17-letter words containing c, a, o, e, t
- third commandment — “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain”: third of the Ten Commandments.
- thousandths-place — last in order of a series of a thousand.
- thread escutcheon — a raised metal rim around a keyhole.
- three-course meal — A three-course meal is a meal that consists of three parts served one after the other.
- throat microphone — a microphone worn around the throat and actuated by vibrations of the larynx, used when background noise would obscure the sound of speech, as in an airplane cockpit.
- to be taken aback — If you are taken aback by something, you are surprised or shocked by it and you cannot respond at once.
- to beat the clock — If you beat the clock, you finish doing something or succeed in doing something before the time allowed for doing it has ended.
- to come to an end — If something comes to an end, it stops.
- to keep the peace — If someone in authority, such as the army or the police, keeps the peace, they make sure that people behave and do not fight or quarrel with each other.
- to make sth clear — If you make something clear, you say something in a way that makes it impossible for there to be any doubt about your meaning, wishes, or intentions.
- to settle a score — If you settle a score or settle an old score with someone, you take revenge on them for something they have done in the past.
- to show your face — If you show your face somewhere, you go there and see people, although you are not welcome, are rather unwilling to go, or have not been there for some time.
- to stand a chance — If you say that someone stands a chance of achieving something, you mean that they are likely to achieve it. If you say that someone doesn't stand a chance of achieving something, you mean that they cannot possibly achieve it.
- to steal a glance — If you steal a glance at someone or something, you look at them quickly so that nobody sees you looking.
- to strike a chord — If something strikes a chord with you, it makes you feel sympathy or enthusiasm.
- to throw a wrench — If someone throws a wrench or throws a monkey wrench into a process, they prevent something happening smoothly by deliberately causing a problem.
- too close to call — If something such as a competition or an election is too close to call, it is not possible to predict who will win because it seems likely to be won by only a very small margin.
- topological space — a set with a collection of subsets or open sets satisfying the properties that the union of open sets is an open set, the intersection of two open sets is an open set, and the given set and the empty set are open sets.
- torricellian tube — a vertical glass tube partly evacuated and partly filled with mercury, the height of which is used as a measure of atmospheric pressure
- tortoiseshell cat — a domestic cat, especially a female one, of variegated black, yellow, and white coloring.
- touch a raw nerve — If you say that you have touched a nerve or touched a raw nerve, you mean that you have accidentally upset someone by talking about something that they feel strongly about or are very sensitive about.
- trackless trolley — trolley bus.
- trade association — an association of people or companies in a particular business or trade, organized to promote their common interests.
- traffic diversion — a special route arranged for traffic to follow when the normal route cannot be used
- traffic policeman — a policeman controlling traffic, esp while stationed at an intersection, or enforcing traffic regulations
- transfer function — The transfer function of a circuit is the ratio of the response to the input.
- transonic barrier — sound barrier.
- travancore-cochin — a former Indian state that was a merger of Travancore and Cochin, two former princely states of India, and which became part of Kerala state in 1956
- tropical maritime — a type of warm, wet air mass originating at low latitudes over ocean areas
- tropical medicine — the branch of medicine dealing with the study and treatment of diseases occurring in the tropics.
- trouble came back — (jargon) (TCB) An IBM term for an intermittent or difficult-to-reproduce problem that has failed to respond to neglect or shotgun debugging. Compare heisenbug.
- trucial sheikdoms — an independent federation in E Arabia, formed in 1971, now comprising seven emirates on the S coast (formerly, Pirate Coast or Trucial Coast) of the Persian Gulf, formerly under British protection: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah (joined 1972), and Fujairah. About 32,300 sq. mi. (83,657 sq. km). Capital: Abu Dhabi. Abbreviation: U.A.E.
- ts'ao hsueh-ch'in — (Ts'ao Chan) c1717–63, Chinese novelist: author of The Dream of the Red Chamber.
- turbosupercharger — (formerly) a turbocharger.
- turn on the charm — If someone turns on the charm, they behave in a way that seems very friendly but which you think is insincere, often in order to obtain something or deceive someone.
- ultraconservative — extremely conservative, especially in politics.
- ultramicrobalance — a balance for weighing precisely, to a hundredth of a microgram or less, minute quantities of material.
- uncle tom's cabin — an antislavery novel (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
- uncomfortableness — causing discomfort or distress; painful; irritating.
- uncompassionately — having or showing compassion: a compassionate person; a compassionate letter.
- unconventionalist — not conventional; not bound by or conforming to convention, rule, or precedent; free from conventionality: an unconventional artist; an unconventional use of material.
- unconventionality — disregard for convention; the state or quality of being inconsistent with customs, rules, etc.; originality.
- uncooperativeness — working or acting together willingly for a common purpose or benefit.
- undercompensation — to compensate or pay less than is fair, customary, or expected.
- unofficial strike — a strike that is not approved by the strikers' trade union
- upper paleolithic — See under Paleolithic.
- vacant possession — ownership of an unoccupied house or property, any previous owner or tenant having departed
- vacuum extraction — applying suction to a baby's head during birth to help it emerge
- valence electrons — an electron of an atom, located in the outermost shell (valence shell) of the atom, that can be transferred to or shared with another atom.
- vernacularization — to translate into the natural speech peculiar to a people.