17-letter words containing a, l, i, m
- trailing geranium — an ivy-leaved variety of geranium, Pelargonium peltatum
- transcendentalism — transcendental character, thought, or language.
- transmission line — a system of conductors, as coaxial cable, a wave guide, or a pair of parallel wires, used to transmit signals.
- triangular matrix — a square matrix in which either all the entries above the principal diagonal, or all the entries below the principal diagonal, are zero.
- tridimensionality — having three dimensions.
- tropical aquarium — an aquarium designed for the maintenance and breeding of tropical fish and kept at a suitably warm temperature.
- tropical maritime — a type of warm, wet air mass originating at low latitudes over ocean areas
- tropical medicine — the branch of medicine dealing with the study and treatment of diseases occurring in the tropics.
- trucial sheikdoms — an independent federation in E Arabia, formed in 1971, now comprising seven emirates on the S coast (formerly, Pirate Coast or Trucial Coast) of the Persian Gulf, formerly under British protection: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah (joined 1972), and Fujairah. About 32,300 sq. mi. (83,657 sq. km). Capital: Abu Dhabi. Abbreviation: U.A.E.
- ultimate strength — the quantity of the utmost tensile, compressive, or shearing stress that a given unit area of a certain material is expected to bear without failing.
- ultrametamorphism — metamorphism during which the temperature of a rock exceeds its melting point.
- ultramicrobalance — a balance for weighing precisely, to a hundredth of a microgram or less, minute quantities of material.
- uncircumscribable — to draw a line around; encircle: to circumscribe a city on a map.
- uncle tom's cabin — an antislavery novel (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
- uncompassionately — having or showing compassion: a compassionate person; a compassionate letter.
- unipalm group plc — (company) A company floated in March 1994.
- universal grammar — a grammar that attempts to establish the properties and constraints common to all possible human languages.
- unprofessionalism — not professional; not pertaining to or characteristic of a profession.
- unsympathetically — in a manner that is not characterized by feeling or showing sympathy
- urogenital system — the urinary tract and reproductive organs
- utopian socialism — (sometimes initial capital letter) an economic system based on the premise that if capital voluntarily surrendered its ownership of the means of production to the state or the workers, unemployment and poverty would be abolished.
- valetudinarianism — the state, condition, or habits of a valetudinarian.
- van diemen's land — former name of Tasmania.
- variable-geometry — denoting an aircraft in which the wings are hinged to give the variable aspect ratio colloquially known as a swing-wing
- varix lymphaticus — a similar condition affecting an artery or lymphatic vessel
- velaric airstream — a current of mouth air produced by the action of the tongue, operant in forming click sounds.
- vertical mobility — movement from one social level to a higher one (upward mobility) or a lower one (downward mobility) as by changing jobs or marrying.
- vestibular system — the sensory mechanism in the inner ear that detects movement of the head and helps to control balance
- victor emmanuel i — 1759–1824, king of Sardinia 1802–21.
- village community — an early form of community organization in which land belonged to the village, the arable land being allotted to the members or households of the community by more or less permanent arrangements and the waste or excess land remaining undivided.
- visually impaired — (of a person) having reduced vision so severe as to constitute a handicap.
- vitamin b complex — an important group of water-soluble vitamins containing vitamin B 1 , vitamin B 2 , etc.
- wade-giles system — a system of Romanization of Chinese, devised by Sir Thomas Francis Wade (1818–95) and adapted by Herbert Allen Giles (1845–1935), widely used in representing Chinese words and names in English, especially before the adoption of pinyin.
- walk-in apartment — a ground-floor apartment having a private entrance directly from the street, rather than through a hallway of the building.
- wallowa mountains — a mountain range in NE Oregon. Highest peak, Sacajawea Peak, 9838 feet (2999 meters).
- war establishment — the full wartime complement of men, equipment, and vehicles of a military unit
- water lily family — the plant family Nymphaeaceae, characterized by aquatic herbaceous plants having usually broad leaves, solitary, often showy flowers, and fruit in a variety of forms, and including the lotus (genus Nelumbo), spatterdock, water lily, and water shield.
- welfare economics — a branch of economics concerned with improving human welfare and social conditions chiefly through the optimum distribution of wealth, the relief or reduction of unemployment, etc.
- well-accomplished — completed; done; effected: an accomplished fact.
- well-woman clinic — a health-service clinic for preventive monitoring, health education, and advice for women
- welsh nationalism — the political belief that Wales should be independent
- white-nationalism — white supremacy.
- william shoemaker — William Lee ("Willie") 1931–2003, U.S. jockey.
- williams syndrome — an abnormality in the genes involved in calcium metabolism, resulting in learning difficulties
- wire entanglement — a barbed-wire obstacle, usually mounted on posts and zigzagged back and forth along a front, designed to channel, delay, or halt an advance by enemy foot soldiers.
- withdrawal method — a method of contraception in which the man withdraws his penis from the woman's vagina before ejaculation
- wrangell-mountain — Mount, an active volcano in SE Alaska, in the Wrangell Mountains. 14,006 feet (4269 meters).
- yellow journalism — a color like that of egg yolk, ripe lemons, etc.; the primary color between green and orange in the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 570 and 590 nm.
- yield the palm to — to acknowledge the superiority of; admit to defeat by
- yield to maturity — The yield to maturity of a bond is the rate of return on the bond if it is held to its maturity date.