15-letter words containing a, d, r, e
- 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
- auditor general — (in Canada) a federal official responsible for auditing government departments and making an annual report
- auf wiedersehen — goodbye, until we see each other again
- augmented roman — a writing system based on an expanded English alphabet, consisting of 43 characters representing different phonemes of spoken English, used for teaching beginners to read. Abbreviation: I.T.A., i.t.a.
- autodestructive — likely to cause one's own destruction
- automatic drive — an automotive transmission requiring either very little or no manual shifting of gears.
- autotetraploidy — the generation of the tetraploid state, created by the fusing of two nuclei from the same species
- azerty keyboard — a common European version of typewriter keyboard layout with the characters a, z, e, r, t, and y positioned on the top row of alphabetic characters at the left side of the keyboard
- azobisformamide — (chemistry) azodicarbonamide.
- 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.
- bad housekeeper — a person who is not an efficient and thrifty domestic manager
- baggage handler — a person who moves baggage onto and off planes at an airport
- balanced rudder — a rudder so designed that the center of water pressure on the forward face, when turned, lies about halfway along the length, minimizing the turning effort required.
- ballroom dancer — a person who participates in ballroom dancing
- banded anteater — an Australian marsupial, Myrmecobius fasciatus, feeding on termites and having the body marked with whitish transverse bars: nearly extinct.
- bandpass filter — A bandpass filter is a filter designed to pass all frequencies within a band of frequencies.
- bandstop filter — A bandstop filter is a filter designed to eliminate all frequencies within a band of frequencies.
- banner headline — A banner headline is a large headline in a newspaper that stretches across the front page.
- bar-code reader — an electronic machine that scans and reads bar codes
- barefoot doctor — (esp in developing countries) a worker trained as a medical auxiliary in a rural area who dispenses medicine, gives first aid, assists at childbirth, etc
- 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 peroxide — a gray-white powder, BaO2, used as a bleach and in making hydrogen peroxide
- barley sandwich — a drink of beer, esp at lunch time
- barn-door skate — an Atlantic skate, Raja laevis, that grows to a length of 4 feet (1.2 meters) or more.
- 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).
- basse-normandie — a region of NW France, on the English Channel: consists of the Cherbourg peninsula in the west rising to the Normandy hills in the east; mainly agricultural
- battle hardened — toughened by the experience of battle
- be carried away — to be moved to great or unreasoning emotion or enthusiasm
- beach goldenrod — a composite plant, Solidago sempervirens, of eastern and southern North America, having a thick stem and large, branched, one-sided terminal clusters of yellow flowers, flourishing on sea beaches or salt marshes.
- bearded vulture — lammergeier
- beast of burden — A beast of burden is an animal such as an ox or a donkey that is used for carrying or pulling things.
- bedtime reading — a book, magazine etc read at bedtime
- belt-and-braces — providing double security, in case one security measure should fail
- ben day process — a method of adding texture, shading, or detail to line drawings by overlaying a transparent sheet of dots or any other pattern during platemaking
- benedict arnold — Benedict, 1741–1801, American general in the Revolutionary War who became a traitor.
- benzal chloride — a colorless, oily liquid, C 7 H 6 Cl 2 , used chiefly in the synthesis of benzaldehyde, and in the manufacture of dyes.
- beside the mark — not striking the point aimed at
- beta-adrenergic — pertaining to or involving beta receptors
- bidirectionally — in a bidirectional manner
- big sandy creek — a river in central Colorado, flowing NE and SE to the Arkansas River near Lamar: site of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre. 200 miles (322 km) long.
- bilateral trade — a system of trading between two countries in which each country attempts to balance its trade with that of the other
- birch partridge — ruffed grouse
- bird of passage — If you refer to someone as a bird of passage, you mean that they are staying in a place for a short time before going to another place.
- black horehound — a hairy unpleasant-smelling chiefly Mediterranean plant, Ballota nigra, having clusters of purple flowers: family Lamiaceae (labiates)
- bladder campion — a European caryophyllaceous plant, Silene vulgaris, having white flowers with an inflated calyx
- blank cartridge — a cartridge containing powder but no bullet: used in battle practice or as a signal
- blasting powder — a form of gunpowder made with sodium nitrate instead of saltpeter, used chiefly for blasting rock, ore, etc.