16-letter words containing a, n, o, e, s
- to pay dividends — If something pays dividends, it brings advantages at a later date.
- to rest in peace — If you express the wish that a dead person may rest in peace, you are showing respect and sympathy for him or her. 'Rest in peace' or 'RIP' is also sometimes written on gravestones.
- to spend a penny — If someone says that they are going to spend a penny, they mean that they are going to go to the toilet.
- to waste no time — If you waste no time in doing something, you take the opportunity to do it immediately or quickly.
- topical-sentence — a sentence that expresses the essential idea of a paragraph or larger section, usually appearing at the beginning.
- topsail schooner — a sailing vessel fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts with square sails above the foresail, and often with a square sail before the foresail.
- trail one's coat — to invite a quarrel by deliberately provocative behaviour
- transconductance — the ratio of a small change in anode current of an electron tube at a certain level of output to the corresponding small change of control-electrode voltage, usually expressed in mhos or micromhos.
- transcontinental — passing or extending across a continent: a transcontinental railroad.
- transfer company — a company that transports people or luggage for a relatively short distance, as between terminals of two railroad lines.
- transfer molding — a method of molding thermosetting plastic in which the plastic enters a closed mold from an adjoining chamber in which it has been softened.
- transfer station — a place where residential garbage and commercial wastes are compressed, baled, and loaded on vehicles for moving to disposal sites, as for landfill.
- transmethylation — the transfer of a methyl group from one compound to another.
- transpeptidation — the process of transferring an amino acid or group of amino acids from one compound to another.
- transport number — that fraction of the total electric current that anions and cations carry in passing through an electrolytic solution.
- transport police — the national police force for railways in Britain, which protects rail operators, staff and passengers
- transverse colon — the middle portion of the colon, lying across the upper abdominal cavity between the ascending colon on the right and the descending colon on the left.
- trial separation — an experimental period of living apart
- trim one's sails — an area of canvas or other fabric extended to the wind in such a way as to transmit the force of the wind to an assemblage of spars and rigging mounted firmly on a hull, raft, iceboat, etc., so as to drive it along.
- triple-expansion — noting a power source, especially a steam engine, using the same fluid at three successive stages of expansion to do work in three or more cylinders.
- unaccomplishable — to bring to its goal or conclusion; carry out; perform; finish: to accomplish one's mission.
- uncinate process — a curved, bony process on certain ribs of birds that projects backward and overlaps the succeeding rib, serving to strengthen the thorax.
- unconversational — of, relating to, or characteristic of conversation: a conversational tone of voice.
- under bare poles — (of a sailing vessel) with no sails set
- undercompensated — to compensate or pay less than is fair, customary, or expected.
- unimpressionable — easily impressed or influenced; susceptible: an impressionable youngster.
- universalization — to make universal.
- unostentatiously — (of a person) in a manner that is not trying to impress people with one's wealth or importance
- unreasonableness — not reasonable or rational; acting at variance with or contrary to reason; not guided by reason or sound judgment; irrational: an unreasonable person.
- up to one's ears — the organ of hearing and equilibrium in vertebrates, in humans consisting of an external ear that gathers sound vibrations, a middle ear in which the vibrations resonate against the tympanic membrane, and a fluid-filled internal ear that maintains balance and that conducts the tympanic vibrations to the auditory nerve, which transmits them as impulses to the brain.
- upside-down cake — a cake that is baked on a layer of fruit, then turned before serving so that the fruit is on top.
- upsilon particle — the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet (Υ, υ).
- vancouver island — an island of SW Canada, off the SW coast of British Columbia: separated from the Canadian mainland by the Strait of Georgia and Queen Charlotte Sound, and from the US mainland by Juan de Fuca Strait; the largest island off the W coast of North America. Chief town: Victoria. Pop: 706 243 (2001). Area: 32 137 sq km (12 408 sq miles)
- vasoconstrictive — causing vasoconstriction.
- vegetable sponge — loofah (def 2).
- velcro fastening — a fastening made of Velcro
- venus and adonis — a narrative poem (1593) by Shakespeare.
- victorian values — qualities considered to characterize the Victorian period, including enterprise and initiative and the importance of the family
- video journalism — the techniques, methods, etc., of preparing and broadcasting informational, social, political, and other nonfiction subjects via news and documentary programs.
- vienna secession — thea Viennese movement of the late 19th and early 20th cent. in the arts and architecture, that rejected prevailing academic styles in favor of these of art nouveau
- voluntary muscle — muscle whose action is normally controlled by an individual's will; mainly skeletal muscle, composed of parallel bundles of striated, multinucleate fibers.
- voluntary sector — the part of the economy that consists of non-profit-making organizations, as opposed to the public and private sectors
- war of secession — American Civil War.
- warminster broom — a European shrub, Cytisus praecox, of the legume family, having yellowish-white or yellow, pealike flowers.
- wash one's hands — to go to the lavatory
- washington state — the state of Washington, especially as distinguished from Washington, D.C.
- watch one's step — a movement made by lifting the foot and setting it down again in a new position, accompanied by a shifting of the weight of the body in the direction of the new position, as in walking, running, or dancing.
- watson-wentworth — Charles, 2nd Marquis of Rockingham [rok-ing-uh m] /ˈrɒk ɪŋ əm/ (Show IPA), 1730–82, British statesman: prime minister 1765–66, 1782.
- well-compensated — to recompense for something: They gave him ten dollars to compensate him for his trouble.
- white sandalwood — the fragrant heartwood of any of certain Asian trees of the genus Santalum, used for ornamental carving and burned as incense.