16-letter words containing f, m, s
- fertility symbol — an object, esp a phallic symbol, used in fertility-cult ceremonies to symbolize regeneration
- file composition — A typesetting language.
- file compression — (algorithm) The compression of data in a file, usually to reduce storage requirements.
- finance minister — a member of a government in charge of the financial affairs of a state etc
- first-time buyer — someone who is buying his or her first house
- fisherman's bend — a knot made by taking a round turn on the object to which the rope is to be fastened, passing the end of the rope around the standing part and under the round turn, and securing the end.
- fisherman's knot — a knot for joining two ropes of equal thickness consisting of an overhand knot or double overhand knot by each rope round the other, so that the two knots jam when pulled tight
- fisherman's ring — the signet ring worn by the pope.
- flash eliminator — a device fitted to the muzzle of a firearm to reduce the flash made by the ignited propellant gases
- flashbulb memory — the clear recollections that a person may have of the circumstances associated with a dramatic event
- flat-felled seam — a seam on the face of a garment, as on the outside of the legs of blue jeans, made by overlapping or interlocking one seam allowance with the other and top-stitching them together onto the garment with two parallel rows of stitches.
- flight simulator — a device used in pilot and crew training that provides a cockpit environment and sensations of flight under actual conditions.
- fluorescent lamp — a tubular electric discharge lamp in which light is produced by the fluorescence of phosphors coating the inside of the tube.
- flynn's taxonomy — (architecture) A classification of computer architectures based on the number of streams of instructions and data: Multiple instruction/single data stream (MISD) - unusual.
- for good measure — a unit or standard of measurement: weights and measures.
- foreign minister — (in countries other than the U.S.) a cabinet minister who conducts and supervises foreign and diplomatic relations with other states. Also called, especially British, foreign secretary. Compare secretary of state (def 1).
- fort sam houston — a military reservation and U.S. Army training center in San Antonio, Tex.
- four-course meal — A four-course meal is a meal that consists of four parts served one after the other.
- four-dimensional — of a space having points, or a set having elements, which require four coordinates for their unique determination.
- four-masted brig — jackass bark (def 2).
- fourth dimension — Physics, Mathematics. a dimension in addition to length, width, and depth, used so as to be able to employ geometrical language in discussing phenomena that depend on four variables: Time is considered a fourth dimension for locating points in space-time.
- frederic mistral — Frédéric [frey-dey-reek] /freɪ deɪˈrik/ (Show IPA), 1830–1914, French Provençal poet: Nobel prize 1904.
- french cameroons — Cameroun (def 2).
- from one's heart — very sincerely or deeply
- fuel consumption — use of a material to generate power
- full steam ahead — If something such as a plan or a project goes full steam ahead, it progresses quickly.
- fullness of time — the proper or destined time.
- fund supermarket — an online facility offering discounted investment opportunities and advice
- fundamental bass — a bass consisting of the roots of the chords employed.
- fundamental star — one of a number of stars with positions that have been determined accurately and that are used as reference stars for the determination of positions of other celestial objects.
- fundamentalistic — Fundamentalist.
- goosefoot family — formerly, the plant family Chenopodiaceae, characterized by often weedy herbaceous plants and shrubs having simple, usually alternate leaves, small and inconspicuous flowers, and tiny, dry fruit, and including the beet, glasswort, goosefoot, Russian thistle, saltbush, and spinach; now part of the amaranth family, Amaranthaceae.
- homme d'affaires — a businessman.
- house of commons — the elective, lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, and various other countries in the Commonwealth of Nations.
- if you must know — You say 'if you must know' when you tell someone something that you did not want them to know and you want to suggest that you think they were wrong to ask you about it.
- imperfect fungus — a fungus for which only the asexual reproductive stage is known, as any fungus of the Fungi imperfecti.
- imperfectiveness — (grammar) The state or quality of being imperfective.
- infantile autism — a disorder appearing in children before the age of two and a half, characterized by lack of interest in others, impaired communication skills, and bizarre behavior, as ritualistic acts and excessive attachment to objects.
- information desk — helpdesk, information point
- informed consent — a patient's consent to a medical or surgical procedure or to participation in a clinical study after being properly advised of the relevant medical facts and the risks involved.
- job's comforters — a person who unwittingly or maliciously depresses or discourages someone while attempting to be consoling.
- john of damascus — Saint, a.d. c675–749, priest, theologian, and scholar of the Eastern Church, born in Damascus.
- 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
- knights of malta — the order of Hospitalers.
- law of parsimony — a principle according to which an explanation of a thing or event is made with the fewest possible assumptions.
- leasehold reform — reform of the law relating to leasehold property
- magnifying glass — a lens that produces an enlarged image of an object.
- make a go of sth — If you say that someone is making a go of something such as a business or relationship, you mean that they are having some success with it.
- make an issue of — If you make an issue of something, you try to make other people think about it or discuss it, because you are concerned or annoyed about it.