15-letter words containing i, r, a, w
- share ownership — the owning of shares in a company
- shortwave radio — a radio that transmits or receives shortwaves.
- shrink-wrapping — a flexible plastic wrapping designed to shrink about its contours to protect and seal something
- sidewalk artist — an artist who draws pictures on the sidewalk, especially with colored chalk, as a means of soliciting money from passers-by.
- sparkling water — soda water (def 1).
- spawning ground — a place where fish deposit their eggs for fertilization
- stalactite work — (in Islamic architecture) intricate decorative corbeling in the form of brackets, squinches, and portions of pointed vaults.
- starfish flower — carrion flower (def 2).
- stationary wave — standing wave.
- straightforward — going or directed straight ahead: a straightforward gaze.
- strawberry dish — a shallow, circular fruit dish with a fluted or pierced border.
- streamline flow — the flow of a fluid past an object such that the velocity at any fixed point in the fluid is constant or varies in a regular manner.
- swiss army code — (programming, humour) Code for an application that is suffering from feature creep. Swiss Army Code does many things, but does none of them well.
- thankworthiness — the state or quality of being thankworthy or deserving thanks
- the cesarewitch — a long-distance horserace run each year in October at Newmarket racecourse
- the wherewithal — necessary funds, resources, or equipment (for something or to do something)
- the working man — working class people collectively
- thorndike's law — the principle that all learnt behaviour is regulated by rewards and punishments, proposed by Edward Lee Thorndike (1874–1949), US psychologist
- to carry weight — If a person or their opinion carries weight, they are respected and are able to influence people.
- towers of hanoi — (games) A classic computer science problem, invented by Edouard Lucas in 1883, often used as an example of recursion. "In the great temple at Benares, says he, beneath the dome which marks the centre of the world, rests a brass plate in which are fixed three diamond needles, each a cubit high and as thick as the body of a bee. On one of these needles, at the creation, God placed sixty-four discs of pure gold, the largest disc resting on the brass plate, and the others getting smaller and smaller up to the top one. This is the Tower of Bramah. Day and night unceasingly the priests transfer the discs from one diamond needle to another according to the fixed and immutable laws of Bramah, which require that the priest on duty must not move more than one disc at a time and that he must place this disc on a needle so that there is no smaller disc below it. When the sixty-four discs shall have been thus transferred from the needle on which at the creation God placed them to one of the other needles, tower, temple, and Brahmins alike will crumble into dust, and with a thunderclap the world will vanish." The recursive solution is: Solve for n-1 discs recursively, then move the remaining largest disc to the free needle. Note that there is also a non-recursive solution: On odd-numbered moves, move the smallest sized disk clockwise. On even-numbered moves, make the single other move which is possible.
- training wheels — a pair of small wheels attached one on each side of the rear wheel of a bicycle for stability while one is learning to ride.
- transfer window — the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other teams into their own
- travelling wave — a wave carrying energy away from its source
- trigger warning — a stated warning that the content of a text, video, etc., may upset or offend some people, especially those who have previously experienced a related trauma: a blog post with a trigger warning for rape.
- twist one's arm — to combine, as two or more strands or threads, by winding together; intertwine.
- twitching trail — a logging road sufficiently developed to allow the hauling of logs along it by horse or tractor.
- unanswerability — the quality of not being answerable or contestable
- unseaworthiness — constructed, outfitted, manned, and in all respects fitted for a voyage at sea.
- upward mobility — movement from one social level to a higher one (upward mobility) or a lower one (downward mobility) as by changing jobs or marrying.
- upwardly mobile — See under vertical mobility (def 1).
- viewing gallery — an area in a building or outside for viewing an activity, the surrounding scenery, etc
- w.h. richardson — Henry Handel (Henrietta Richardson Robertson) 1870–1946, Australian novelist.
- wage bargaining — discussions between representatives of employees and employers in order to agree levels of pay
- walk-in traffic — The walk-in traffic of a store is the number of people who choose to visit it as they pass by.
- wallpaper music — music that is pleasant but not interesting, so people do not pay much attention to it
- walpurgis night — (especially in medieval German folklore) the evening preceding the feast day of St. Walpurgis, when witches congregated, especially on the Brocken.
- warrant officer — (in the U.S. Armed Forces) an officer of one of four grades ranking above enlisted personnel and below commissioned officers.
- water authority — an official body which is responsible for providing water
- water pimpernel — the brookweed.
- water pollution — the pollution of the sea and rivers
- water-resistant — resisting though not entirely preventing the penetration of water.
- weapons carrier — a light truck for transporting weapons or munitions in the field.
- wearing apparel — clothing; garments.
- weather station — an installation equipped and used for meteorological observation.
- weatherboarding — an early type of board used as a siding for a building.
- weatherproofing — Present participle of weatherproof.
- wedding planner — sb hired to organize a marriage day
- weekend warrior — a reservist who attends weekend meetings of his or her unit in order to fulfill military obligations.
- weight training — weightlifting done as a conditioning exercise.
- weimar republic — the German republic (1919–33), founded at Weimar.