16-letter words containing c, a, n, l
- intraocular lens — a plastic lens implanted surgically to replace the eye's natural crystalline lens, usually because the natural lens has developed a cataract.
- intraventricular — (medicine) In a ventricle.
- japanese lacquer — lacquer (def 2).
- journalistically — of, relating to, or characteristic of journalists or journalism.
- judicial inquiry — a formal legal investigation conducted into a matter of public concern by a judge, appointed by the government
- jurisdictionally — In a jurisdictional way.
- kangaroo closure — a form of closure in which the chair or speaker selects certain amendments for discussion and excludes others
- karyokinetically — In a karyokinetic manner; by means of karyokinesis.
- keep one's place — a particular portion of space, whether of definite or indefinite extent.
- kentucky warbler — a wood warbler, Oporornis formosus, of the U.S., olive-green above, yellow below, and marked with black on the face.
- kit and caboodle — a set or collection of tools, supplies, instructional matter, etc., for a specific purpose: a first-aid kit; a sales kit.
- knapsack problem — the problem of determining which numbers from a given collection of numbers have been added together to yield a specific sum: used in cryptography to encipher (and sometimes decipher) messages.
- knock for a loop — a portion of a cord, ribbon, etc., folded or doubled upon itself so as to leave an opening between the parts.
- know one's place — a particular portion of space, whether of definite or indefinite extent.
- knuckle sandwich — a punch in the mouth with a clenched fist.
- labrador current — a cold ocean current flowing southwards off the coast of Labrador and meeting the warm Gulf Stream, causing dense fogs off the coast of Newfoundland
- labtech notebook — (tool, product) Commercial data aquisition software.
- lacto-vegetarian — a vegetarian whose diet includes dairy produce and eggs
- lactovegetarians — Plural form of lactovegetarian.
- lake saint clair — a lake between SE Michigan and Ontario: linked with Lake Huron by the St Clair River and with Lake Erie by the Detroit River. Area: 1191 sq km (460 sq miles)
- lancashire chair — a chair similar to a Windsor chair, having a rush seat and a back formed of spindles.
- laplace equation — the second-order partial differential equation indicating that the Laplace operator operating on a given function results in zero. Compare harmonic (def 4c).
- lapsang souchong — a large-leafed variety of China tea with a slightly smoky flavour
- larsen ice shelf — an ice barrier in Antarctica, in the NW Weddell Sea, on the E coast of the Antarctic Peninsula: first explored 1893.
- lattice constant — a parameter, either a measure of length or angle, that defines the size and shape of the unit cell of a crystal lattice.
- laughing jackass — kookaburra.
- lawson criterion — (in a hypothetical nuclear fusion reactor) the requirement that in order for the energy produced by fusion to exceed the energy expended in causing the fusion, the product of the density of the fuel and the time during which it is confined at that density (Lawson product) must be greater than a certain number that depends on the kind of fuel used.
- leaf-cutting ant — any of several tropical American ants of the genus Atta that cut and chew bits of leaves and flowers into a mash that they use to cultivate a fungus garden.
- leaf-cutting bee — any of the bees of the family Megachilidae that cut circular pieces from leaves or flowers to line their nests.
- league champions — the team that has come top of the league
- learning process — a process of learning
- leave of absence — permission to be absent from duty, employment, service, etc.; leave.
- legal dictionary — a specialized dictionary covering terms used in the various branches of the legal profession, as civil law, criminal law, and corporate law. A comprehensive legal dictionary adds to its body of standard English entries many words and phrases that have made their way into modern legal practice from law French and Latin and are rarely found in a general English monolingual dictionary. Such a specialized dictionary is useful not only for law students and for attorneys themselves, but for members of the lay public who require legal services. Legal dictionaries published in print follow the normal practice of sorting entry terms alphabetically, while electronic dictionaries, such as the online Dictionary of Law on Dictionary.com, allow direct, immediate access to a search term.
- lenticular cloud — a very smooth, round or oval, lens-shaped cloud that is often seen, singly or stacked in groups, near a mountain ridge.
- lesbian cymatium — cyma reversa.
- lesser celandine — a Eurasian plant, Ranunculus ficaria, of the buttercup family, having heart-shaped leaves and glossy yellow flowers, naturalized in North America.
- lethal injection — dose of deadly chemical into a vein
- lettre de change — bill of exchange.
- lever escapement — an escapement in which a pivoted lever, made to oscillate by the escape wheel, engages a balance staff and causes it to oscillate.
- lexical analyser — (language) (Or "scanner") The initial input stage of a language processor (e.g. a compiler), the part that performs lexical analysis.
- lexical analysis — (programming) (Or "linear analysis", "scanning") The first stage of processing a language. The stream of characters making up the source program or other input is read one at a time and grouped into lexemes (or "tokens") - word-like pieces such as keywords, identifiers, literals and punctuation. The lexemes are then passed to the parser.
- liang ch'i-ch'ao — 1873–1929, Chinese scholar, journalist, and reformer.
- like cat and dog — quarrelling savagely
- limited monarchy — a monarchy that is limited by laws and a constitution.
- limited-monarchy — a limited train, bus, etc.
- linguistic atlas — dialect atlas.
- lipstick lesbian — a lesbian who is feminine in manner or appearance; a femme.
- little black ant — a widely distributed ant, Monomorium minimum, sometimes a household pest.
- liturgical latin — the Latin characteristic of the liturgies of the Western Church.
- local government — the administration of the civic affairs of a city, town, or district by its inhabitants rather than by the state or country at large.