17-letter words containing b, e, r, a, n
- irreconcilability — incapable of being brought into harmony or adjustment; incompatible: irreconcilable differences.
- irrecoverableness — The quality of being irrecoverable.
- ivan the terrible — ("Ivan the Terrible") 1530–84, first czar of Russia 1547–84.
- japanese barberry — a thorny barberry, Berberis thunbergii, of Japan, having yellow flowers and bearing bright-red fruit, grown as a hedge plant.
- job advertisement — an announcement in a newspaper, on television, or on a poster about a post of employment
- karelian republic — a constituent republic of NW Russia between the White Sea and Lakes Onega and Ladoga. Capital: Petrozavodsk. Pop: 716 700 (2002). Area: 172 400 sq km (66 560 sq miles)
- keep your balance — If you keep your balance, for example when standing in a moving vehicle, you remain steady and do not fall over. If you lose your balance, you become unsteady and fall over.
- keyboard commando — (messaging) A bulletin board user who posts authoritatively on military or combat topics, but who has never served in uniform or heard a shot fired in anger. A poseur.
- lambda expression — (mathematics) A term in the lambda-calculus denoting an unnamed function (a "lambda abstraction"), a variable or a constant. The pure lambda-calculus has only functions and no constants.
- latent strabismus — the tendency, controllable by muscular effort, for one or both eyes to exhibit strabismus.
- learned borrowing — a word or other linguistic form borrowed from a classical language into a modern language.
- learning-disabled — pertaining to or having a learning disability: a learning-disabled child.
- least upper bound — an upper bound that is less than or equal to all the upper bounds of a particular set. 3 is the least upper bound of the set consisting of 1, 2, 3. Abbr.: lub.
- lebesgue integral — an integral obtained by application of the theory of measure and more general than the Riemann integral.
- liberal education — an education based primarily on the liberal arts, emphasizing the development of intellectual abilities as opposed to the acquisition of professional skills.
- ligurian republic — the republic in NW Italy set up by Napoleon in 1797, incorporated into France in 1805, and united with the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1814.
- limousine liberal — a wealthy left-wing person
- lithium carbonate — a colorless crystalline compound, Li 2 CO 3 , slightly soluble in water: used in ceramic and porcelain glazes, pharmaceuticals, and luminescent paints.
- loose-leaf binder — a hard cover with metal rings inside which is used to hold loose pieces of paper
- macfarlane burnet — Sir (Frank) Macfarlane [muh k-fahr-luh n] /məkˈfɑr lən/ (Show IPA), 1899–1985, Australian physician: Nobel Prize in Physiology 1960.
- macroinvertebrate — (zoology) An invertebrate that is large enough to be seen without the use of a microscope.
- madiba generation — the generation born around 1994, when Nelson Mandela became the first president of a multiracial South Africa
- magellan barberry — an evergreen shrub, Berberis buxifolia, of southern Chile, having prickle-tipped leaves, dark-purple fruit, and orange-yellow flowers, rarely flowering in cultivation.
- man's best friend — a dog, especially as a pet.
- maternity benefit — government allowance
- medical librarian — a person who works in a library of medical information kept for reference in a teaching hospital
- membrane recovery — Membrane recovery is a process which uses membranes to obtain hydrogen from refinery fuel gas, hydrocrackers, and chemical processes such as methanol production.
- mesembryanthemums — Plural form of mesembryanthemum.
- microdermabrasion — A cosmetic treatment in which the face is sprayed with exfoliant crystals to remove dead epidermal cells.
- microinvertebrate — An invertebrate of microscopic size.
- misunderstandable — Capable of being misunderstood.
- monarch butterfly — a large, deep-orange butterfly, Danaus plexippus, having black and white markings, the larvae of which feed on the leaves of milkweed.
- monkey bread tree — a bombacaceous tree, Adansonia digitata, native to Africa, that has a very thick trunk, large white flowers, and a gourdlike fruit with an edible pulp called monkey bread
- nashville warbler — a North American wood warbler, Vermivora ruficapilla, having a gray head, an olive-green back, and yellow underparts.
- naval observatory — an astronomical observatory located in Washington, D.C., operated by the U.S. government, and responsible for the U.S. time service.
- near-earth object — a comet or asteroid pushed by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into an orbit that allows it to enter the earth's orbit and thereby pose a danger of collision. Abbreviation: NEO.
- neath port talbot — a county borough in S Wales, created from part of West Glamorgan in 1996. Administrative centre: Port Talbot. Pop: 135 300 (2003 est). Area: 439 sq km (169 sq miles)
- nervous breakdown — (not in technical use) any disabling mental disorder requiring treatment.
- neurobiologically — In terms of or by means of neurobiology.
- neurofibromatosis — a dominantly inherited genetic disorder characterized by flat brown patches on the skin, neurofibromas of the skin and internal organs, and in some cases skeletal deformity.
- never looked back — If you say that someone did something and then never looked back, you mean that they were very successful from that time on.
- non-biodegradable — capable of decaying through the action of living organisms: biodegradable paper; biodegradable detergent.
- nonalcoholic beer — Nonalcoholic beer is beer that does not contain any alcohol.
- nonunderstandable — Not understandable.
- north miami beach — a city in SE Florida.
- northeast by east — a point on the compass 11°15′ east of northeast. Abbreviation: NEbE.
- nuclear submarine — undersea vessel powered by atomic energy
- numbering machine — a handheld device for stamping numbers onto objects
- observation tower — lookout, observation point
- on the barrelhead — upon being presented for sale; at the time of delivery