17-letter words containing c, u, r, e, a
- sufficient reason — the principle that nothing happens by pure chance, but that an explanation must always be available
- sunday observance — the fact of keeping Sunday as a special day when people go to church
- superaerodynamics — the branch of aerodynamics that deals with gases at very low densities.
- supercolumniation — the placing of one order of columns above another.
- support mechanism — any formal system or method of providing support or assistance
- supreme commander — the military officer commanding all allied forces in a theater of war.
- supreme sacrifice — the sacrifice of one's own life: Many made the supreme sacrifice during the war.
- surface condenser — a device condensing steam or vapor by passing it over a cool surface.
- surface structure — a structural representation of the final syntactic form of a sentence, as it exists after the transformational component has modified a deep structure. Compare deep structure.
- surface treatment — A surface treatment is a process applied to the surface of a material to make it better in some way, for example by making it more resistant to corrosion or wear.
- surgical dressing — a dressing made of cotton, used for incisions made during surgery
- tactile corpuscle — an oval sense organ made of flattened cells and encapsulated nerve endings, occurring in hairless skin, as the tips of the fingers and toes, and functioning as a touch receptor.
- teacher education — training to become a teacher, usually at an institution of higher education
- technical support — an advising and troubleshooting service provided by a manufacturer, typically a software or hardware developer, to its customers, often online or on the telephone.
- temperature chart — a chart monitoring and recording somebody's body temperature, as of a patient at a hospital, etc
- temporary account — A temporary account is an account which is closed out at the end of the year.
- terminal juncture — a form of juncture consisting of a change in pitch before a pause, marking the end of an utterance or a break between utterances, as between clauses. Compare close juncture, juncture (def 7), open juncture.
- territorial court — a court established in U.S. territories that is empowered to hear local and federal cases.
- tertiary consumer — a carnivore at the topmost level in a food chain that feeds on other carnivores; an animal that feeds only on secondary consumers.
- textual criticism — lower criticism.
- the black country — the formerly heavily industrialized region of central England, northwest of Birmingham
- the carboniferous — the Carboniferous period or rock system
- the final curtain — the closing of the curtain at the end of the action of a play
- the rann of kutch — an extensive salt waste in W central India, and S Pakistan: consists of the Great Rann in the north and the Little Rann in the southeast; seasonal alternation between marsh and desert; some saltworks. In 1968 an international tribunal awarded about 10 per cent of the border area to Pakistan. Area: 23 000 sq km (9000 sq miles)
- therapeutic index — the ratio between the dosage of a drug that causes a lethal effect and the dosage that causes a therapeutic effect.
- therapeutic touch — the laying on of hands by a healer
- thermocoagulation — the coagulation of tissue by heat-producing high-frequency electric currents, used therapeutically to remove small growths or to create specific lesions in the brain.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- transfer function — The transfer function of a circuit is the ratio of the response to the input.
- 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.
- tubercle bacillus — the bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, causing tuberculosis.
- 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.
- uncircumscribable — to draw a line around; encircle: to circumscribe a city on a map.
- unclassified road — a road that has not been given a grade because it is of a basic standard
- uncomfortableness — causing discomfort or distress; painful; irritating.
- 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
- unpredictableness — not predictable; not to be foreseen or foretold: an unpredictable occurrence.
- upper paleolithic — See under Paleolithic.
- used-car salesman — a person who sells used cars
- vacuum extraction — applying suction to a baby's head during birth to help it emerge