14-letter words containing a, p, n
- assemblyperson — a member of a legislative assembly, especially a member of the lower house of the legislature in certain states of the U.S.
- assistantships — Plural form of assistantship.
- asthenospermia — (medicine) Loss or reduction in the strength or energy of sperm cells, hence infertility. Not always infertile many are subfertile.
- asthenospermic — (medicine) Characterised by or pertaining to asthenospermia, hence infertile.
- asthenospheric — relating to the asthenosphere
- at knife-point — under threat of being stabbed
- at one's peril — If you say that someone does something at their peril, you are warning them that they will probably suffer as a result of doing it.
- attention span — the period of time during which someone's attention is held by something in particular
- audio response — a computer response that is audible rather than textual or graphical
- auspiciousness — The state or quality of being auspicious or successful.
- autoresponders — Plural form of autoresponder.
- autotransplant — autograft.
- avoidance play — a play by the declarer designed to prevent a particular opponent from taking the lead.
- back-pedalling — a retreat from or a retraction of a previously held view
- backflap hinge — Building Trades. flap (def 20a).
- backup pumpkin — pumpkin
- balance spring — hairspring.
- banana problem — (programming, humour) From the story of the little girl who said "I know how to spell "banana", but I don't know when to stop". Not knowing where or when to bring a production to a close (compare fencepost error). One may say "there is a banana problem" of an algorithm with poorly defined or incorrect termination conditions, or in discussing the evolution of a design that may be succumbing to featuritis (see also creeping elegance, creeping featuritis).
- bancroft prize — one of a group of annual awards for literary achievement in American history and biography: administered by Columbia University.
- bandar lampung — a port in Indonesia, in S Sumatra on the Sunda Strait; formed by merging the cities of Tanjungkarang and Telukbetung, and sometimes still referred to as Tanjungkarang-Telukbetung. Pop: 742 749 (2000)
- baptismal font — a large bowl for baptismal water, usually mounted on a pedestal
- baptismal name — Christian name (def 1).
- bare ownership — ownership of a piece of property without the right to use and derive profit from that property
- bark chippings — small pieces of tree bark used chiefly for pathways in gardens or woodland
- base component — the system of rules in a transformational grammar that specify the deep structure of the language
- bass saxophone — a large saxophone of low range, usually supported on a stand while being played.
- basso profundo — (esp in operatic solo singing) a singer with a very deep bass voice
- beauty pageant — A beauty pageant is the same as a beauty contest.
- benday process — a process for adding tone or shading, as in reproducing drawings, by the overlay on the plate of patterns, as of dots
- benzodiazepine — any of a group of chemical compounds that are used as minor tranquillizers, such as diazepam (Valium) and chlordiazepoxide (Librium)
- beta-endorphin — a potent endorphin released by the anterior pituitary gland in response to pain, trauma, exercise, or other forms of stress.
- beveridge plan — the plan for comprehensive social insurance, proposed by Sir William Beveridge in Great Britain in 1941.
- beyond compare — If you describe something as beyond compare, you mean that it is extremely good or extremely great.
- bidding prayer — the formal petitionary prayer, said especially in the Anglican Church immediately before the sermon.
- binary package — (software) An archive file that contains all files and directories that must be installed in order to make a working installation of the program(s) included in the package, and the maintainer scripts necessary for the installation. A binary package is usually specific to a certain platform, in contrast to a source package.
- bipartisanship — representing, characterized by, or including members from two parties or factions: Government leaders hope to achieve a bipartisan foreign policy.
- bipolarisation — the act of bipolarising
- bipolarization — the action of rendering something bipolar
- bisphosphonate — any drug of a class that inhibits the resorption of bone; used in treating certain bone disorders, esp osteoporosis
- black panthers — (in the US) a militant Black political party founded in 1965 to end the political dominance of White people
- blaxploitation — a genre of films featuring Black stereotypes
- blind stamping — an impression on a book cover without using colour or gold leaf
- block sampling — the selection of a corpus for statistical literary analysis by random selection of a starting point and consideration of the continuous passage following it
- blotting paper — Blotting paper is thick soft paper that you use for soaking up and drying ink on a piece of paper.
- boarding party — group of officers or sailors who board a ship
- bone porcelain — bone china.
- boon companion — a close and constant friend
- bophuthatswana — (formerly) a Bantu homeland in N South Africa: consisted of six separate areas; declared independent by South Africa in 1977 although this was not internationally recognized; abolished in 1993. Capital: Mmabatho
- bottling plant — a factory where drinks are bottled
- bow and scrape — to behave in an excessively deferential or obsequious way