17-letter words containing i, m, s
- thiopental sodium — a barbiturate, C 11 H 18 N 2 NaO 2 S, used as an anesthetic in surgery and, in psychiatry, for narcoanalysis and to stimulate recall of past events.
- three mile island — an island in the Susquehanna River, near Middletown, Pennsylvania, SE of Harrisburg: scene of a near-disastrous accident at a nuclear plant in 1979 that raised the issue of nuclear-energy safety.
- three-dimensional — having, or seeming to have, the dimension of depth as well as width and height.
- threshing machine — a machine for removing grains and seeds from straw and chaff.
- tilt at windmills — to cause to lean, incline, slope, or slant.
- to lose your mind — If you say that someone is losing their mind, you mean that they are becoming mad.
- to read sb's mind — If you can read someone's mind, you know what they are thinking without them saying anything.
- to slip your mind — If something slips your mind, you forget it.
- trans-mississippi — across or beyond the Mississippi River.
- transcendentalism — transcendental character, thought, or language.
- transformationist — transformist.
- transmission line — a system of conductors, as coaxial cable, a wave guide, or a pair of parallel wires, used to transmit signals.
- triboluminescence — luminescence produced by friction, usually within a crystalline substance.
- tridimensionality — having three dimensions.
- trigger mechanism — a physiological or psychological process caused by a stimulus and resulting in a usually severe reaction.
- trucial sheikdoms — an independent federation in E Arabia, formed in 1971, now comprising seven emirates on the S coast (formerly, Pirate Coast or Trucial Coast) of the Persian Gulf, formerly under British protection: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah (joined 1972), and Fujairah. About 32,300 sq. mi. (83,657 sq. km). Capital: Abu Dhabi. Abbreviation: U.A.E.
- ultimate strength — the quantity of the utmost tensile, compressive, or shearing stress that a given unit area of a certain material is expected to bear without failing.
- ultrametamorphism — metamorphism during which the temperature of a rock exceeds its melting point.
- uncircumscribable — to draw a line around; encircle: to circumscribe a city on a map.
- uncle tom's cabin — an antislavery novel (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
- uncompassionately — having or showing compassion: a compassionate person; a compassionate letter.
- undercompensation — to compensate or pay less than is fair, customary, or expected.
- uniformitarianism — supporting, conforming to, or derived from a theory or doctrine about uniformity, especially on the subject of geology.
- unimaginativeness — the quality of being unimaginative
- universal grammar — a grammar that attempts to establish the properties and constraints common to all possible human languages.
- unprofessionalism — not professional; not pertaining to or characteristic of a profession.
- unsympathetically — in a manner that is not characterized by feeling or showing sympathy
- urogenital system — the urinary tract and reproductive organs
- user brain damage — (humour) (UBD) A description (usually abbreviated) used to close a trouble report obviously due to utter cluelessness on the user's part. Compare pilot error; opposite: PBD; see also brain-damaged, PEBCAK.
- utmost good faith — a principle used in insurance contracts, legally obliging all parties to reveal to the others any information that might influence the others' decision to enter into the contract
- utopian socialism — (sometimes initial capital letter) an economic system based on the premise that if capital voluntarily surrendered its ownership of the means of production to the state or the workers, unemployment and poverty would be abolished.
- vacuum aspiration — menstrual extraction.
- valetudinarianism — the state, condition, or habits of a valetudinarian.
- van diemen's land — former name of Tasmania.
- varix lymphaticus — a similar condition affecting an artery or lymphatic vessel
- vehicle emissions — substances emitted from a vehicle as a result of internal combustion
- velaric airstream — a current of mouth air produced by the action of the tongue, operant in forming click sounds.
- vermiform process — vermiform appendix.
- vestibular system — the sensory mechanism in the inner ear that detects movement of the head and helps to control balance
- visually impaired — (of a person) having reduced vision so severe as to constitute a handicap.
- wade-giles system — a system of Romanization of Chinese, devised by Sir Thomas Francis Wade (1818–95) and adapted by Herbert Allen Giles (1845–1935), widely used in representing Chinese words and names in English, especially before the adoption of pinyin.
- waianae mountains — a mountain range in W Oahu, Hawaii. Highest peak, Mount Kaala, 4025 feet (1228 meters).
- waist measurement — a measure of the circumference of the narrowest part of a person's waist
- wallowa mountains — a mountain range in NE Oregon. Highest peak, Sacajawea Peak, 9838 feet (2999 meters).
- war establishment — the full wartime complement of men, equipment, and vehicles of a military unit
- wardrobe mistress — a woman in charge of keeping theatrical costumes cleaned, pressed, and in wearable condition.
- warm-up exercises — preparatory exercises done to warm up the muscles
- welfare economics — a branch of economics concerned with improving human welfare and social conditions chiefly through the optimum distribution of wealth, the relief or reduction of unemployment, etc.
- well-accomplished — completed; done; effected: an accomplished fact.
- welsh nationalism — the political belief that Wales should be independent