16-letter words containing a, b, u, s, i
- lesbian cymatium — cyma reversa.
- liberal unionist — a Liberal who opposed Gladstone's policy of Irish Home Rule in 1886 and after
- library pictures — a caption used to alert viewers that footage being broadcast is from an earlier time and is not happening now
- like gangbusters — a law-enforcement officer who specializes in breaking up organized crime, often by forceful or sensational means.
- lumberjack shirt — a thick checked shirt, as worn by lumberjacks
- murasaki shikibu — Lady, 978?–1031? Japanese poet and novelist.
- nash equilibrium — (in game theory) a stable state of a system involving the interaction of two or more players in which no player can gain by a unilateral change of strategy if the strategies of the other players remain unchanged
- nitrous bacteria — bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrites in the soil
- paint-by-numbers — formulaic; showing no original thought or creativity
- paratuberculosis — Johne's disease.
- public relations — (used with a plural verb) the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc.
- public transport — fare-paying travel
- put in mothballs — to postpone work on (a project, activity, etc)
- questionableness — The state or condition of being questionable; dubiousness.
- rambunctiousness — difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous: a rambunctious child.
- rectus abdominis — a long flat muscle that extends along the whole length of both sides of the abdomen. It flexes the vertebral column, particularly the lumbar portion; it also tenses the anterior abdominal wall and assists in compressing the abdominal contents
- redistributional — a distribution performed again or anew.
- rich tea biscuit — any of various semisweet biscuits
- saint petersburg — Also called Russian Empire. Russian Rossiya. a former empire in E Europe and N and W Asia: overthrown by the Russian Revolution 1917. Capital: St. Petersburg (1703–1917).
- santiago de cuba — a region in Ecuador, E of the Andes: the border long disputed by Peru.
- scarborough lily — a plant, Vallota speciosa, of the amaryllis family, native to southern Africa, having clusters of funnel-shaped, scarlet flowers.
- schaumburg-lippe — a former state in NW Germany.
- security blanket — a blanket or other familiar item carried especially by a young child to provide reassurance and a feeling of psychological security.
- self-lubricating — to apply some oily or greasy substance to (a machine, parts of a mechanism, etc.) in order to diminish friction; oil or grease (something).
- self-lubrication — the process of becoming lubricated without external factors
- self-subjugation — the act, fact, or process of subjugating, or bringing under control; enslavement: The subjugation of the American Indians happened across the country.
- semantic tableau — a method of demonstrating the consistency or otherwise of a set of statements by constructing a diagrammatic representation of all the circumstances that satisfy the set of statements
- semisubterranean — half below the surface of the ground: the semisubterranean houses of some Indian tribes.
- sodium bisulfate — a colorless crystalline compound, NaHSO 4 , soluble in water: used in dyeing, in the manufacture of cement, paper, soap, and an acid-type cleaner.
- sodium carbonate — Also called soda ash. an anhydrous, grayish-white, odorless, water-soluble powder, Na 2 CO 3 , usually obtained by the Solvay process and containing about 1 percent of impurities consisting of sulfates, chlorides, and bicarbonates of sodium: used in the manufacture of glass, ceramics, soaps, paper, petroleum products, sodium salts, as a cleanser, for bleaching, and in water treatment.
- sodium perborate — a white, crystalline, water-soluble solid, NaBO 2 ⋅3H 2 O or NaBO 3 ⋅4H 2 O, used chiefly as a bleaching agent and antiseptic.
- sounding balloon — a balloon carrying instruments aloft to make atmospheric measurements, especially a radiosonde balloon.
- southern baptist — a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, founded in Augusta, Georgia, in 1845, that is strictly Calvinistic and active in religious publishing and education.
- spanish bluebell — a bulbous plant, Endymion hispanicus, of the lily family, native to Spain and Portugal, having blue, white, or pink, bell-shaped flowers.
- squeaky-bum time — the tense final matches in the race to a league championship, esp from the point of view of the leaders
- state-subsidized — partly paid for by the state; subsidized by the state
- subcartilaginous — partially or incompletely cartilaginous.
- subjectification — to make subjective.
- subliminal image — an image used in advertising, etc, that is too quick to be registered by the mind but is used to influence the viewer unconsciously
- sublingual gland — (in human beings) either of a pair of salivary glands situated beneath the tongue
- submarine chaser — a small patrol vessel, 100–200 feet (30–60 meters) long, designed for military operations against submarines.
- subordinationism — the doctrine that the first person of the Holy Trinity is superior to the second, and the second superior to the third.
- subsistence wage — the lowest wage upon which a worker and his or her family can survive
- substantia nigra — a deeply pigmented area of the midbrain containing dopamine-producing nerve cells.
- substantive rank — a permanent rank in the armed services obtained by length of service, selection, etc
- substitutability — a person or thing acting or serving in place of another.
- subtropical high — one of several highs, as the Azores and Pacific highs, that prevail over the oceans at latitudes of about 30 degrees N and S. Also called subtropical anticyclone. Compare high (def 37).
- sulfocarbanilide — thiocarbanilide.
- superserviceable — overly disposed to be of service; officious.
- take by surprise — to strike or occur to with a sudden feeling of wonder or astonishment, as through unexpectedness: Her beauty surprised me.