17-letter words containing a, c, e, s, b
- gamblers' fallacy — the fallacy that in a series of chance events the probability of one event occurring increases with the number of times another event has occurred in succession
- get one's back up — the rear part of the human body, extending from the neck to the lower end of the spine.
- hard-shelled crab — a crab, esp. an edible sea crab, before it has shed its hard shell
- hasbrouck heights — a borough in NE New Jersey.
- herbaceous border — A herbaceous border is a flower bed containing a mixture of plants that flower every year.
- high-carbon steel — steel containing between 0.5 and 1.5 per cent carbon
- histamine blocker — any of various substances that act at a specific receptor site to block certain actions of histamine.
- hubble's constant — the ratio of the recessional velocity of galaxies to their distance from the sun, with current measurements of its value ranging from 50 to 100 km/sec per megaparsec.
- hyperbolic secant — a hyperbolic function that is the reciprocal of cosh; sech
- hyperbolic spiral — rθ = a, (where a is a constant)
- impracticableness — The state of being impracticable; impracticability.
- incompatibilities — not compatible; unable to exist together in harmony: She asked for a divorce because they were utterly incompatible.
- inconceivableness — The quality of being inconceivable.
- indescribableness — The quality of being indescribable.
- insectivorous bat — any bat of the suborder Microchiroptera, typically having large ears and feeding on insects. The group includes common bats (Myotis species), vampire bats, etc
- instance variable — (programming) In object-oriented programming, one of the variables of a class template which may have a different value for each object of that class. Instance variables hold the state of an object.
- invisible balance — the difference in value between total exports of services plus payment of property incomes from abroad and total imports of services plus payment abroad of property incomes
- irrecoverableness — The quality of being irrecoverable.
- job specification — a detailed description of the qualifications, skills, and experience required for a particular post of employment
- kendal sneck bent — a fishhook having a wide, squarish bend.
- liberal democrats — (in Britain) a political party with centrist policies; established in 1988 as the Social and Liberal Democrats when the Liberal Party merged with the Social Democratic Party; renamed Liberal Democrats in 1989
- malagasy republic — former name of Madagascar.
- massachusetts bay — an inlet of the Atlantic, off the E coast of Massachusetts.
- microdermabrasion — A cosmetic treatment in which the face is sprayed with exfoliant crystals to remove dead epidermal cells.
- nuclear submarine — undersea vessel powered by atomic energy
- objectionableness — The quality of being objectionable.
- on someone's back — criticizing or pestering someone
- on the pig's back — successful; established
- opisthobranchiate — (zoology) Of or pertaining to the Opisthobranchiata.
- outside broadcast — An outside broadcast is a radio or television programme that is not recorded or filmed in a studio, but in another building or in the open air.
- paleobiochemistry — the study of biochemical processes that occurred in fossil life forms.
- passive obedience — unquestioning obedience to authority
- performance bonus — a monetary bonus paid to staff who have performed well in their job
- pitot-static tube — a device combining a Pitot tube with a static tube: used to measure airspeed.
- pocket battleship — a small heavily armed and armored warship serving as a battleship because of limitations imposed by treaty.
- positive feedback — Electronics. the process of returning part of the output of a circuit, system, or device to the input, either to oppose the input (negative feedback) or to aid the input (positive feedback) acoustic feedback.
- postbaccalaureate — bachelor's degree.
- pressurized cabin — the cabin of an aircraft in which the air has been pressurized
- pseudo-biological — pertaining to biology.
- public assistance — government aid to the poor, disabled, or aged or to dependent children, as financial assistance or food stamps.
- purple shore crab — any of numerous crabs that live along the shoreline between the tidemarks, as Hemigrapsus nudus (purple shore crab) of the Pacific coast of North America.
- quarterback sneak — a play in which the quarterback charges into the middle of the line, usually immediately after receiving the ball from the center.
- rack one's brains — to strain in mental effort, esp to remember something or to find the solution to a problem
- red-backed shrike — a common Eurasian shrike, Lanius collurio, the male of which has a grey crown and rump, brown wings and back, and a black-and-white face
- sandro botticelli — Sandro [san-droh,, sahn-;; Italian sahn-draw] /ˈsæn droʊ,, ˈsɑn-;; Italian ˈsɑn drɔ/ (Show IPA), (Alessandro di Mariano dei Filipepi) 1444?–1510, Italian painter.
- saxe-coburg-gotha — a member of the present British royal family, from the establishment of the house in 1901 until 1917 when the family name was changed to Windsor.
- scrape the barrel — to be forced to use one's last and weakest resource
- second balkan war — Balkan War (def 2).
- secondary battery — storage battery.
- secondary boycott — a boycott by union members against their employer in order to induce the employer to bring pressure on another company involved in a labor dispute with the union.