15-letter words containing a, w, s
- unanswerability — the quality of not being answerable or contestable
- unseaworthiness — constructed, outfitted, manned, and in all respects fitted for a voyage at sea.
- upperclasswoman — An upperclasswoman is a junior or senior student in a high school, college, or university.
- vatican swindle — Lafcadio's Adventures.
- w.h. richardson — Henry Handel (Henrietta Richardson Robertson) 1870–1946, Australian novelist.
- waddesdon manor — a mansion near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire: built (1880–89) in the French style for the Rothschild family: noted for its furnishings and collections of porcelain and paintings
- walking catfish — an Asian catfish, Clarias batrachus, that can survive out of water and move overland from one body of water to another: introduced into Florida.
- wallpaper music — music that is pleasant but not interesting, so people do not pay much attention to it
- wallpaper paste — an adhesive used for attaching wallpaper to a surface
- walnut husk fly — any of several fruit flies, as Rhagoletis completa, the larvae of which feed on and discolor walnut husks.
- walpurgis night — (especially in medieval German folklore) the evening preceding the feast day of St. Walpurgis, when witches congregated, especially on the Brocken.
- walrus mustache — a thick, shaggy mustache hanging down loosely at both ends.
- warmheartedness — The quality of being warmhearted.
- warrantableness — Quality of being warrantable.
- washing machine — an apparatus, especially a household appliance, for washing clothing, linens, etc.
- washing-up bowl — plastic bowl used for washing dishes
- washington lily — a lily, Lilium washingtonianum, of the western coast of the U.S., having whorled leaves and fragrant, purple-spotted white flowers.
- washington palm — a palm tree, Washingtonia filifera, of California and Florida, having large fan-shaped leaves and small black fruits
- wassermann test — a diagnostic test for syphilis using the fixation of a complement by the serum of a syphilitic individual.
- water-based mud — Water-based mud is a type of drilling mud consisting mainly of water, which has additives to modify it and make it more effective.
- water-resistant — resisting though not entirely preventing the penetration of water.
- waterford glass — fine cut or gilded glass made in Waterford, Ireland, having a slight blue cast due to the presence of cobalt.
- weapons carrier — a light truck for transporting weapons or munitions in the field.
- weather station — an installation equipped and used for meteorological observation.
- wechsler scales — a group of intelligence tests, including the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) later revised (WAIS-R) the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) later revised (WISC-R) the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) and the Wechsler-Bellevue Scale, no longer used, all of which emphasize performance and verbal skills and give separate scores for subtests in vocabulary, arithmetic, memory span, assembly of objects, and other abilities.
- wee small hours — the hours just after midnight
- welfare statism — the belief in or practices of a welfare state.
- well-accustomed — customary; usual; habitual: in their accustomed manner.
- well-advertised — to announce or praise (a product, service, etc.) in some public medium of communication in order to induce people to buy or use it: to advertise a new brand of toothpaste.
- welsbach burner — a type of gaslight in which a mantle containing thorium and cerium compounds becomes incandescent when heated by a gas flame
- wentworth scale — a scale for specifying the sizes (diameters) of sedimentary particles, ranging from clay particles (less than 1⁄256 mm) to boulders (over 256 mm)
- wernicke's area — a portion of the left posterior temporal lobe of the brain, involved in the ability to understand words.
- west carrollton — a town in W Ohio.
- west coast jazz — cool jazz.
- west hartlepool — a former borough, now part of Hartlepool, in Cleveland County, in NE England, at the mouth of the Tees.
- west palm beach — a city in SE Florida: winter resort.
- western tanager — a tanager, Piranga ludoviciana, of western North America, the male of which is black, yellow, and orange-red.
- westphalian ham — a hard German ham with a distinctive flavor derived from being smoked over beechwood and juniper.
- whaling station — a place where the carcases of whales were processed
- what's cooking? — what's happening?
- what's-her-name — a girl or woman whose name is unknown, temporarily forgotten, or deliberately overlooked
- what's-his-name — man: forgotten name
- whatshumacallit — Alternative form of whatchamacallit.
- wheelchair user — a person who is unable to walk through injury, illness, etc and relies on a wheelchair to move around
- whip into shape — to bring by vigorous action into the proper or desired condition
- whiplash injury — the lash of a whip.
- whippersnappers — Plural form of whippersnapper.
- white cast iron — cast iron having most or all of its carbon in the form of cementite and exhibiting a silvery fracture.
- white christmas — A white Christmas is a Christmas when it snows.
- white mountains — a mountain range in the US, chiefly in N New Hampshire: part of the Appalachians. Highest peak: Mount Washington, 1917 m (6288 ft)