17-letter words containing d, b, a
- liberal education — an education based primarily on the liberal arts, emphasizing the development of intellectual abilities as opposed to the acquisition of professional skills.
- light dawns on sb — If light dawns on you, you begin to understand something after a period of not being able to understand it.
- limited liability — a liability restricted by law or contract, as the liability of owners of shares in a corporation or limited company, or that of a special partner.
- loose-leaf binder — a hard cover with metal rings inside which is used to hold loose pieces of paper
- madiba generation — the generation born around 1994, when Nelson Mandela became the first president of a multiracial South Africa
- man's best friend — a dog, especially as a pet.
- medical librarian — a person who works in a library of medical information kept for reference in a teaching hospital
- medulla oblongata — the lowest or hindmost part of the brain, continuous with the spinal cord.
- mental disability — a general or specific intellectual handicap, resulting directly or indirectly from injury to the brain or from abnormal neurological development
- microdermabrasion — A cosmetic treatment in which the face is sprayed with exfoliant crystals to remove dead epidermal cells.
- misunderstandable — Capable of being misunderstood.
- modular sb-prolog — Modular Prolog
- 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
- movable-do system — a system of solmization in which the syllable do can be transposed to the tonic of any key.
- negative feedback — Electronics. the process of returning part of the output of a circuit, system, or device to the input, either to oppose the input (negative feedback) or to aid the input (positive feedback) acoustic feedback.
- nervous breakdown — (not in technical use) any disabling mental disorder requiring treatment.
- 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.
- non-subordination — the act of placing in a lower rank or position: The refusal to allow women to be educated was part of society's subordination of women to men.
- nonunderstandable — Not understandable.
- not bat an eyelid — When something surprising or shocking happens, if someone doesn't bat an eyelid in British English, or doesn't bat an eye in American English, they remain calm and do not show any reaction.
- old orchard beach — a resort town in S Maine.
- old south arabian — a group of four closely related Semitic languages, having a writing system and used from about the eighth to the fifth centuries b.c. in the southern part of Arabia.
- on one's deathbed — about to die
- on the barrelhead — upon being presented for sale; at the time of delivery
- outside broadcast — An outside broadcast is a radio or television programme that is not recorded or filmed in a studio, but in another building or in the open air.
- over my dead body — expressing complete refusal
- passamaquoddy bay — an inlet of the Bay of Fundy, between Maine and New Brunswick, at the mouth of the St. Croix River.
- passive obedience — unquestioning obedience to authority
- pillar-and-breast — room-and-pillar.
- pittsburg landing — a village in SW Tennessee, on the Tennessee River: battle of Shiloh in 1862.
- positive feedback — Electronics. the process of returning part of the output of a circuit, system, or device to the input, either to oppose the input (negative feedback) or to aid the input (positive feedback) acoustic feedback.
- potassium bromide — a white, crystalline, water-soluble powder, KBr, having a bitter saline taste: used chiefly in the manufacture of photographic papers and plates, in engraving, and in medicine as a sedative.
- pressurized cabin — the cabin of an aircraft in which the air has been pressurized
- product liability — the responsibility of a manufacturer for injury or loss caused by its product.
- proficiency badge — an insignia or device granted by the Girl Scouts and worn especially on a uniform to indicate special achievement.
- proprietary brand — a brand of product that is privately owned and controlled
- pseudo-biological — pertaining to biology.
- red and the black — a novel (1832) by Stendhal.
- red-backed shrike — a common Eurasian shrike, Lanius collurio, the male of which has a grey crown and rump, brown wings and back, and a black-and-white face
- red-billed quelea — any of several African weaverbirds of the genus Quelea, especially Q. quelea (red-billed quelea) noted for its vast flocks that destroy grain crops.
- rhode island bent — a European pasture grass, Agrostis tenuis, naturalized in North America, having red flower clusters.
- rubarth's disease — a common, rapidly progressing viral hepatitis of dogs and other carnivores, often confused with canine distemper.
- rubberman disease — Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
- russell, bertrand — Bertrand Russell
- sable island pony — a variety of wild pony found on Sable Island, Nova Scotia
- salt-rising bread — a kind of bread leavened with a fermented mixture of salted milk, cornmeal, flour, sugar, and soda.
- sandro botticelli — Sandro [san-droh,, sahn-;; Italian sahn-draw] /ˈsæn droʊ,, ˈsɑn-;; Italian ˈsɑn drɔ/ (Show IPA), (Alessandro di Mariano dei Filipepi) 1444?–1510, Italian painter.
- saved by the bell — a hollow instrument of cast metal, typically cup-shaped with a flaring mouth, suspended from the vertex and rung by the strokes of a clapper, hammer, or the like.
- second balkan war — Balkan War (def 2).