16-letter words containing a, b, u
- the subsidiariat — a collective term for the news sources that would not survive without being subsidized directly (by a government, etc), or indirectly (through sharing a parent company with another more profitable revenue source)
- the unobservable — something that cannot be observed
- the urban league — a civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States
- thumbnail sketch — small preliminary drawing
- tibetan buddhism — the form of Mahayana Buddhism that developed and is practiced primarily in Tibet and some nearby nations: its spiritual leader is the Dalai Lama
- tintinnabulation — the ringing or sound of bells.
- to cut both ways — If you say that something cuts both ways, you mean that it can have two opposite effects, or can have both good and bad effects.
- to mean business — If you say that someone means business, you mean they are serious and determined about what they are doing.
- to overabound in — to have or contain too large a quantity or number of something
- to pass the buck — If you pass the buck, you refuse to accept responsibility for something, and say that someone else is responsible.
- tobacco industry — business of selling smoking products
- trailing arbutus — Also called arbutus, mayflower. a creeping eastern North American plant, Epigaea repens, of the heath family, having leathery, oval leaves and terminal clusters of fragrant pink or white flowers.
- transport number — that fraction of the total electric current that anions and cations carry in passing through an electrolytic solution.
- transubstantiate — to change from one substance into another; transmute.
- tridarn cupboard — a Welsh cupboard of the late 17th and 18th centuries, with an open, canopied upper section for display.
- tungsten carbide — a very hard, black or gray compound of tungsten and carbon, used in the manufacture of cutting and abrasion tools, dies, and wear-resistant machine parts.
- turn a blind eye — pretend not to see sth
- turntable ladder — a power-operated extending ladder mounted on a fire engine
- twin-carburettor — (of an engine) having two carburettors
- typhoid bacillus — the bacterium Salmonella typhosa, causing typhoid fever.
- ultra-liberalism — extremely liberal, especially in politics.
- umbilical hernia — a hernia of the umbilicus.
- unaccomplishable — to bring to its goal or conclusion; carry out; perform; finish: to accomplish one's mission.
- unconfirmability — to establish the truth, accuracy, validity, or genuineness of; corroborate; verify: This report confirms my suspicions.
- uncontradictable — to assert the contrary or opposite of; deny directly and categorically.
- uncountable noun — An uncountable noun is the same as an uncount noun.
- uncountable-noun — a noun, as water, electricity, or happiness, that typically refers to an indefinitely divisible substance or an abstract notion, and that in English cannot be used, in such a sense, with the indefinite article or in the plural.
- under bare poles — (of a sailing vessel) with no sails set
- undifferentiable — capable of being differentiated.
- unenforceability — to put or keep in force; compel obedience to: to enforce a rule; Traffic laws will be strictly enforced.
- uniformed branch — the branch of a police force in which officers wear a uniform
- unimpressionable — easily impressed or influenced; susceptible: an impressionable youngster.
- uninhabitability — to live or dwell in (a place), as people or animals: Small animals inhabited the woods.
- unpredictability — not predictable; not to be foreseen or foretold: an unpredictable occurrence.
- unreasonableness — not reasonable or rational; acting at variance with or contrary to reason; not guided by reason or sound judgment; irrational: an unreasonable person.
- ununderstandable — capable of being understood; comprehensible.
- vapor combustion — Vapor combustion is a closed burn system used for treating liquid waste which contains volatile organic compounds.
- variable annuity — an annuity in which the premiums are invested chiefly in common stocks or other securities, the annuitant receiving payments based on the yield of the investments instead of in fixed amounts.
- vascular cambium — cambium.
- vegetable butter — any of various fixed vegetable fats resembling butter in consistency, as cocoa butter.
- verbal auxiliary — an auxiliary verb, especially when considered as a member of a separate class of words used with verbs rather than as a special subclass of verbs.
- vertebral column — spinal column.
- vestibular nerve — the part of the auditory nerve in the inner ear that carries sensory information related to body equilibrium.
- vocabulary entry — (in dictionaries) a word, phrase, abbreviation, symbol, affix, name, etc., listed with its definition or explanation in alphabetical order or listed for identification after the word from which it is derived or to which it is related.
- volunteer bureau — an agency that matches up people wishing to do voluntary work with appropriate voluntary organizations
- vulcanized fiber — a leatherlike substance made by compression of layers of paper or cloth that have been treated with acids or zinc chloride, used chiefly for electric insulation.
- wheelchair-bound — unable to walk through injury, illness, etc and relying on a wheelchair to move around
- woman about town — a socially active, sophisticated woman who frequents fashionable nightclubs, theaters, restaurants, etc.
- woodland caribou — a variety of caribou inhabiting the bogs and forests of eastern Canada, having large, palmate antlers.
- world bank group — the collective name for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, and the International Development Association, whose headquarters are all in Washington