17-letter words containing c, l, e, f
- immunofluorescent — Of, pertaining to, or using immunofluorescence.
- inclusive fitness — the fitness of an individual organism as measured in terms of the survival and reproductive success of its kin, each relative being valued according to the probability of shared genetic information, an offspring or sibling having a value of 50 percent and a cousin 25 percent.
- incomplete flower — a flower without one or more of the normal parts, as carpels, sepals, petals, pistils, or stamens.
- infinitive clause — a clause containing an infinitive as its main or only verb form, as to speak clearly in Try to speak clearly.
- influence peddler — a person who arranges to obtain favors, as government contracts, from high officials on behalf of others for a fee.
- integral function — an entire function.
- interconfessional — common to or occurring between churches having different confessions.
- internal conflict — psychological struggle within the mind of a literary or dramatic character, the resolution of which creates the plot's suspense: Hamlet's inaction is caused by internal conflict.
- intraspecifically — Between individuals of the same species.
- john of lancaster — Duke of Bedford, 1389–1435, Bedford, John of Lancaster, Duke of.
- jumping-off place — a place for use as a starting point: Paris was the jumping-off place for our tour of Europe.
- knock oneself out — to make great efforts; exhaust oneself
- lance of courtesy — a lance having a blunt head to prevent serious injury by a jouster to an opponent.
- laplace transform — a map of a function, as a signal, defined especially for positive real values, as time greater than zero, into another domain where the function is represented as a sum of exponentials.
- law of reflection — the principle that when a ray of light, radar pulse, or the like, is reflected from a smooth surface the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence, and the incident ray, the reflected ray, and the normal to the surface at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
- law of refraction — the principle that for a ray, radar pulse, or the like, that is incident on the interface of two media, the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is equal to the ratio of the velocity of the ray in the first medium to the velocity in the second medium and the incident ray, refracted ray, and normal to the surface at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
- leg before wicket — a manner of dismissal on the grounds that a batsman has been struck on the leg by a bowled ball that otherwise would have hit the wicket
- letter of comfort — comfort letter.
- liberty of speech — freedom of speech.
- lick the boots of — to be servile, obsequious, or flattering towards
- line of induction — (formerly) a line of force in a magnetic field.
- line of scrimmage — an imaginary line parallel to the goal lines that passes from one sideline to the other through the point of the football closest to the goal line of each team.
- luminous efficacy — the quotient of the luminous flux of a radiation and its corresponding radiant flux
- macfarlane burnet — Sir (Frank) Macfarlane [muh k-fahr-luh n] /məkˈfɑr lən/ (Show IPA), 1899–1985, Australian physician: Nobel Prize in Physiology 1960.
- mayflower compact — an agreement to establish a government, entered into by the Pilgrims in the cabin of the Mayflower on November 11, 1620.
- mental deficiency — mental retardation
- microfilm plotter — a type of incremental plotter that has a film rather than a paper output
- molecular formula — a chemical formula that indicates the kinds of atoms and the number of each kind in a molecule of a compound.
- monarch butterfly — a large, deep-orange butterfly, Danaus plexippus, having black and white markings, the larvae of which feed on the leaves of milkweed.
- multiplier effect — the effect of government spending on national income
- natural frequency — the frequency at which a system vibrates when set in free vibration
- nuclear-free zone — any area in which nuclear weapons, power plants, or materials are not allowed.
- of the old school — If you approve of someone because they have good qualities that used to be more common in the past, you can describe them as one of the old school.
- off-site facility — An off-site facility is a facility which is not at the main industrial or commercial site.
- off-year election — (in the US) an election held in a year when a presidential election does not take place
- office by example — (language) (OBE) A sequel to QBE, described in publications by Moshe Zloof of IBM in the early 1980s but apparently never implemented.
- official receiver — an officer appointed by the Insolvency Service to receive the income and manage the estate of a bankrupt pending the appointment of a trustee in bankruptcy
- old norman french — Norman French (sense 1)
- open-channel flow — Open-channel flow is a liquid flow in a channel, which has a free liquid surface.
- overreach oneself — to fail because of trying to do more than one can
- peacock butterfly — a European nymphalid butterfly, Inachis io, having reddish-brown wings each marked with a purple eyespot
- peridot of ceylon — a honey-colored tourmaline, used as a gem: not a true peridot.
- personnel officer — a worker responsible for recruiting employees and dealing with matters relating to them
- petrol filler cap — a small cover that goes over the hole in a vehicle into which you put petrol
- phenylformic acid — benzoic acid.
- pincushion flower — scabious2 (def 1).
- political refugee — a person who has fled from a homeland because of political persecution.
- pre-qualification — a quality, accomplishment, etc., that fits a person for some function, office, or the like.
- prefect apostolic — the administrator, usually below the rank of bishop, in charge of a prefecture apostolic.
- profile component — attainment targets in different subjects brought together for the general assessment of a pupil