17-letter words containing f, e, r, o, t
- heart of darkness — a short novel (1902) by Joseph Conrad.
- heat of formation — the heat evolved or absorbed when one mole of a compound is formed from its constituent atoms
- henry of portugal — ("the Navigator") 1394–1460, prince of Portugal: sponsor of geographic explorations.
- hit for the cycle — any complete round or series of occurrences that repeats or is repeated.
- hot off the press — newspaper: freshly printed
- how's-your-father — sexual intercourse
- hyperinflationary — (economics) Having very high levels of inflation.
- immunofluorescent — Of, pertaining to, or using immunofluorescence.
- impersonification — (archaic) the act of impersonating; impersonation.
- improper fraction — a fraction having the numerator greater than the denominator.
- in recognition of — If something is done in recognition of someone's achievements, it is done as a way of showing official appreciation of them.
- in the front line — Someone who is in the front line has to play a very important part in defending or achieving something.
- in the market for — an open place or a covered building where buyers and sellers convene for the sale of goods; a marketplace: a farmers' market.
- in the process of — If you are in the process of doing something, you have started to do it and are still doing it.
- incomplete flower — a flower without one or more of the normal parts, as carpels, sepals, petals, pistils, or stamens.
- induction furnace — a type of electric furnace used for melting a charge of scrap by the heat produced by its own electrical resistance.
- inertial platform — self-contained navigational devices used in inertial guidance, along with their mounting.
- integral function — an entire function.
- interconfessional — common to or occurring between churches having different confessions.
- interfenestration — a space between two windows.
- 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.
- interprofessional — following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder.
- irons in the fire — If someone has a lot of irons in the fire, they are involved in several different activities or have several different plans.
- it's your funeral — If someone says to you 'It's your funeral', they think your decision or your actions will have bad consequences for you, but they are unwilling to interfere.
- jobs for the boys — If you refer to work as jobs for the boys, you mean that the work is unfairly given to someone's friends, supporters, or relations, even though they may not be the best qualified people to do it.
- john of lancaster — Duke of Bedford, 1389–1435, Bedford, John of Lancaster, Duke of.
- john of the cross — Saint (Juan de Yepis y Álvarez) 1542–91, Spanish mystic, writer, and theologian: cofounder with Saint Theresa of the order of Discalced Carmelites.
- judgment of paris — the decision by Paris to award Aphrodite the golden apple of discord competed for by Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera.
- 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.
- letter of request — a letter sent from a court to a foreign court requesting judicial assistance
- letters of marque — a former government document authorizing an individual to make reprisals on the subjects of an enemy nation, specif. to arm a ship and capture enemy merchant ships and cargo
- liberty of speech — freedom of speech.
- lie in wait (for) — to wait so as to catch after planning an ambush or trap (for)
- life and/or death — If you say that something is a matter of life and death, you are emphasizing that it is extremely important, often because someone may die or suffer great harm if people do not act immediately.
- life imprisonment — long-term prison sentence
- life of the party — most lively, outgoing person
- litigation friend — a person acting on behalf of an infant or other person under legal disability
- little fork river — a river in N Minnesota, flowing N to the Rainy River on the Canadian border. 132 miles (212 km) long.
- lord of the flies — a novel (1954) by William Golding.
- lower forty-eight — the forty-eight conterminous states of the United States
- magnetizing force — that part of the magnetic induction that is determined at any point in space by the current density and displacement current at that point independently of the magnetic or other physical properties of the surrounding medium. Symbol: H.
- make reference to — mention, allude to
- make the worst of — to be pessimistic about
- man enough to/for — If you say that a man is man enough to do something, you mean that he has the necessary courage or ability to do it.
- manufactured home — a prefabricated house, assembled in modular sections.