16-letter words containing a, f, l, e
- larsen ice shelf — an ice barrier in Antarctica, in the NW Weddell Sea, on the E coast of the Antarctic Peninsula: first explored 1893.
- law of exponents — the theorem stating the elementary properties of exponents, as the property that the product of the same bases, each raised to an exponent, is equal to the base raised to the sum of the exponents: xa ⋅ xb = xa + b .
- lay oneself open — to make oneself vulnerable (to criticism, attack, etc)
- leaf-cutting ant — any of several tropical American ants of the genus Atta that cut and chew bits of leaves and flowers into a mash that they use to cultivate a fungus garden.
- leaf-cutting bee — any of the bees of the family Megachilidae that cut circular pieces from leaves or flowers to line their nests.
- leasehold reform — reform of the law relating to leasehold property
- least flycatcher — a small flycatcher, Empidonax minimus, of eastern North America.
- leave of absence — permission to be absent from duty, employment, service, etc.; leave.
- left parenthesis — (character) "(". ASCII character 40. Common names: left paren; left parenthesis; left; open; paren (")" = thesis); open paren; open parenthesis; left parenthesis; left banana. Rare: so (")" = already); lparen; ITU-T: opening parenthesis; open round bracket, left round bracket, INTERCAL: wax (")" = wane); parenthisey (")" = unparenthisey); left ear. Paired with right parenthesis (")").
- left-hand dagger — a dagger of the 16th and 17th centuries, held in the left hand in dueling and used to parry the sword of an opponent.
- letter of advice — a notification from a consignor to a consignee giving specific information as to a shipment, the name of the carrier, the date shipped, etc.
- letter of marque — license or commission granted by a state to a private citizen to capture and confiscate the merchant ships of another nation.
- life after death — If you talk about life after death, you are discussing the possibility that people may continue to exist in some form after they die.
- life-threatening — endangering life: a life-threatening illness.
- lignin sulfonate — a brown powder consisting of a sulfonate salt made from waste liquor of the sulfate pulping process of soft wood: used in concrete, leather tanning, as an additive in oil-well drilling mud, and as a source of vanillin.
- line of latitude — an imaginary line on a globe, map, etc, indicating latitude
- lissajous figure — the series of plane curves traced by an object executing two mutually perpendicular harmonic motions.
- littoral warfare — military combat conducted in coastal areas.
- lleu llaw gyffes — the son of Gwydion and Arianhrod, provided with a name, weapons, and a wife through the magic and trickery of Gwydion in spite of the curses of Arianhrod.
- louisiana french — French as spoken in Louisiana; Cajun. Abbreviation: LaF.
- lower california — Baja California.
- luck of the draw — the force that seems to operate for good or ill in a person's life, as in shaping circumstances, events, or opportunities: With my luck I'll probably get pneumonia.
- madame butterfly — an opera (1904) by Giacomo Puccini.
- make the fur fly — the fine, soft, thick, hairy coat of the skin of a mammal.
- man of the cloth — a clergyman or other ecclesiastic.
- man of the world — a man who is widely experienced in the ways of the world and people; an urbane, sophisticated man.
- managerial staff — staff in positions of management
- marsh cinquefoil — a variety of cinquefoil, Potentilla palustris, that grows in marshy areas
- matter-of-factly — adhering strictly to fact; not imaginative; prosaic; dry; commonplace: a matter-of-fact account of the political rally.
- matthew flinders — Matthew, 1774–1814, English navigator and explorer: surveyed coast of Australia.
- mayfield heights — a city in N Ohio, near Cleveland.
- medal of bravery — a Canadian award for courage
- medal of freedom — a former name of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
- mental defective — a person who suffers from a learning disability or from some form of mental illness
- metallofullerene — (chemistry) A fullerene containing an enclosed metal atom.
- mexican fruitfly — a brightly colored fly, Anastrepha ludens, whose larvae are a serious pest chiefly of citrus fruits and mangoes in Mexico, Central America, and southern Texas.
- microfilm reader — a machine that displays on a screen a magnified image of a microfilm
- milk of magnesia — a milky white suspension in water of magnesium hydroxide, Mg (OH) 2 , used as an antacid or laxative.
- modacrylic fiber — any of various synthetic copolymer textile fibers, as Dynel, containing less than 85 percent but more than 35 percent of acrylonitrile.
- modified-release — denoting a formulation of a medicinal drug taken orally that releases the active ingredients over several hours, in order to maintain a relatively constant plasma concentration of the drug
- monkey-faced owl — barn owl.
- multifariousness — (uncountable) The characteristic of being multifarious.
- multilinear form — a function or functional of several variables such that when all variables but one are held fixed, the function is linear in the remaining variable.
- multiple factors — polygene.
- no hard feelings — If you say ' no hard feelings', you are making an agreement with someone not to be angry or bitter about something.
- no-fault divorce — a divorce granted without anyone being found guilty of marital misconduct
- non-confidential — spoken, written, acted on, etc., in strict privacy or secrecy; secret: a confidential remark.
- non-quantifiable — to determine, indicate, or express the quantity of.
- non-transferable — to convey or remove from one place, person, etc., to another: He transferred the package from one hand to the other.
- nonfinite clause — a clause with a nonfinite verb or with no verb, as the hour being late in The hour being late, we left.