16-letter words containing f, a, l
- infernal machine — a concealed or disguised explosive device intended to destroy life or property.
- infinite decimal — nonterminating decimal.
- inflationary gap — the excess of total spending in an economy over the value, at current prices, of the output it can produce
- insufferableness — The state of being insufferable.
- intentional foul — a foul deliberately committed by a defensive player to stop play, tactically conceding the penalty of having the fouled player attempt the awarded foul shots in return for possession of the ball.
- interfacial area — The interfacial area is the total area of contact between two liquids in a liquid-liquid operation.
- intestinal flora — microorganisms that normally inhabit the lumen of the intestinal tract
- irrefragableness — The quality or degree of being irrefragable.
- isle of portland — a rugged limestone peninsula in SW England, in Dorset, connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus and by Chesil Bank: the lighthouse of Portland Bill lies at the S tip; famous for the quarrying of Portland stone, a fine building material. Pop (town): 12 000 (latest est)
- isoplastic graft — syngraft.
- ivyleaf geranium — a geranium plant, pelargonium peltatum, with trailing leaves and white, pink, red, or violet flowers
- kekule's formula — the structural formula of benzene represented as a hexagonal ring with alternate single and double bonds between the carbon atoms.
- kingdom of arles — a kingdom in SE France which had dissolved by 1378: known as the Kingdom of Burgundy until about 1200
- kirchhoff's laws — the law that the algebraic sum of the currents flowing toward any point in an electric network is zero.
- knights of labor — a secret workingmen's organization formed in 1869 to defend the interests of labor.
- knights of malta — the order of Hospitalers.
- 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.
- la rochefoucauld — François [frahn-swa] /frɑ̃ˈswa/ (Show IPA), 6th Duc de, 1613–80, French moralist and composer of epigrams and maxims.
- lady of pleasure — a prostitute.
- lady of the lake — a narrative poem (1810) by Sir Walter Scott.
- land-poor farmer — a farmer who owns much unprofitable land and lacks the money to maintain its fertility or improve it
- larger than life — If you say that someone or something is larger than life, you mean that they appear or behave in a way that seems more exaggerated or important than usual.
- larger-than-life — exceedingly imposing, impressive, or memorable, especially in appearance or forcefulness: a larger-than-life leader.
- larsen ice shelf — an ice barrier in Antarctica, in the NW Weddell Sea, on the E coast of the Antarctic Peninsula: first explored 1893.
- law of exponents — the theorem stating the elementary properties of exponents, as the property that the product of the same bases, each raised to an exponent, is equal to the base raised to the sum of the exponents: xa ⋅ xb = xa + b .
- law of parsimony — a principle according to which an explanation of a thing or event is made with the fewest possible assumptions.
- lay oneself open — to make oneself vulnerable (to criticism, attack, etc)
- 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.
- leasehold reform — reform of the law relating to leasehold property
- least flycatcher — a small flycatcher, Empidonax minimus, of eastern North America.
- leave of absence — permission to be absent from duty, employment, service, etc.; leave.
- left parenthesis — (character) "(". ASCII character 40. Common names: left paren; left parenthesis; left; open; paren (")" = thesis); open paren; open parenthesis; left parenthesis; left banana. Rare: so (")" = already); lparen; ITU-T: opening parenthesis; open round bracket, left round bracket, INTERCAL: wax (")" = wane); parenthisey (")" = unparenthisey); left ear. Paired with right parenthesis (")").
- left-hand dagger — a dagger of the 16th and 17th centuries, held in the left hand in dueling and used to parry the sword of an opponent.
- letter of advice — a notification from a consignor to a consignee giving specific information as to a shipment, the name of the carrier, the date shipped, etc.
- letter of marque — license or commission granted by a state to a private citizen to capture and confiscate the merchant ships of another nation.
- life after death — If you talk about life after death, you are discussing the possibility that people may continue to exist in some form after they die.
- life-threatening — endangering life: a life-threatening illness.
- lignin sulfonate — a brown powder consisting of a sulfonate salt made from waste liquor of the sulfate pulping process of soft wood: used in concrete, leather tanning, as an additive in oil-well drilling mud, and as a source of vanillin.
- line of latitude — an imaginary line on a globe, map, etc, indicating latitude
- lissajous figure — the series of plane curves traced by an object executing two mutually perpendicular harmonic motions.
- littoral warfare — military combat conducted in coastal areas.
- lleu llaw gyffes — the son of Gwydion and Arianhrod, provided with a name, weapons, and a wife through the magic and trickery of Gwydion in spite of the curses of Arianhrod.
- louisiana french — French as spoken in Louisiana; Cajun. Abbreviation: LaF.
- lower california — Baja California.
- luck of the draw — the force that seems to operate for good or ill in a person's life, as in shaping circumstances, events, or opportunities: With my luck I'll probably get pneumonia.
- madame butterfly — an opera (1904) by Giacomo Puccini.
- magnifying glass — a lens that produces an enlarged image of an object.
- maid of all work — a maid who does all types of housework
- make the fur fly — the fine, soft, thick, hairy coat of the skin of a mammal.