue and the pharynx; -- applied especially to the ninth pair of cranial nerves, which are distributed to the pharynx and tongue. -- n. One of the glossopharyngeal nerves.

Grandiloquence (n.) The use of lofty words or phrases; bombast; -- usually in a bad sense.

Hippocrepian (n.) One of an order of fresh-water Bryozoa, in which the tentacles are on a lophophore, shaped like a horseshoe. See Phylactolaema.

Homologoumena (n. pl.) Those books of the New Testament which were acknowledged as canonical by the early church; -- distinguished from antilegomena.

Hypoplastron (n.) The third lateral plate in the plastron of turtles; -- called also hyposternum.

Interosculant (a.) Uniting two groups; -- said of certain genera which connect family groups, or of species that connect genera. See Osculant.

Interscendent (a.) Having exponents which are radical quantities; -- said of certain powers; as, x?2, or x?a.

Kindergarten (n.) A school for young children, conducted on the theory that education should be begun by gratifying and cultivating the normal aptitude for exercise, play, observation, imitation, and construction; -- a name given by Friedrich Froebel, a German educator, who introduced this method of training, in rooms opening on a garden.

Liriodendron (n.) A genus of large and very beautiful trees of North America, having smooth, shining leaves, and handsome, tuliplike flowers; tulip tree; whitewood; -- called also canoewood. Liriodendron tulipifera is the only extant species, but there were several others in the Cretaceous epoch.

Levorotation (n.) Rotation in the direction of an outgoing right-handed screw; counter-clockwise rotation; -- applied chiefly to the turning of the plane of polarization of light.

Masturbation (n.) Onanism; self-pollution.

Naphthazarin (n.) A dyestuff, resembling alizarin, obtained from naphthoquinone as a red crystalPerpetration (n.) The act of perpetrating; a doing; -- commonly used of doing something wrong, as a crime.

Pestalozzian (a.) Belonging to, or characteristic of, a system of elementary education which combined manual training with other instruction, advocated and practiced by Jean Henri Pestalozzi (1746-1827), a Swiss teacher.

Phanerocodonic (a.) Having an umbrella-shaped or bell-shaped body, with a wide, open cavity beneath; -- said of certain jellyfishes.

Pharyngobranchial (a.) Of or pertaining to the pharynx and the branchiae; -- applied especially to the dorsal elements in the branchial arches of fishes. See Pharyngeal.

Physostigmine (n.) An alkaloid found in the Calabar bean (the seed of Physostigma venenosum), and extracted as a white, tasteless, substance, amorphous or crystalline; -- formerly called eserine, with which it was regarded as identical.

Platycoelian (a.) Flat at the anterior and concave at the posterior end; -- said of the centra of the vertebrae of some extinct dinouaurs.

Postposition (n.) A word or particle placed after, or at the end of, another word; -- distinguished from preposition.

Presentation (n.) The particular position of the child during labor relatively to the passage though which it is to be brought forth; -- specifically designated by the part which first appears at the mouth of the uterus; as, a breech presentation.

Protestation (n.) Formerly, a declaration in common-law pleading, by which the party interposes an oblique allegation or denial of some fact, protesting that it does or does not exist, and at the same time avoiding a direct affirmation or denial.

Pyrocatechin (n.) A white crystalRecollection (n.) The act or practice of collecting or concentrating the mind; concentration; self-control.

Regeneration (n.) The reproduction of a part which has been removed or destroyed; re-formation; -- a process especially characteristic of a many of the lower animals; as, the regeneration of lost feelers, limbs, and claws by spiders and crabs.

Salutatorian (n.) The student who pronounces the salutatory oration at the annual Commencement or like exercises of a college, -- an honor commonly assigned to that member of the graduating class who ranks second in scholarship.

Scutelliplantar (a.) Having broad scutella on the front, and small scales on the posterior side, of the tarsus; -- said of certain birds.

Segmentation (n.) The act or process of dividing into segments; specifically (Biol.), a self-division into segments as a result of growth; cell cleavage; cell multiplication; endogenous cell formation.

Sentisection (n.) Painful vivisection; -- opposed to callisection.

Southcottian (n.) A follower of Joanna Southcott (1750-1814), an Englishwoman who, professing to have received a miraculous calling, preached and prophesied, and committed many impious absurdities.

Spiegel iron () A fusible white cast iron containing a large amount of carbon (from three and a half to six per cent) and some manganese. When the manganese reaches twenty-five per cent and upwards it has a granular structure, and constitutes the alloy ferro manganese, largely used in the manufacture of Bessemer steel. Called also specular pig iron, spiegel, and spiegeleisen.

Stilpnomelane (n.) A black or greenish black mineral occurring in foliated flates, also in velvety bronze-colored incrustations. It is a hydrous silicate of iron and alumina.

Suberization (n.) Conversion of the cell walls into cork tissue by development of suberin; -- commonly taking place in exposed tissues, as when a callus forms over a wound. Suberized cell walls are impervious to water.

Subscription (n.) The acceptance of articles, or other tests tending to promote uniformity; esp. (Ch. of Eng.), formal assent to the Thirty-nine Articles and the Book of Common Prayer, required before ordination.

Superdominant (n.) The sixth tone of the scale; that next above the dominant; -- called also submediant.

Thoroughgoing (a.) Going all lengths; extreme; thoroughplaced; -- less common in this sense.

Trachelobranchiate (a.) Having the gills situated upon the neck; -- said of certain mollusks.

Transpalatine (a.) Situated beyond or outside the palatine bone; -- said of a bone in the skull of some reptiles.

Tridecatylene (n.) A hydrocarbon, C13H26, of the ethylene series, corresponding to tridecane, and obtained from Burmah petroleum as a light colorless liquid; -- called also tridecylene, and tridecene.

Valorization (n.) Act or process of attempting to give an arbitrary market value or price to a commodity by governmental interference, as by maintaining a purchasing fund, making loans to producers to enable them to hold their products, etc.; -- used chiefly of such action by Brazil.

Umbelliferone (n.) A tasteless white crystalUmbilication (n.) A slight, navel-like depression, or dimpling, of the center of a rounded body; as, the umbilication of a smallpox vesicle; also, the condition of being umbilicated.

Waterlandian (n.) One of a body of Dutch Anabaptists who separated from the Mennonites in the sixteenth century; -- so called from a district in North Holland denominated Waterland.

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".

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