| contortion | (noun) the act of twisting or deforming the shape of something (e.g., yourself) | Synonyms: deformation |
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| (noun) a tortuous and twisted shape or position | Synonyms: crookedness, torsion, tortuosity, tortuousness |
| contortionist | (noun) an acrobat able to twist into unusual positions | - |
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| contour | (noun) any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline) | Synonyms: configuration, conformation, form, shape |
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| (noun) a feature (or the order or arrangement of features) of anything having a complex structure | - |
| (noun) a line drawn on a map connecting points of equal height | Synonyms: contour line |
| contractor | (noun) a bodily organ that contracts | Synonyms: contractile organ |
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| (noun) someone (a person or firm) who contracts to build things | - |
| (noun) (law) a party to a contract | - |
| (noun) the bridge player in contract bridge who wins the bidding and can declare which suit is to be trumps | Synonyms: declarer |
| contradictoriness | (noun) the relation that exists when opposites cannot coexist | - |
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| contradictory | (noun) two propositions are contradictories if both cannot be true (or both cannot be false) at the same time | - |
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| contrafagotto | (noun) the bassoon that is the largest instrument in the oboe family | Synonyms: contrabassoon, double bassoon |
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| contralto | (noun) the lowest female singing voice | Synonyms: alto |
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| (noun) a woman singer having a contralto voice | - |
| contributor | (noun) someone who contributes (or promises to contribute) a sum of money | Synonyms: subscriber |
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| (noun) a writer whose work is published in a newspaper or magazine or as part of a book | - |
| convector | (noun) a space heater that transfers heat to the surrounding air by convection | - |
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| convertor | (noun) a device for changing one substance or form or state into another | Synonyms: converter |
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| cookstove | (noun) a stove for cooking (especially a wood- or coal-burning kitchen stove) | - |
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| cooperator | (noun) an associate in an activity or endeavor or sphere of common interest | Synonyms: collaborator, pardner, partner |
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| coordinator | (noun) someone whose task is to see that work goes harmoniously | Synonyms: co-ordinator |
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| copestone | (noun) a stone that forms the top of wall or building | Synonyms: capstone, coping stone, stretcher |
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| (noun) a final touch; a crowning achievement; a culmination | Synonyms: capstone, finishing touch |
| cornerstone | (noun) a stone at the outer corner of two intersecting masonry walls | - |
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| (noun) a stone in the exterior of a large and important building; usually carved with a date and laid with appropriate ceremonies | - |
| (noun) the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained | Synonyms: base, basis, foundation, fundament, groundwork |
| cosignatory | (noun) one of two or more signers of the same document (as a treaty or declaration) | Synonyms: cosigner |
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| cosmetologist | (noun) an expert in the use of cosmetics | - |
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| cosmetology | (noun) the practice of beautifying the face and hair and skin | - |
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| costochondritis | (noun) inflammation at the junction of a rib and its cartilage | - |
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| cotoneaster | (noun) any shrub of the genus Cotoneaster: erect or creeping shrubs having richly colored autumn foliage and many small white to pinkish flowers followed by tiny red or black fruits | - |
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| cotton | (noun) fabric woven from cotton fibers | - |
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| (noun) thread made of cotton fibers | - |
| (noun) erect bushy mallow plant or small tree bearing bolls containing seeds with many long hairy fibers | Synonyms: cotton plant |
| (noun) soft silky fibers from cotton plants in their raw state | Synonyms: cotton fiber, cotton wool |
| cottonmouth | (noun) venomous semiaquatic snake of swamps in southern United States | Synonyms: Agkistrodon piscivorus, cottonmouth moccasin, water moccasin |
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| cottonseed | (noun) seed of cotton plants; source of cottonseed oil | - |
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| cottontail | (noun) common small rabbit of North America having greyish or brownish fur and a tail with a white underside; a host for Ixodes pacificus and Ixodes scapularis (Lyme disease ticks) | Synonyms: cottontail rabbit, wood rabbit |
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| cottonweed | (noun) any of various plants of the genus Froelichia found in sandy soils and on rocky slopes in warmer regions of America; grown for their spikes of woolly white flowers | - |
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| (noun) an American everlasting having foliage with soft wooly hairs and corymbose heads with pearly white bracts | Synonyms: Anaphalis margaritacea, pearly everlasting |
| cottonwick | (noun) of warm Atlantic waters | Synonyms: Haemulon malanurum |
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| cottonwood | (noun) any of several North American trees of the genus Populus having a tuft of cottony hairs on the seed | - |
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| (noun) American basswood of the Allegheny region | Synonyms: Tilia heterophylla, white basswood |
| counterdemonstrator | (noun) someone who demonstrates in opposition to another demonstration | - |
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| countertop | (noun) the top side of a counter | - |
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| covetousness | (noun) reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins) | Synonyms: avarice, avaritia, greed, rapacity |
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| (noun) extreme greed for material wealth | Synonyms: avarice, avariciousness, cupidity |
| (noun) an envious eagerness to possess something | - |
| cowtown | (noun) a small town in a cattle-raising area of western North America | Synonyms: cow town |
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| craniotomy | (noun) a surgical opening through the skull | - |
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| craton | (noun) the part of a continent that is stable and forms the central mass of the continent; typically Precambrian | - |
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| creator | (noun) a person who grows or makes or invents things | - |
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| creditor | (noun) a person to whom money is owed by a debtor; someone to whom an obligation exists | - |
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| crematorium | (noun) a furnace where a corpse can be burned and reduced to ashes | Synonyms: cremation chamber, crematory |
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| (noun) a mortuary where corpses are cremated | Synonyms: crematory |
| crematory | (noun) a furnace where a corpse can be burned and reduced to ashes | Synonyms: cremation chamber, crematorium |
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| (noun) a mortuary where corpses are cremated | Synonyms: crematorium |
| cretonne | (noun) an unglazed heavy fabric; brightly printed; used for slipcovers and draperies | - |
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| cristobalite | (noun) a white mineral consisting of silica; found in volcanic rocks | - |
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| croton | (noun) tropical Asiatic shrub; source of croton oil | Synonyms: Croton tiglium |
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| (noun) grown in many varieties for their brightly colored foliage; widely cultivated as a houseplant | Synonyms: Codiaeum variegatum |
| crotonbug | (noun) small light-brown cockroach brought to United States from Europe; a common household pest | Synonyms: Blattella germanica, Croton bug, German cockroach, water bug |
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| crouton | (noun) a small piece of toasted or fried bread; served in soup or salads | - |
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| cryptobiosis | (noun) a state in which an animal's metabolic activities come to a reversible standstill | - |
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| cryptococcosis | (noun) a fungal infection characterized by nodular lesions--first in the lungs and spreading to the nervous system | - |
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| cryptocoryne | (noun) any plant of the genus Cryptocoryne; evergreen perennials growing in fresh or brackish water; tropical Asia | Synonyms: water trumpet |
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| cryptocurrency | (noun) a currency based on the usage of cryptography to secure transactions | - |
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| cryptogam | (noun) formerly recognized taxonomic group including all flowerless and seedless plants that reproduce by means of spores: ferns, mosses, algae, fungi | - |
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| cryptogram | (noun) a piece of writing in code or cipher | Synonyms: cryptograph, secret writing |
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| cryptograph | (noun) a device for deciphering codes and ciphers | - |
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| (noun) a piece of writing in code or cipher | Synonyms: cryptogram, secret writing |
| (noun) a secret method of writing | Synonyms: cipher, cypher, secret code |
| cryptographer | (noun) decoder skilled in the analysis of codes and cryptograms | Synonyms: cryptanalyst, cryptologist |
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| cryptography | (noun) act of writing in code or cipher | Synonyms: coding, secret writing, steganography |
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| (noun) the science of analyzing and deciphering codes and ciphers and cryptograms | Synonyms: cryptanalysis, cryptanalytics, cryptology |
| cryptologist | (noun) decoder skilled in the analysis of codes and cryptograms | Synonyms: cryptanalyst, cryptographer |
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| cryptology | (noun) the science of analyzing and deciphering codes and ciphers and cryptograms | Synonyms: cryptanalysis, cryptanalytics, cryptography |
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| cryptomonad | (noun) common in fresh and salt water appearing along the shore as algal blooms | Synonyms: cryptophyte |
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| cryptophyte | (noun) common in fresh and salt water appearing along the shore as algal blooms | Synonyms: cryptomonad |
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| cryptorchidism | (noun) failure of one or both testes to move into the scrotum as the male fetus develops | Synonyms: cryptorchidy, cryptorchism |
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| cryptorchidy | (noun) failure of one or both testes to move into the scrotum as the male fetus develops | Synonyms: cryptorchidism, cryptorchism |
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| cryptorchism | (noun) failure of one or both testes to move into the scrotum as the male fetus develops | Synonyms: cryptorchidism, cryptorchidy |
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| cultivator | (noun) a farm implement used to break up the surface of the soil (for aeration and weed control and conservation of moisture) | Synonyms: tiller |
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| (noun) someone concerned with the science or art or business of cultivating the soil | Synonyms: agriculturalist, agriculturist, grower, raiser |
| cunctator | (noun) someone who postpones work (especially out of laziness or habitual carelessness) | Synonyms: postponer, procrastinator |
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| curator | (noun) the custodian of a collection (as a museum or library) | Synonyms: conservator |
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| curatorship | (noun) the position of curator | - |
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| curbstone | (noun) a paving stone forming part of a curb | Synonyms: kerbstone |
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| custodian | (noun) one having charge of buildings or grounds or animals | Synonyms: keeper, steward |
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| custodianship | (noun) the position of custodian | - |
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| custody | (noun) holding by the police | - |
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| (noun) (with `in') guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child | Synonyms: hands |
| (noun) a state of being confined (usually for a short time) | Synonyms: detainment, detention, hold |
| custom | (noun) accepted or habitual practice | Synonyms: usage, usance |
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| (noun) habitual patronage | - |
| (noun) a specific practice of long standing | Synonyms: tradition |
| (noun) money collected under a tariff | Synonyms: customs, customs duty, impost |
| customariness | (noun) The state or quality of agreeing with, or being established by, custom or common usage. | - |
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| customer | (noun) someone who pays for goods or services | Synonyms: client |
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| customhouse | (noun) a government building where customs are collected and where ships are cleared to enter or leave the country | Synonyms: customshouse |
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| customs | (noun) money collected under a tariff | Synonyms: custom, customs duty, impost |
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| customshouse | (noun) a government building where customs are collected and where ships are cleared to enter or leave the country | Synonyms: customhouse |
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| cutoff | (noun) a route shorter than the usual one | Synonyms: crosscut, shortcut |
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| (noun) a device that terminates the flow in a pipe | - |
| (noun) a designated limit beyond which something cannot function or must be terminated | - |
| cutout | (noun) a part that is cut out or is intended to be cut out | - |
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| (noun) a photograph from which the background has been cut away | - |
| (noun) a switch that interrupts an electric circuit in the event of an overload | - |
| cyclostome | (noun) primitive aquatic vertebrate | - |
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| cystocele | (noun) hernia in which the urinary bladder protrudes through the wall of the vagina; sometimes occurs after childbirth | Synonyms: colpocystocele |
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| cystolith | (noun) a calculus formed in the bladder | Synonyms: bladder stone |
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| cystoparalysis | (noun) paralysis of the urinary bladder | Synonyms: cystoplegia |
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| cystoplegia | (noun) paralysis of the urinary bladder | Synonyms: cystoparalysis |
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| cytoarchitectonics | (noun) the cellular composition of a bodily structure | Synonyms: cytoarchitecture |
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| cytoarchitecture | (noun) the cellular composition of a bodily structure | Synonyms: cytoarchitectonics |
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| cytochrome | (noun) (biochemistry) a class of hemoprotein whose principal biological function is electron transfer (especially in cellular respiration) | - |
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| cytogenesis | (noun) the origin and development and variation of cells | Synonyms: cytogeny |
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| cytogeneticist | (noun) a geneticist who specializes in the cellular components associated with heredity | - |
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| cytogenetics | (noun) the branch of biology that studies the cellular aspects of heredity (especially the chromosomes) | - |
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| cytogeny | (noun) the origin and development and variation of cells | Synonyms: cytogenesis |
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| cytokine | (noun) any of various protein molecules secreted by cells of the immune system that serve to regulate the immune system | - |
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| cytokinesis | (noun) organic process consisting of the division of the cytoplasm of a cell following karyokinesis bringing about the separation into two daughter cells | - |
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| cytokinin | (noun) any of a class of plant hormones that promote cell division and delay the senescence of leaves | Synonyms: kinin |
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| cytol | (noun) the protoplasm of a cell excluding the nucleus; is full of proteins that control cell metabolism | Synonyms: cytoplasm |
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| cytologist | (noun) a biologist who studies the structure and function of cells | - |
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| cytology | (noun) the branch of biology that studies the structure and function of cells | - |
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| cytolysin | (noun) a substance that partly or completely destroys animal cells | - |
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| cytolysis | (noun) pathological breakdown of cells by the destruction of their outer membrane | - |
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| cytomegalovirus | (noun) any of a group of herpes viruses that enlarge epithelial cells and can cause birth defects; can affect humans with impaired immunological systems | Synonyms: CMV |
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| cytomembrane | (noun) a thin membrane (a double layer of lipids) enclosing the cytoplasm of a cell; proteins in the membrane control passage of ions (like sodium or potassium or calcium) in and out of the cell | Synonyms: cell membrane, plasma membrane |
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| cytopenia | (noun) a deficiency of some cellular element of the blood | - |
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| cytophotometer | (noun) a photometer that can be used to locate and identify chemical compounds in a cell by measuring the intensity of the light that passes through stained sections of the cytoplasm | - |
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| cytophotometry | (noun) the study of chemical compounds inside a cell by means of a cytophotometer | - |
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