17-letter words containing i, r, s, a, t, e
- liberal democrats — (in Britain) a political party with centrist policies; established in 1988 as the Social and Liberal Democrats when the Liberal Party merged with the Social Democratic Party; renamed Liberal Democrats in 1989
- linear assignment — assignment problem
- louisiana tanager — western tanager.
- magnetic roasting — roasting of a nonmagnetic ore to render it magnetic so that it can be separated from gangue by means of a magnetic field.
- magnetoresistance — a change in the electrical resistance of a material upon exposure to a magnetic field.
- mains electricity — electricity supplied to a building through wires
- maintainer script — (Debian) One of the scripts (preinst, prerm, postinst, postrm) that may be included in a Debian binary package. These scripts may create and/or remove symlinks, files or directories that, for some reason, could not be done directly by dpkg. Maintainer scripts frequently create or update the symlinks in the /etc/rc?.d directories and start, stop, or restart daemons.
- majority decision — a decision supported by more than half the people involved
- make conversation — If you make conversation, you talk to someone in order to be polite and not because you really want to.
- make inroads into — to start to use up the supply of something
- man in the street — the ordinary person; the average citizen: the political opinions of the man in the street.
- man's best friend — a dog, especially as a pet.
- mare fecunditatis — (Sea of Fertility) a dark plain in the fourth quadrant and extending into the first quadrant of the face of the moon: about 160,000 sq. mi. (415,000 sq. km).
- marital relations — a euphemistic term for sexual intercourse between married partners
- martha's vineyard — an island off SE Massachusetts: summer resort. About 100 sq. mi. (259 sq. km).
- massage therapist — sb who gives body rubs
- master of science — a master's degree given usually in a specific branch of the natural sciences, mathematics, or technology.
- materialistically — excessively concerned with physical comforts or the acquisition of wealth and material possessions, rather than with spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values.
- materials science — the study of the characteristics and uses of various materials, as glass, plastics, and metals.
- maternal instinct — motherly urge to protect and nurture
- mean-spiritedness — the quality of being mean-spirited
- mediterranean sea — a sea surrounded by Africa, Europe, and Asia. 2400 miles (3865 km) long; 1,145,000 sq. mi. (2,965,550 sq. km); greatest known depth 14,436 feet (4400 meters).
- meiji restoration — revolution in Japanese life and government that occurred after the accession of Emperor Mutsuhito (1867), characterized by the downfall of the shogun and feudalism and the creation of a modern state
- mensural notation — a system of musical notation of the 13th to the late 16th centuries, marked by the use of note symbols such as the longa and brevis, the absence of bar lines and ties, and the equivalence in value of one note to either two or three of the next smaller degree.
- mercantile system — a system of political and economic policy, evolving with the modern national state and seeking to secure a nation's political and economic supremacy in its rivalry with other states. According to this system, money was regarded as a store of wealth, and the goal of a state was the accumulation of precious metals, by exporting the largest possible quantity of its products and importing as little as possible, thus establishing a favorable balance of trade.
- merchant shipping — shipping which is involved in commerce (rather than defence, etc)
- mercy otis warren — Earl, 1891–1974, U.S. lawyer and political leader: chief justice of the U.S. 1953–69.
- messier catalogue — a catalogue of 103 nonstellar objects, such as nebulae and galaxies, prepared in 1781–86. An object is referred to by its number in this catalogue, for example the Andromeda Galaxy is referred to as M31
- metalloproteinase — (enzyme) Any of several proteinases that have a metal atom (often zinc) at their active centre.
- microencapsulated — Encapsulated using microencapsulation.
- minas de riotinto — a town in SW Spain: copper mines.
- minister of state — (in the British Parliament) a minister, usually below cabinet rank, appointed to assist a senior minister with heavy responsibilities
- ministering angel — a spirit who is believed to look after the needs of a particular person or group
- mischaracterizing — Present participle of mischaracterize.
- misinterpretation — An instance of misinterpreting.
- misrepresentation — to represent incorrectly, improperly, or falsely.
- misrepresentative — to represent incorrectly, improperly, or falsely.
- miss lonelyhearts — a novel (1933) by Nathanael West.
- misunderstandable — Capable of being misunderstood.
- misunderstandings — Plural form of misunderstanding.
- montagu's harrier — a brownish European bird of prey, Circus pygargus, with long narrow wings and a long tail: family Accipitridae (hawks, harriers, etc)
- multimillionaires — Plural form of multimillionaire.
- musical interlude — an interval in a play, event or occasion during which music is played
- myasthenia gravis — a disease of impaired transmission of motor nerve impulses, characterized by episodic muscle weakness and easy fatigability, especially of the face, tongue, neck, and respiratory muscles: caused by autoimmune destruction of acetylcholine receptors. Abbreviation: MG.
- naked singularity — an infinitely dense point mass without a surrounding black hole
- national seashore — an area of seacoast set aside and maintained by the U.S. government for purposes of recreation or wildlife study.
- national security — defence of a country
- natural selection — the process by which forms of life having traits that better enable them to adapt to specific environmental pressures, as predators, changes in climate, or competition for food or mates, will tend to survive and reproduce in greater numbers than others of their kind, thus ensuring the perpetuation of those favorable traits in succeeding generations.
- negative transfer — the obstruction of or interference with new learning because of previous learning, as when a U.S. tourist in England learns to drive on the left side of the road.
- neurofibromatosis — a dominantly inherited genetic disorder characterized by flat brown patches on the skin, neurofibromas of the skin and internal organs, and in some cases skeletal deformity.