14-letter words containing i, s, o, a
- audio response — a computer response that is audible rather than textual or graphical
- audio-cassette — a cassette of tape on which sound only is recorded
- audiocassettes — Plural form of audiocassette.
- auspiciousness — The state or quality of being auspicious or successful.
- austro-asiatic — a hypothetical phylum or superfamily of languages consisting of Mon-Khmer and certain other languages of India and South-East Asia. Links with Malayo-Polynesian have also been suggested
- authorisations — Plural form of authorisation.
- authoritarians — Plural form of authoritarian.
- authorizations — Plural form of authorization.
- autoantibodies — Plural form of autoantibody.
- autoconfiscate — (software, jargon) A term coined by Noah Friedman meaning to set up or modify a source-code distribution so that it configures and builds using the GNU project's autoconf/automake/libtools suite.
- autodesk, inc. — (company) The distributors of the AutoCAD CAD package. Address: Sausalito, CA, USA.
- autoregression — (mathematics) An autoregressive process that is used to model many types of natural behaviour.
- autoregressive — (statistics) Employing autoregression, using a weighted sample of past data to predict future results.
- autosuggestion — a process of suggestion in which the person unconsciously supplies or consciously attempts to supply the means of influencing his own behaviour or beliefs
- avalokitesvara — a male Bodhisattva, widely revered and identified with various persons and gods.
- avariciousness — The state or quality of being avaricious.
- axial skeleton — the bones that together comprise the skull and the vertebral column
- axiomatisation — the process of reducing down to a system of basic truths, or axioms
- axis of diesel — a name given to a bloc of countries (Russia, Iran, and Venezuela) whose reserves of oil enhance their political importance
- axis-ordinates — y-axis (def 1).
- back to basics — If you talk about getting back to basics, you are suggesting that people have become too concerned with complicated details or new theories, and that they should concentrate on simple, important ideas or activities.
- back-to-basics — stressing simplicity and adherence to fundamental principles: The movement suggests a back-to-basics approach to living for those whose lives have become complicated.
- backing vocals — a vocal accompaniment for a pop singer
- backside-front — backend-to.
- bacteriologist — a branch of microbiology dealing with the identification, study, and cultivation of bacteria and with their applications in medicine, agriculture, industry, and biotechnology.
- bacteriophages — Plural form of bacteriophage.
- bacteriostasis — inhibition of the growth and reproduction of bacteria, esp by the action of a chemical agent
- bacteriostatic — the prevention of the further growth of bacteria.
- ballon d'essai — a project or policy put forward experimentally to gauge reactions to it
- balsaminaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Balsaminaceae, a family of flowering plants, including balsam and touch-me-not, that have irregular flowers and explosive capsules
- balto-slavonic — a hypothetical subfamily of Indo-European languages consisting of Baltic and Slavonic. It is now generally believed that similarities between them result from geographical proximity rather than any special relationship
- bang to rights — caught red-handed
- baptismal font — a large bowl for baptismal water, usually mounted on a pedestal
- baptismal vows — the solemn promises made during baptism, either by the person baptized or by his or her sponsors
- baranof island — an island off SE Alaska, in the western part of the Alexander Archipelago. Area: 4162 sq km (1607 sq miles)
- barbados pride — Also called bead tree. a tropical African and Asian tree, Adenanthera pavonina, of the legume family, having feathery foliage and bearing red seeds that are used in beadwork.
- barbara liskov — (person) Professor Barbara Liskov was the first US woman to be awarded a PhD in computing, and her innovations can be found in every modern programming language. She currently (2009) heads the Programming Methodology Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Liskov's design innovations have, over the decades, made software more reliable and easier to maintain. She has invented two computer progamming languages: CLU, an object-orientated language, and Argus, a distributed programming language. Liskov's research forms the basis of modern programming languages such as Java, C# and C++. One of the biggest impacts of her work came from her contributions to the use of data abstraction, a method for organising complex programs. See Liskov substitution principle. In June 2009 she will receive the A. M. Turing Award.
- bare ownership — ownership of a piece of property without the right to use and derive profit from that property
- baroja y nessi — Pío [pee-oh;; Spanish pee-aw] /ˈpi oʊ;; Spanish ˈpi ɔ/ (Show IPA), 1872–1956, Spanish novelist.
- basal ganglion — any of several masses of gray matter in each cerebral hemisphere.
- base community — (especially in South America) a group of people taking part in religious devotions and Bible study, who seek to apply this in their socioeconomic and political situation.
- basidiomycetes — Mycology. any of a group of fungi constituting the phylum Basidiomycota of the kingdom Fungi (or, in older classification schemes, the class Basidiomycetes of the kingdom Plantae), characterized by bearing the spores on a basidium, including the smuts, rust, mushrooms, and puffballs.
- basso continuo — continuo.
- bastard indigo — a bushy shrub, Amorpha fruticosa, of the legume family, native to North America, having elongated clusters of dull purplish or bluish flowers.
- bastardisation — Alternative form of bastardization.
- bastardization — the act of bastardizing
- battle of wits — If you refer to a situation as a battle of wits, you mean that it involves people with opposing aims who compete with each other using their intelligence, rather than force.
- battle station — the place or position that one is assigned to for battle or in an emergency.
- bazillionaires — Plural form of bazillionaire.
- beard-stroking — deep thought