16-letter words containing f, i, r, l
- cholera infantum — an often fatal form of gastroenteritis occurring in infants, not of the same cause as cholera but having somewhat similar characteristics.
- chromic fluoride — a green, crystalline, water-insoluble powder, CrF 3 ⋅4H 2 O or CrF 3 ⋅9H 2 O: used chiefly in printing and dyeing woolens.
- clarified butter — butter with the water and milk solids removed, used for cooking at high temperatures without burning
- collective fruit — multiple fruit
- come full circle — to arrive back at one's starting point
- complex fraction — a fraction in which the numerator or denominator or both contain fractions
- coreferentiality — (of two words or phrases) having reference to the same person or thing.
- correction fluid — a fluid, usually white, that can be painted over a mistake in writing or typing so that the correct form can be written or typed on top
- council of trent — the council of the Roman Catholic Church that met between 1545 and 1563 at Trent in S Tyrol. Reacting against the Protestants, it reaffirmed traditional Catholic beliefs and formulated the ideals of the Counter-Reformation
- criminal offence — an action which is punishable under the law
- croydon facelift — the tightening effect on the skin of a woman's face caused by securing the hair at the back of the head in a tight ponytail
- customer profile — a description or analysis of a typical or ideal customer for one's business
- cycle of erosion — the hypothetical sequence of modifications to the earth's surface by erosion, from the original uplift of the land to the ultimate low plain, usually divided into the youthful, mature, and old stages
- decimal fraction — a fraction whose denominator is some power of 10, usually indicated by a dot (decimal point or point) written before the numerator: as 0.4 = 4/10; 0.126 = 126/1000.
- definite article — The word 'the' is sometimes called the definite article.
- deflationary gap — a situation in which total spending in an economy is insufficient to buy all the output that can be produced with full employment
- deflecting force — the apparent deflection (Coriolis acceleration) of a body in motion with respect to the earth, as seen by an observer on the earth, attributed to a fictitious force (Coriolis force) but actually caused by the rotation of the earth and appearing as a deflection to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and a deflection to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
- depart this life — to die
- dictionary flame — [Usenet] An attempt to sidetrack a debate away from issues by insisting on meanings for key terms that presuppose a desired conclusion or smuggle in an implicit premise. A common tactic of people who prefer argument over definitions to disputes about reality. Compare spelling flame.
- distrito federal — Federal District. Abbreviation: D.F.
- do-it-yourselfer — an advocate or enthusiast of do-it-yourself
- documentary film — factual, informative film
- dolce far niente — pleasing inactivity.
- dorothy canfield — Dorothy, Fisher, Dorothy Canfield.
- electric furnace — any furnace in which the heat is provided by an electric current
- electrical fault — a fault caused by something electrical
- electronic flash — Photography
- executive relief — sexual intercourse or masturbation
- external affairs — (formerly) the Canadian federal Foreign Affairs department
- facial neuralgia — paroxysmal darting pain and muscular twitching in the face, evoked by rubbing certain points of the face.
- 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.
- fair to middling — free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice: a fair decision; a fair judge.
- family of curves — a collection of curves whose equations differ only by values assigned a parameter or parameters.
- farmington hills — a city in SE Michigan.
- farquhar islands — an island group in the Indian Ocean: administratively part of the Seychelles
- 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.
- feel constrained — If you feel constrained to do something, you feel that you must do it, even though you would prefer not to.
- feline distemper — distemper1 (def 1c).
- ferroelectricity — (physics) The electric polarization of a substance (spontaneous presence of a dipole moment) that is analagous to ferromagnetism.
- fertile crescent — an agricultural region extending from the Levant to Iraq.
- fertile material — material which can be converted into a fissile material by a neutron-induced nuclear reaction, as uranium-238 or thorium-232
- fertility clinic — a place at which a couple who are unable to conceive may receive medical advice and treatments to help them to have a child
- fertility factor — a sex-determining chromosome or gene.
- fertility symbol — an object, esp a phallic symbol, used in fertility-cult ceremonies to symbolize regeneration
- feulgen reaction — a reaction in which an aldehyde combines with a modified Schiff's reagent to produce a purplish compound: used especially to test for the presence of DNA
- 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.
- fielding average — a measure of the fielding ability of a player, obtained by dividing the number of put-outs and assists by the number of put-outs, assists, and errors and carrying out the result to three decimal places. A player with ten errors in 600 chances has a fielding average of .984.
- file compression — (algorithm) The compression of data in a file, usually to reduce storage requirements.