14-letter words containing a, b, o, i
- anti-bourgeois — opposed to anyone or anything considered bourgeois
- antibiotically — in an antibiotic manner
- antilock brake — a brake fitted to some road vehicles that prevents skidding and improves control by sensing and compensating for overbraking
- antimetabolite — any drug that acts by disrupting the normal growth of a cell. Sulfonamide drugs are antimetabolites and some antimetabolites are used in cancer treatment
- antimicrobials — Plural form of antimicrobial.
- antisubversion — opposed to or acting against subversion
- antithrombotic — preventing the formation of blood clots
- arabian coffee — a tall, widely cultivated shrub (Coffea arabica) of the madder family, yielding coffee beans that are the world's chief source of commercially produced coffee: native to Africa but now present throughout the tropics, esp. in Brazil
- arboricultural — Of or pertaining to the care, planting and maintenance of trees.
- archbishoprics — Plural form of archbishopric.
- arrivals board — a board showing the time of arrival of planes, trains or buses
- art exhibition — an exhibition of works of art such as pictures
- assembly point — a designated place where people have been told to wait after evacuating a building in the event of a fire or other emergency
- associableness — The state or quality of being associable.
- astrobiologist — a person who studies astrobiology
- atomic orbital — Physics, Chemistry. a wave function describing the state of a single electron in an atom (atomic orbital) or in a molecule (molecular orbital) the electron in that state.
- auction bridge — a variety of bridge, now generally superseded by contract bridge, in which all the tricks made score towards the game
- autoantibodies — Plural form of autoantibody.
- autobiographer — a person who writes the story of his or her own life
- autobiographic — marked by or dealing with one's own experiences or life history; of or in the manner of an autobiography: autobiographical material; an autobiographical novel.
- aviation badge — wings.
- aviation-badge — Also called aviation badge. Military Informal. a badge bearing the image of a spread pair of bird's wings with a distinctive center design, awarded to an aircrewman on completion of certain requirements.
- babbling brook — a cook
- babbling error — (networking) An Ethernet node attempting to transmit more than 1518 data bytes - the largest allowed Ethernet packet. This is why the Maximum Transmission Unit for IP traffic on Ethernet is 1500.
- back formation — the invention of a new word on the assumption that a familiar word is derived from it. The verbs edit and burgle were so created from editor and burglar
- back to basics — If you talk about getting back to basics, you are suggesting that people have become too concerned with complicated details or new theories, and that they should concentrate on simple, important ideas or activities.
- back-formation — the analogical creation of one word from another word that appears to be a derived or inflected form of the first by dropping the apparent affix or by modification.
- back-to-basics — stressing simplicity and adherence to fundamental principles: The movement suggests a back-to-basics approach to living for those whose lives have become complicated.
- backing vocals — a vocal accompaniment for a pop singer
- backside-front — backend-to.
- bacteriologist — a branch of microbiology dealing with the identification, study, and cultivation of bacteria and with their applications in medicine, agriculture, industry, and biotechnology.
- bacteriophages — Plural form of bacteriophage.
- bacteriostasis — inhibition of the growth and reproduction of bacteria, esp by the action of a chemical agent
- bacteriostatic — the prevention of the further growth of bacteria.
- ball indicator — a flight instrument that measures the angle of roll about an aircraft's horizontal axis, thereby indicating whether or not the aircraft is skidding or slipping.
- ballon d'essai — a project or policy put forward experimentally to gauge reactions to it
- ballot rigging — Ballot rigging is the act of illegally changing the result of an election by producing a false record of the number of votes.
- balm of gilead — any of several trees of the burseraceous genus Commiphora, esp C. opobalsamum of Africa and W Asia, that yield a fragrant oily resin
- balm-of-gilead — any of several plants of the genus Commiphora, especially C. opobalsamum and C. meccanensis, which yield a fragrant oleoresin.
- balsaminaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Balsaminaceae, a family of flowering plants, including balsam and touch-me-not, that have irregular flowers and explosive capsules
- baltimore chop — a batted ball that takes a high bounce upon hitting the ground on or immediately in front of home plate, often enabling the batter to reach first base safely.
- balto-slavonic — a hypothetical subfamily of Indo-European languages consisting of Baltic and Slavonic. It is now generally believed that similarities between them result from geographical proximity rather than any special relationship
- bamboo curtain — (esp in the 1950s and 1960s) the political and military barrier to communications around the People's Republic of China
- bamboo turning — turning of spindles and framing members to simulate the jointing of bamboo.
- bancroft prize — one of a group of annual awards for literary achievement in American history and biography: administered by Columbia University.
- bang to rights — caught red-handed
- baptismal font — a large bowl for baptismal water, usually mounted on a pedestal
- baptismal vows — the solemn promises made during baptism, either by the person baptized or by his or her sponsors
- baranof island — an island off SE Alaska, in the western part of the Alexander Archipelago. Area: 4162 sq km (1607 sq miles)
- barbados pride — Also called bead tree. a tropical African and Asian tree, Adenanthera pavonina, of the legume family, having feathery foliage and bearing red seeds that are used in beadwork.