16-letter words containing a, t, e, l, i, r
- universalization — to make universal.
- unparticularized — to make particular.
- unpredictability — not predictable; not to be foreseen or foretold: an unpredictable occurrence.
- up with the lark — up early in the morning
- upper palatinate — See under Palatinate (def 1).
- upsilon particle — the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet (Υ, υ).
- utility software — system software that manages and optimizes the performance of hardware
- utilization rate — The utilization rate is the percentage of the total equipment or refinery which is involved in producing something.
- variable annuity — an annuity in which the premiums are invested chiefly in common stocks or other securities, the annuitant receiving payments based on the yield of the investments instead of in fixed amounts.
- vegetable slicer — a device with a sharp blade for slicing vegetables finely;
- velcro fastening — a fastening made of Velcro
- ventriculography — radiography of the ventricles of the heart after injection of a contrast medium
- verbal adjective — an adjective derived from a verb, as, in English, smiling in smiling eyes, or, in Greek, batós “going,” “moving,” derived from baínen “to go,” “to move.”.
- vertical farming — a proposed system of growing crops in urban areas using specially designed skyscrapers
- vertical tasting — a tasting of different vintages of one particular wine.
- vestibular nerve — the part of the auditory nerve in the inner ear that carries sensory information related to body equilibrium.
- viceregal assent — the formal signing of an act of parliament by a governor general, by which it becomes law
- victorian values — qualities considered to characterize the Victorian period, including enterprise and initiative and the importance of the family
- virtual particle — an elementary particle of transitory existence that does not appear as a free particle in a particular situation but that can transmit a force from one particle to another.
- visual interface — (tool, text) (vi) /V-I/, /vi:/, *never* /siks/ A screen editor crufted together by Bill Joy for an early BSD release. vi became the de facto standard Unix editor and a nearly undisputed hacker favourite outside of MIT until the rise of Emacs after about 1984. It tends to frustrate new users no end, as it will neither take commands while expecting input text nor vice versa, and the default setup provides no indication of which mode the editor is in (one correspondent accordingly reports that he has often heard the editor's name pronounced /vi:l/). Nevertheless it is still widely used (about half the respondents in a 1991 Usenet poll preferred it), and even some Emacs fans resort to it as a mail editor and for small editing jobs (mainly because it starts up faster than the bulkier versions of Emacs). See holy wars.
- walk a tightrope — be in a precarious position
- warning triangle — a triangle placed by a broken-down car to warn motorists to avoid it
- water lily tulip — a showy tulip, Tulipa kaufmanniana, of Turkestan, having spreading, white or pale-yellow flowers with yellow centers streaked with red.
- waterleaf family — the plant family Hydrophyllaceae, characterized by usually hairy herbaceous plants having lobed, divided, or compound leaves, five-parted blue or white flowers, and capsular fruit, and including baby-blue-eyes, phacelia, and waterleaf.
- welfare benefits — financial assistance; social security payment
- well-appreciated — to be grateful or thankful for: They appreciated his thoughtfulness.
- well-articulated — made clear or distinct: articulated sounds.
- well-illustrated — containing pictures, drawings, and other illustrations: an illustrated book.
- white water lily — any water lily of the genus Nymphaea, especially N. odorata, having fragrant, white flowers.
- world federalist — a promoter or supporter of world federalism.
- ziegler catalyst — any of a group of catalysts, such as titanium trichloride (TiCl3) and aluminium alkyl (Al(CH3)3), that produce stereospecific polymers