20-letter words containing i, r, a, w
- malware as a service — (security, legal) A kind of cybercrime as a service in which the service provider operates or distributes malware on behalf of others for money.
- medical underwriting — Medical underwriting is the use of medical or health status information in the evaluation of an applicant for life or health insurance.
- medieval warm period — the time, c900–1400, during which warmer temperatures existed in many parts of the world. Abbreviation: MWP.
- microcrystalline wax — Microcrystalline wax is a wax used as a stiffening agent and as a coating agent for tablets and capsules.
- microwave background — a background of microwave electromagnetic radiation with a black-body spectrum discovered in 1965, understood to be the thermal remnant of the big bang with which the universe began
- neighbourhood warden — a person employed by a local authority to patrol residential areas and deal with antisocial behaviour
- new democratic party — the Canadian social democratic party formed in 1961
- new siberian islands — an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, off the N mainland of Russia, in the Sakha Republic. Area: about 37 555 sq km (14 500 sq miles)
- northern white cedar — any of several chiefly coniferous trees valued for their wood, especially Chamaecyparis thyoides, of the eastern U.S., or Thuja occidentalis (northern white cedar) of northeastern North America.
- norwegian forest cat — a breed of long-haired cat with a long bushy tail and a long mane
- officer of the watch — the officer primarily responsible for the navigation of a ship, in the absence of the captain, during a certain watch.
- on the drawing board — in the planning stage
- paint the town (red) — to go on a boisterous spree; carouse
- pan-american highway — a road system proposed in the 1920s linking nations of the Western Hemisphere, extending from Alaska to Santiago, Chile, with some gaps remaining in Panama and Colombia. The section between Nuevo Laredo, Mexico and Panama City is known as the Inter-American Highway Total length about 16,000 miles (25,744 km).
- particle beam weapon — a weapon that fires particle beams into the atmosphere or space
- pickwickian syndrome — an abnormality characterized by extreme obesity accompanied by sleepiness, hypoventilation, and polycythemia.
- play merry hell with — to disturb greatly; disrupt
- power of appointment — the authority granted by a donor to a donee to select the person or persons who are to enjoy property rights or income upon the death of the donor or of the donee or after the termination of existing rights or interests.
- prince edward island — an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, forming a province of Canada: 2184 sq. mi. (5655 sq. km). Capital: Charlottetown.
- prince william sound — a sound in the Gulf of Alaska, on the S coast of Alaska: S end of Trans-Alaska oil pipeline at port of Valdez.
- red-winged blackbird — a North American blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, the male of which is black with scarlet patches, usually bordered with buff or yellow, on the bend of the wing.
- ring wall foundation — A ring wall foundation is a base made of concrete, used to put large tanks on.
- rotary-wing aircraft — an aircraft, esp a helicopter, that is lifted or propelled by rotating airfoils
- rough-winged swallow — either of two New World swallows of the genus Stelgidopteryx, having outer primary feathers with small barblike hooks on the margins.
- saint andrew's cross — a low evergreen shrub, Ascyrum hypericoides, native to temperate and subtropical America, having flowers in clusters of three: often cultivated.
- saxe-weimar-eisenach — a former grand duchy in Thuringia in central Germany.
- schwarzschild radius — the radius at which a gravitationally collapsing celestial body becomes a black hole.
- schwarzschild sphere — the sphere which surrounds a non-rotating uncharged black hole, from within which no information can escape because of gravitational forces
- senior aircraftwoman — a rank in the Royal Air Force comparable to that of a private in the army, though not the lowest rank in the Royal Air Force
- separation allowance — an allowance paid to a member of the military when they are forced to be apart from their family due to their military duties
- separation of powers — the principle or system of vesting in separate branches the executive, legislative, and judicial powers of a government.
- sharp-tailed sparrow — a sparrow, Ammospiza caudacuta, inhabiting salt marshes in North America, having narrow, sharply pointed tail feathers.
- sir william berkeley — Busby [buhz-bee] /ˈbʌz bi/ (Show IPA), (William Berkeley Enos) 1895–1976, U.S. choreographer and musical-film director.
- snowflake generation — the generation of people who became adults in the 2010s, viewed as being less resilient and more prone to taking offence than previous generations
- snows of kilimanjaro — a short story (1936) by Ernest Hemingway.
- software engineering — the process of writing computer programs
- spanish west african — of or relating to the former Spanish overseas territory of Spanish West Africa (now the overseas provinces of Ifni and Spanish Sahara) or its inhabitants
- spanish-american war — the war between the U.S. and Spain in 1898.
- spread like wildfire — If something, especially news or a rumour, spreads like wildfire, it spreads extremely quickly.
- state highway patrol — a state's road traffic police
- straight as an arrow — direct, unwavering
- switchboard operator — a person who operates an installation in a telephone exchange, office, hotel, etc, at which the interconnection of telephone lines is manually controlled
- the last word in sth — If you say that something is the last word in luxury, comfort, or some other quality, you are emphasizing that it has a great deal of this quality.
- the roaring twenties — a phrase used to describe the decade of the 1920s (esp in America), so called due to the social, artistic, and cultural dynamism of the period
- the whole nine yards — everything that is required; the whole thing
- third-party software — software created by programmers or publishers independent of the manufacturer of the hardware for which it is intended.
- to be a warning shot — to be a warning
- to be walking on air — If you say that you are walking on air or floating on air, you mean that you feel extremely happy about something.
- to reach new heights — to become higher than ever before
- to spread your wings — If you spread your wings, you do something new and rather difficult or move to a new place, because you feel more confident in your abilities than you used to and you want to gain wider experience.