16-letter words containing a, s, i, m, l
- basic curriculum — in England and Wales, the National Curriculum plus religious education
- basilar membrane — a membrane inside the cochlea that vibrates in response to sound
- belgian malinois — one of a Belgian breed of medium-sized dogs having a short coat, tan to dark brown in color, a black mask, and erect ears, bred originally as a sheepherding dog.
- benoit samuelson — Joan (Joan Benoit) born 1957, U.S. distance runner: first Olympic marathon women's winner, 1984.
- bimetallic strip — a strip consisting of two metals of different coefficients of expansion welded together so that it buckles on heating: used in thermostats, etc
- bird's-eye maple — a cut of sugar maple wood used especially for veneers, having a wavy grain with many dark, circular markings.
- blenheim spaniel — a variety of toy spaniel that is white with reddish-brown spots
- blind man's buff — a game in which a blindfolded person tries to catch and identify the other players
- blind man's rule — a carpenter's rule having large numbers to permit its reading in dim light.
- blind salamander — any of several North American salamanders, especially of the genera Typhlotriton, Typhlomolge, and Haideotriton, that inhabit underground streams or deep wells and have undeveloped eyes and scant pigmentation.
- bornholm disease — an epidemic virus infection characterized by pain round the base of the chest
- braille embosser — Braille printer
- british columbia — a province of W Canada, on the Pacific coast: largely mountainous with extensive forests, rich mineral resources, and important fisheries. Capital: Victoria. Pop: 4 400 057 (2011 est). Area: 930 532 sq km (359 279 sq miles)
- bronchial asthma — asthma.
- busman's holiday — If you have a holiday, but spend it doing something similar to your usual work, you can refer to it as a busman's holiday.
- cadmium sulphide — an orange or yellow insoluble solid used as a pigment in paints, etc (cadmium yellow). Formula: CdS
- calamian islands — a group of about 100 islands in the SW Philippines. 600 sq. mi. (1554 sq. km). Largest island, Busuanga.
- calcium arsenate — a toxic, white powder, Ca3(AsO4)2, used as an insecticide in the form of a spray or dust
- calcium silicate — any of the silicates of calcium: calcium metasilicate, dicalcium silicate, and tricalcium silicate.
- camomile shampoo — a liquid or cream preparation of soap or detergent with camomile extract to wash the hair
- cardinal numbers — Also called cardinal numeral. any of the numbers that express amount, as one, two, three, etc. (distinguished from ordinal number).
- celestial empire — Chinese Empire
- chemical weapons — toxic chemicals used as weapons
- chemoprophylaxis — the prevention of disease using chemical drugs
- chinese fan palm — a fan palm, Livistona chinensis, of southern Japan, having very large, deeply cleft leaves and bluish-green, ovalish fruit.
- cholesterolaemia — the presence of abnormally high levels of cholesterol in the blood
- christmas beetle — any of various greenish-gold Australian scarab beetles of the genus Anoplognathus, which are common in summer
- christmas island — an island in the Indian Ocean, south of Java: administered by Singapore (1900–58), now by Australia; phosphate mining. Pop: 1496 (2013 est). Area: 135 sq km (52 sq miles)
- christmas lights — strings of lights put up in the Christmas period to decorate houses
- circular measure — the measurement of an angle in radians
- circumstantially — of pertaining to, or derived from circumstances: a circumstantial result.
- clackmannanshire — a council area and historical county of central Scotland; became part of the Central region in 1975 but reinstated as an independent unitary authority in 1996; mainly agricultural. Administrative centre: Alloa. Pop: 47 680 (2003 est). Area: 142 sq km (55 sq miles)
- clbuttic mistake — the humorous effect created by anti-obscenity filters that automatically replace offensive words in online articles with more acceptable variants
- closing argument — In a court case, a lawyer's closing argument is their final speech, in which they give a summary of their case.
- collaborationism — The act of collaborating, especially with an enemy.
- columbia heights — a city in SE Minnesota, near Minneapolis.
- combination last — a shoe last that has a narrower heel or instep than the standard last.
- commensurability — The quality of being commensurable or commensurate.
- commonsensically — sound practical judgment that is independent of specialized knowledge, training, or the like; normal native intelligence.
- communicableness — The state or quality of being communicable.
- compartmentalise — to divide into categories or compartments.
- complex analysis — the branch of mathematics dealing with analytic functions of a complex variable.
- complexity class — (algorithm) A collection of algorithms or computable functions with the same complexity.
- composite family — the large and varied plant family Compositae (or Asteraceae), typified by herbaceous plants having alternate, opposite, or whorled leaves and a whorl of bracts surrounding the flower heads, which are usually composed of a disk containing tiny petalless flowers and a ray of petals extending from the flowers at the rim of the disk, some flower heads being composed only of a disk or a ray and some plants having clusters of flower heads, and including the aster, daisy, dandelion, goldenrod, marigold, ragweed, sunflower, thistle, and zinnia.
- compositionality — The property of being compositional.
- consequentialism — the doctrine that an action is right or wrong according as its consequences are good or bad
- controversialism — The attitude or tendency to engage in controversy.
- crime passionnel — a crime committed from passion, esp sexual passion
- criminal assault — a punishable offence of attempting to harm another person through physical contact
- criminal justice — the system of law enforcement, involving police, lawyers, courts, and corrections, used for all stages of criminal proceedings and punishment.