16-letter words containing a, e, n, o, u
- norwegian buhund — a slightly-built medium-sized dog of a breed with erect pointed ears and a short thick tail carried curled over its back
- nuclear emulsion — a photographic emulsion in the form of a thick block, used to record the tracks of elementary particles.
- nuclear envelope — the double membrane surrounding the nucleus within a cell.
- nuclear magneton — a unit of magnetic moment, used to measure proton spin and approximately equal to 1/1836 Bohr magneton.
- nuclear reaction — reaction (def 8).
- nucleophilically — In a nucleophilic manner.
- nueva ocotepeque — a town in W Honduras.
- numbered account — a bank account whose owner is identified by a number for the purpose of preserving anonymity.
- nusslein-volhard — Christiane [kris-tee-ah-nuh,, kris-tyah-] /ˌkrɪs tiˈɑ nə,, krɪsˈtyɑ-/ (Show IPA), born 1942, German biologist: Nobel prize 1995.
- oblique triangle — any triangle that does not have a right angle (contrasted with right triangle).
- oblique zenithal — a type of map projection in which part of the earth's surface is projected onto a plane tangential to it between the poles and the equator
- obsequent stream — a stream flowing in a direction opposite to that of the dip of the local strata.
- occupation layer — (on an archaeological site) a layer of remains left by a single culture, from which the culture can be dated or identified.
- of human bondage — a novel (1915) by W. Somerset Maugham.
- of the nature of — having the essential character of; like
- on the up and up — to, toward, or in a more elevated position: to climb up to the top of a ladder.
- on the up-and-up — to, toward, or in a more elevated position: to climb up to the top of a ladder.
- onboard computer — onboard a vehicle, ship, plane, train or spacecraft
- once upon a time — at one time in the past; formerly: I was a farmer once; a once powerful nation.
- one's cup of tea — the dried and prepared leaves of a shrub, Camellia sinensis, from which a somewhat bitter, aromatic beverage is prepared by infusion in hot water.
- one-way function — (cryptography, mathematics) A function which is easy to compute but whose inverse is very difficult to compute. Such functions have important applications in cryptography, specifically in public-key cryptography. See also: trapdoor function.
- oneida community — a society of religious perfectionists established by John Humphrey Noyes, in 1848 at Oneida, N.Y., on the theory that sin can be eliminated through social reform: dissolved and reorganized in 1881 as a joint-stock company.
- online thesaurus — a thesaurus or dictionary of words with the same or nearly the same meanings, or synonyms, and their opposites, or antonyms, such as Thesaurus.com, available on the Internet or the World Wide Web, accessed through a web browser, and used by entering a query term into a search box on the site. An online thesaurus provides immediate electronic access to lists of alternate terms for the queried word, covering its various shades of meaning: This online thesaurus showed me that smart, as an adjective, not only means intelligent, but also stylish, or lively, and gave long lists of other words for each meaning.
- open punctuation — punctuation characterized by sparing use of stops, esp of the comma
- operating budget — money allocated to a project
- operating manual — a leaflet of instructions on how to use something (such as an electrical appliance, etc)
- ordinary jubilee — the celebration of any of certain anniversaries, as the twenty-fifth (silver jubilee) fiftieth (golden jubilee) or sixtieth or seventy-fifth (diamond jubilee)
- organized labour — labour carried out by workers in trade unions, or the workers themselves
- osculating plane — the plane containing the circle of curvature of a point on a given curve.
- ostentatiousness — characterized by or given to pretentious or conspicuous show in an attempt to impress others: an ostentatious dresser.
- out on one's ear — dismissed unceremoniously
- outsmart oneself — to have one's efforts at cunning or cleverness result in one's own disadvantage
- over-communicate — to impart knowledge of; make known: to communicate information; to communicate one's happiness.
- over-cultivation — the act or art of cultivating.
- over-speculation — the contemplation or consideration of some subject: to engage in speculation on humanity's ultimate destiny.
- overaccumulation — Accumulation of too much.
- overcautiousness — the quality or state of being too cautious, wary, or careful
- overenthusiastic — full of or characterized by enthusiasm; ardent: He seems very enthusiastic about his role in the play.
- overurbanization — the act or fact of urbanizing, or taking on the characteristics of a city: Urbanization has led to more air pollution and increasing childhood asthma.
- oxidation number — the state of an element or ion in a compound with regard to the electrons gained or lost by the element or ion in the reaction that formed the compound, expressed as a positive or negative number indicating the ionic charge of the element or ion.
- pacific sturgeon — a dark gray sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus, inhabiting marine and fresh waters along the northwestern coast of North America, valued as a food and sport fish.
- pairs tournament — an event in a sport such as tennis or darts open to pairs of competitors
- panel discussion — a formal discussion before an audience for which the topic, speakers, etc., have been selected in advance.
- paterson's curse — a purple-flowered noxious plant, Echium plantagineum, a close relative of viper's bugloss, naturalized in Australia and NZ where its harmfulness to livestock has prompted attempts to limit its spread
- pentothal sodium — thiopental sodium
- perpetual motion — the motion of a theoretical mechanism that, without any losses due to friction or other forms of dissipation of energy, would continue to operate indefinitely at the same rate without any external energy being applied to it.
- personal pronoun — any one of the pronouns used to refer to the speaker, or to one or more to or about whom or which he or she is speaking, as, in English, I, we, you, he, she, it, they.
- personal tuition — private tuition
- personality cult — deliberately cultivated adulation of a person, esp a political leader
- phase modulation — radio transmission in which the carrier wave is modulated by changing its phase to transmit the amplitude and pitch of the signal.