16-letter words containing a, v, i
- universalization — to make universal.
- unrepresentative — a person or thing that represents another or others.
- valles marineris — a canyon on Mars, 3100 miles (5000 km) in length, named after the Mariner spacecraft.
- vancouver island — an island of SW Canada, off the SW coast of British Columbia: separated from the Canadian mainland by the Strait of Georgia and Queen Charlotte Sound, and from the US mainland by Juan de Fuca Strait; the largest island off the W coast of North America. Chief town: Victoria. Pop: 706 243 (2001). Area: 32 137 sq km (12 408 sq miles)
- vapor channeling — Vapor channeling exists when vapor flow is distributed in an unequal way in a distillation vessel or stage.
- vapor combustion — Vapor combustion is a closed burn system used for treating liquid waste which contains volatile organic compounds.
- 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.
- vascular cambium — cambium.
- vasoconstriction — constriction of the blood vessels, as by the action of a nerve.
- vasoconstrictive — causing vasoconstriction.
- vaughan williams — Ralph, 1872–1958, English composer.
- vectorcardiogram — the graphic record produced by vectorcardiography.
- vegetable slicer — a device with a sharp blade for slicing vegetables finely;
- velcro fastening — a fastening made of Velcro
- venereal disease — sexually transmitted disease. Abbreviation: VD.
- ventriculography — radiography of the ventricles of the heart after injection of a contrast medium
- venus and adonis — a narrative poem (1593) by Shakespeare.
- 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.”.
- verbal auxiliary — an auxiliary verb, especially when considered as a member of a separate class of words used with verbs rather than as a special subclass of verbs.
- verbal diarrhoea — a tendency to speak at excessive length
- verruca vulgaris — the common wart.
- 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.
- vesuvianite jade — a green variety of vesuvianite, used as a gem: not a true jade.
- 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
- video journalism — the techniques, methods, etc., of preparing and broadcasting informational, social, political, and other nonfiction subjects via news and documentary programs.
- videodisc player — an electronic device for playing videodiscs through a television set.
- vienna secession — thea Viennese movement of the late 19th and early 20th cent. in the arts and architecture, that rejected prevailing academic styles in favor of these of art nouveau
- viewing audience — the audience reached by television
- vincent's angina — a disease characterized by ulceration of the mucosa of the tonsils, pharynx, and mouth, by the presence of abundant bacilli and spirochetes, and by the development of a membrane.
- viola da braccio — an old musical instrument of the viol family, held against the shoulder like a violin: superseded by the modern viola.
- virginia cowslip — a perennial woodland plant (Mertensia virginica) of the borage family, native to E North America and having clusters of blue or purple, bell-shaped flowers
- virginia creeper — a climbing plant, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, of the grape family, native to North America, having palmate leaves, usually with five leaflets, and bluish-black berries.
- virginia tobacco — a type of flue-cured tobacco grown originally in Virginia
- 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.
- visiting fireman — an influential person accorded special treatment while visiting an organization, industry, city, etc.
- visiting teacher — a teacher in a public school system, assigned to give home instruction to sick or disabled pupils.
- 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.
- visual magnitude — Astronomy. magnitude (def 5a).
- visual-magnitude — size; extent; dimensions: to determine the magnitude of an angle.
- vital statistics — The vital statistics of a population are statistics such as the number of births, deaths, or marriages which take place in it.
- vitamin-enriched — having had vitamins added
- vitruvian scroll — a scroll forming a stylized wave pattern.
- voice of america — the division of the United States Information Agency that broadcasts daily programs of news and entertainment throughout the world. Abbreviation: VOA, V.O.A.
- volatility index — beta (def 6).
- vulcanized fiber — a leatherlike substance made by compression of layers of paper or cloth that have been treated with acids or zinc chloride, used chiefly for electric insulation.
- weather advisory — advisory (def 5).
- weighted average — a mean that is computed with extra weight given to one or more elements of the sample.