16-letter words containing f, e, i, s
- darwin's finches — the finches of the subfamily Geospizinae of the Galapagos Islands, showing great variation in bill structure and feeding habits: provided Darwin with evidence to support his theory of evolution
- dead-smooth file — the smoothest grade of file commonly used
- deboursification — (jargon) Removal of irrelevant newsgroups from the Newsgroups header of a followup. The term applies particularly to the removal of frivolous groups added by one of the Kooks. See also: sneck.
- debt forgiveness — the action or process of forgiving people their debts
- declassification — to remove the classification from (information, a document, etc.) that restricts access in terms of secrecy, confidentiality, etc. Compare classification (def 5).
- deep-sea fishing — the activity of catching fish that live in the deep parts of the sea
- deficit spending — Deficit spending is an economic policy in which a government spends more money raised by borrowing than it receives in revenue.
- dentist's office — A dentist's office is the room or house where a dentist works.
- depart this life — to die
- descent function — If a recursive function is of the form f x = ... f (d x) ... then d is known as the descent function.
- dimethyl sulfate — a colorless or yellow, slightly water-soluble, poisonous liquid, (CH 3) 2 SO 2 , used chiefly in organic synthesis.
- disenfranchising — Present participle of disenfranchise.
- disfranchisement — to deprive (a person) of a right of citizenship, as of the right to vote.
- distrito federal — Federal District. Abbreviation: D.F.
- diversifications — Plural form of diversification.
- do-it-yourselfer — an advocate or enthusiast of do-it-yourself
- duchess of malfi — a tragedy (1614?) by John Webster.
- eigenfrequencies — Plural form of eigenfrequency.
- electronic flash — Photography
- exemplifications — Plural form of exemplification.
- exhaust manifold — An exhaust manifold is a heat-resistant tube that connects an engine to an exhaust pipe.
- external affairs — (formerly) the Canadian federal Foreign Affairs department
- extrinsic factor — vitamin B12
- fahrenheit scale — Gabriel Daniel [German gah-bree-el dah-nee-el] /German ˈgɑ briˌɛl ˈdɑ niˌɛl/ (Show IPA), 1686–1736, German physicist: devised a temperature scale and introduced the use of mercury in thermometers.
- faintheartedness — The quality or state of being fainthearted.
- fairview heights — a city in SW Illinois.
- falling sickness — epilepsy.
- family of curves — a collection of curves whose equations differ only by values assigned a parameter or parameters.
- fashion business — the business dealing with style in clothes, cosmetics, behaviour, etc, esp the latest or most admired style
- fashion designer — creator of clothing designs
- fashion magazine — periodical about trendy clothing
- fast of gedaliah — Tzom Gedaliah.
- fat-tailed sheep — one of a class of sheep with much fat along the sides of the tail bones, raised for their meat and widely distributed in southeast Europe, northern Africa, and Asia.
- father christmas — Santa Claus.
- federal district — a district in which the national government of a country is located, especially one in Latin America.
- federal register — a bulletin, published daily by the U.S. federal government, containing the schedule of hearings before Congressional and federal agency committees, together with orders, proclamations, etc., released by the executive branch of the government.
- federalist party — a political group that favored the adoption by the states of the Constitution.
- feeblemindedness — Quality of being feeble-minded; weak intellect.
- feel constrained — If you feel constrained to do something, you feel that you must do it, even though you would prefer not to.
- feira de santana — a city in BahÍa state, E Brazil.
- feline distemper — distemper1 (def 1c).
- feminine caesura — a caesura occurring immediately after an unstressed or short syllable.
- ferdinand marcos — Ferdinand E(dralin) [ed-ruh-lin] /ˈɛd rə lɪn/ (Show IPA), 1917–1989, Philippine political leader: president 1965–86.
- ferruginous duck — a common European duck, Aythyra nyroca, having reddish-brown plumage with white wing bars
- fertile crescent — an agricultural region extending from the Levant to Iraq.
- fertility symbol — an object, esp a phallic symbol, used in fertility-cult ceremonies to symbolize regeneration
- fibonacci series — a sequence of integers in which each integer (Fibonacci number) after the second is the sum of the two preceding integers; specif., the series 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, . . .
- fictitious force — any force that is postulated to account for apparent deviations from Newton's laws of motion appearing in an accelerated reference system.
- fielder's choice — a fielder's attempt to put out a base runner rather than the batter when a play at first base would put out the batter.
- figure of speech — any expressive use of language, as a metaphor, simile, personification, or antithesis, in which words are used in other than their literal sense, or in other than their ordinary locutions, in order to suggest a picture or image or for other special effect. Compare trope (def 1).