16-letter words containing a, s, u, n, c
- kangaroo closure — a form of closure in which the chair or speaker selects certain amendments for discussion and excludes others
- keyman insurance — life insurance taken out by a business firm on an essential or very important employee, with the firm as beneficiary.
- knuckle sandwich — a punch in the mouth with a clenched fist.
- lapsang souchong — a large-leafed variety of China tea with a slightly smoky flavour
- laughing jackass — kookaburra.
- league champions — the team that has come top of the league
- lesbian cymatium — cyma reversa.
- linguistic atlas — dialect atlas.
- louisiana french — French as spoken in Louisiana; Cajun. Abbreviation: LaF.
- lourenco marques — former name of Maputo.
- 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.
- 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.
- magnetoacoustics — (used with a singular verb) the branch of physics studying the effects of magnetism on acoustics or their interaction.
- manufactured gas — a gaseous fuel created from coal, oil, etc., as differentiated from natural gas.
- marine insurance — ocean marine insurance.
- marsh cinquefoil — a variety of cinquefoil, Potentilla palustris, that grows in marshy areas
- masculine ending — a final inflection or suffix designating that a word belongs to the masculine gender.
- mass destruction — devastation on a large scale
- mcnaughten rules — (in English law) a set of rules established by the case of Regina v. McNaughten (1843) by which legal proof of insanity in the commission of a crime depends upon whether or not the accused can show either that he did not know what he was doing or that he is incapable of realizing that what he was doing was wrong
- measuring device — gauge
- menstrual cramps — pain in the lower abdomen as well as possibly in the lower back and legs associated with menstruation
- microencapsulate — (transitive) To embed by means of microencapsulation.
- minute secretary — the person responsible for noting the minutes of a meeting
- miscommunication — Failure to communicate adequately.
- misconfiguration — An incorrect or inappropriate configuration.
- mispronunciation — (uncountable) The act of mispronouncing.
- missile launcher — system that fires missiles
- mousseline sauce — a light sauce, made by adding whipped cream or egg whites to hollandaise sauce
- munching squares — A display hack dating back to the PDP-1 (ca. 1962, reportedly discovered by Jackson Wright), which employs a trivial computation (repeatedly plotting the graph Y = X XOR T for successive values of T - see HAKMEM items 146--148) to produce an impressive display of moving and growing squares that devour the screen. The initial value of T is treated as a parameter, which, when well-chosen, can produce amazing effects. Some of these, later (re)discovered on the LISP Machine, have been christened "munching triangles" (try AND for XOR and toggling points instead of plotting them), "munching w's", and "munching mazes". More generally, suppose a graphics program produces an impressive and ever-changing display of some basic form, foo, on a display terminal, and does it using a relatively simple program; then the program (or the resulting display) is likely to be referred to as "munching foos". [This is a good example of the use of the word foo as a metasyntactic variable.]
- musculocutaneous — of, relating to, or supplying the muscles and skin
- mutual exclusion — (parallel, operating system) (Or "mutex", plural: "mutexes") A collection of techniques for sharing resources so that different uses do not conflict and cause unwanted interactions. One of the most commonly used techniques for mutual exclusion is the semaphore.
- mutual insurance — insurance in which those insured become members of a company who reciprocally engage, by payment of certain amounts into a common fund, to indemnify one another against loss.
- mutual recursion — recursion
- nassella tussock — type of tussock grass
- national costume — traditional dress
- natural resource — a naturally occurring source of wealth, as land or water.
- naturalistically — imitating nature or the usual natural surroundings.
- neo-confucianist — of or relating to neo-Confucians or neo-Confucianism.
- neurasthenically — In a neurasthenic way.
- neuropsychiatric — Of or pertaining to neuropsychiatry; simultaneously neurological and psychiatric.
- nicholas of cusa — 1401–64, German cardinal, philosopher, and mathematician: anticipated Copernicus in asserting that the earth revolves around the sun
- nicoya peninsula — a peninsula in NW Costa Rica, on the Pacific Ocean.
- nitrous bacteria — bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrites in the soil
- non-consummation — the act of consummating; completion.
- non-naturalistic — imitating nature or the usual natural surroundings.