16-letter words containing a, s, c, n
- keyman insurance — life insurance taken out by a business firm on an essential or very important employee, with the firm as beneficiary.
- knapsack problem — the problem of determining which numbers from a given collection of numbers have been added together to yield a specific sum: used in cryptography to encipher (and sometimes decipher) messages.
- know one's place — a particular portion of space, whether of definite or indefinite extent.
- knuckle sandwich — a punch in the mouth with a clenched fist.
- lactovegetarians — Plural form of lactovegetarian.
- lake saint clair — a lake between SE Michigan and Ontario: linked with Lake Huron by the St Clair River and with Lake Erie by the Detroit River. Area: 1191 sq km (460 sq miles)
- lancashire chair — a chair similar to a Windsor chair, having a rush seat and a back formed of spindles.
- lapsang souchong — a large-leafed variety of China tea with a slightly smoky flavour
- larsen ice shelf — an ice barrier in Antarctica, in the NW Weddell Sea, on the E coast of the Antarctic Peninsula: first explored 1893.
- lattice constant — a parameter, either a measure of length or angle, that defines the size and shape of the unit cell of a crystal lattice.
- laughing jackass — kookaburra.
- lawson criterion — (in a hypothetical nuclear fusion reactor) the requirement that in order for the energy produced by fusion to exceed the energy expended in causing the fusion, the product of the density of the fuel and the time during which it is confined at that density (Lawson product) must be greater than a certain number that depends on the kind of fuel used.
- league champions — the team that has come top of the league
- learning process — a process of learning
- leave of absence — permission to be absent from duty, employment, service, etc.; leave.
- lesbian cymatium — cyma reversa.
- lesser celandine — a Eurasian plant, Ranunculus ficaria, of the buttercup family, having heart-shaped leaves and glossy yellow flowers, naturalized in North America.
- lever escapement — an escapement in which a pivoted lever, made to oscillate by the escape wheel, engages a balance staff and causes it to oscillate.
- lexical analyser — (language) (Or "scanner") The initial input stage of a language processor (e.g. a compiler), the part that performs lexical analysis.
- lexical analysis — (programming) (Or "linear analysis", "scanning") The first stage of processing a language. The stream of characters making up the source program or other input is read one at a time and grouped into lexemes (or "tokens") - word-like pieces such as keywords, identifiers, literals and punctuation. The lexemes are then passed to the parser.
- linguistic atlas — dialect atlas.
- lipstick lesbian — a lesbian who is feminine in manner or appearance; a femme.
- logical constant — one of the connectives of a given system of formal logic, esp those of the sentential calculus, not, and, or, and if … then …
- long-tail claims — Long-tail claims are claims that are made or settled a long time after the insurance policy has expired.
- louisiana french — French as spoken in Louisiana; Cajun. Abbreviation: LaF.
- lourenco marques — former name of Maputo.
- low-carbon steel — steel containing between 0.04 and 0.25 per cent carbon
- lucas van leyden — (Lucas Hugensz) 1494–1533, Dutch painter and engraver.
- luminosity class — a classification of stars of a given spectral type according to their luminosity, breaking them down into dwarfs, giants, and supergiants.
- lymphangiectasia — (medicine) dilation of the lymphatic vessels.
- lymphangiectasis — Alt form lymphangiectasia.
- mach's principle — the proposition that there is no absolute space and that the inertia and acceleration of a body are determined by all of the matter of the universe.
- machiavellianism — of, like, or befitting Machiavelli.
- machine washable — suitable for washing in a washing machine
- machinist's mate — a petty officer trained to operate, repair, etc. ships' engines
- maclaurin series — a Taylor series in which the reference point is zero.
- macpherson strut — an automobile suspension-system component that consists of a strut combined with a spring and shock absorber and connects the wheel to the frame of the vehicle.
- macro-linguistic — a field of study concerned with language in its broadest sense and including cultural and behavioral features associated with language.
- macroinstruction — macro (def 5).
- macrolinguistics — a field of study concerned with language in its broadest sense and including cultural and behavioral features associated with language.
- macrorestriction — In physical gene mapping, the digestion of DNA of high molecular weight with a restriction enzyme having a low number of restriction sites.
- magazine section — a magazinelike section in the Sunday editions of many newspapers, containing articles rather than news items and often letters, reviews, stories, puzzles, etc.
- magmatic stoping — the process by which country rock is broken up and engulfed by the upward movement of magma
- magnesiochromite — (mineral) A chromite species with the formula MgCr2O4.
- magnetic compass — a compass having a magnetized needle generally in line with the magnetic poles of the earth.
- magnetic pyrites — Mineralogy. pyrrhotite.
- magnetoacoustics — (used with a singular verb) the branch of physics studying the effects of magnetism on acoustics or their interaction.
- magnetochemistry — the study of magnetic and chemical phenomena in their relation to one another.
- magnetoreceptors — Plural form of magnetoreceptor.
- magnetostriction — a change in dimensions exhibited by ferromagnetic materials when subjected to a magnetic field.