15-letter words containing a, c, i, e
- at short notice — Notice is used in expressions such as 'at short notice', 'at a moment's notice' or 'at twenty-four hours' notice', to indicate that something can or must be done within a short period of time.
- at your service — You can use 'at your service' after your name as a formal way of introducing yourself to someone and saying that you are willing to help them in any way you can.
- atherosclerosis — a degenerative disease of the arteries characterized by patchy thickening of the inner lining of the arterial walls, caused by deposits of fatty material; a form of arteriosclerosis
- atherosclerotic — Of, pertaining to, or afflicted with atherosclerosis.
- athletic sports — sports, esp track and field events, in which athleticism is required
- atlantic ridley — ridley (def 1).
- atlantic-ridley — ridley (def 1).
- atmospherically — pertaining to, existing in, or consisting of the atmosphere: atmospheric vapors.
- audience appeal — the quality of being attractive to an audience
- audience rating — a figure based on statistical sampling indicating what proportion of the total listening and viewing audience tune in to a specific programme or network
- audio frequency — a frequency in the range 20 hertz to 20 000 hertz. A sound wave of this frequency would be audible to the human ear
- audio recording — an electronic recording of sound
- audubon society — a North American organization devoted to the conservancy of birds
- authenticatable — to establish as genuine.
- authentications — Plural form of authentication.
- autocorrelation — the condition occurring when successive items in a series are correlated so that their covariance is not zero and they are not independent
- autocorrelative — Relating to autocorrelation.
- autodestructive — likely to cause one's own destruction
- automatic drive — an automotive transmission requiring either very little or no manual shifting of gears.
- automatic rifle — a type of light machine gun capable of firing automatically or in single shots.
- autoschediastic — offhand, with little forethought or preparation
- axiom of choice — the axiom of set theory that given any collection of disjoint sets, a set can be so constructed that it contains one element from each of the given sets.
- babinski effect — the reflex curling upwards of the toes (instead of inwards) when the sole of the foot is stroked, normal in infants below the age of two but a pathological condition in adults
- back plastering — the introduction of partitions of lath and plaster between the inner and outer surfaces of a stud wall in order to improve the insulating properties of the wall.
- back projection — a method of projecting pictures onto a translucent screen so that they are viewed from the opposite side, used esp in films to create the illusion that the actors in the foreground are moving
- backseat driver — If you refer to a passenger in a car as a backseat driver, they annoy you because they constantly give you advice about how to drive.
- baconian method — induction (def 4a).
- baconian theory — the theory attributing the authorship of Shakespeare's plays to Francis Bacon.
- bacterial ghost — a bacterial cell that is emptied and filled artificially with another substance
- bacteriological — Of or relating to bacteriology or bacteria.
- bacteriophagous — Pertaining to the predation and consumption of bacterium.
- baggage reclaim — the process of passengers' getting back the baggage that they have checked in for a flight
- balanced ticket — a slate of candidates chosen to appeal to a wide range of voters, especially by including members of large regional, ethnic, or religious groups.
- baltic exchange — a group of companies, based in London, which engages in trading activities, esp chartering cargo vessels
- banana republic — Small, poor countries that are politically unstable are sometimes referred to as banana republics.
- barcelona chair — an armless, padded leather chair on a steel frame shaped like a curved X: Barcelona is a trademark for this chair
- bargain counter — a store counter on which goods are displayed for sale at reduced prices
- barium chloride — a poisonous compound, BaCl2, consisting of flat white crystals that are soluble in water: it is used to treat water, metals, leather, etc.
- barium chromate — a yellow, crystalline compound, BaCrO 4 , used as a pigment (barium yellow)
- barley sandwich — a drink of beer, esp at lunch time
- barn conversion — the adaptation of a farm barn into a building serving a different use, such as a house or commercial premises
- barycentrically — In a barycentric manner.
- basic anhydride — a compound formed by removing water from a more complex compound: an oxide of a nonmetal (acid anhydride) or a metal (basic anhydride) that forms an acid or a base, respectively, when united with water.
- basic autocoder — Early system on IBM 7070. Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959).
- basic education — (in India) education in which all teaching is correlated with the learning of a craft
- basic statement — protocol (def 6).
- basidiomycetous — belonging or pertaining to the basidiomycetes.
- bateau neckline — a wide, high neckline that follows the curve of the collarbone and ends in points on the shoulder seams.
- bathing costume — A bathing costume is a piece of clothing that is worn for swimming, especially by women and girls.
- bathing machine — a small hut, on wheels so that it could be pulled to the sea, used in the 18th and 19th centuries for bathers to change their clothes