16-letter words containing l, a, c, e
- steal a march on — to walk with regular and measured tread, as soldiers on parade; advance in step in an organized body.
- steam locomotive — a locomotive moved by steam power generated in its own boiler: still in commercial use in nations that have not yet converted entirely to diesel and electric locomotives.
- stick out a mile — to be extremely obvious
- sticking plaster — an adhesive cloth or other material for covering and closing superficial wounds, holding bandages in place, etc.
- stinging capsule — a nematocyst.
- stonecrop family — the plant family Crassulaceae, characterized by succulent herbaceous plants and shrubs with simple, fleshy leaves, clusters of small flowers, and dry, dehiscent fruit, and including hen-and-chickens, houseleek, kalanchoe, live-forever, orpine, sedum, and stonecrop.
- stop-loss clause — a limitation on the amount of loss sustained by the insured without compensation in a given period.
- strait-lacedness — the state or quality of being strait-laced
- strange particle — any elementary particle with a strangeness quantum number other than zero.
- strike a balance — compromise
- structural steel — the variety of steel shapes rolled for use in construction.
- styralyl acetate — methylphenylcarbinyl acetate.
- sulfocarbanilide — thiocarbanilide.
- sulu archipelago — an island group in the SW Philippines, separating the Sulawesi Sea from the Sulu Sea. 1086 sq. mi. (2813 sq. km). Capital: Jolo.
- summa theologica — a philosophical and theological work (1265–74) by St. Thomas Aquinas, consisting of an exposition of Christian doctrine.
- summer complaint — an acute condition of diarrhea, occurring during the hot summer months chiefly in infants and children, caused by bacterial contamination of food and associated with poor hygiene.
- superficialities — being at, on, or near the surface: a superficial wound.
- superserviceable — overly disposed to be of service; officious.
- surface integral — the limit, as the norm of the partition of a given surface into sections of area approaches zero, of the sum of the product of the areas times the value of a given function of three variables at some point on each section.
- tabernacle frame — a frame, especially of the 18th century, around a doorway, niche, etc., that suggests a small building, characteristically one with a pediment and two pilasters on a base.
- taft-hartley act — an act of the U.S. Congress (1947) that supersedes but continues most of the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act and that, in addition, provides for an eighty-day injunction against strikes that endanger public health and safety and bans closed shops, featherbedding, secondary boycotts, jurisdictional strikes, and certain other union practices.
- take one's place — to take up one's usual or specified position
- teachable moment — a specific occurrence, situation, or experience that can be used to teach people about something more general: Her death created a teachable moment about prescription drug abuse.
- teachers college — a four-year college offering courses for the training of primary and secondary school teachers and granting the bachelor's degree and often advanced degrees.
- technical school — college of further and vocational education
- telecommunicator — to transmit (data, sound, images, etc.) by telecommunications.
- tent caterpillar — any of the larvae of several moths of the genus Malacosoma, which feed on the leaves of orchard and shade trees and live colonially in a tentlike silken web.
- tertiary college — a college system incorporating the secondary school sixth form and vocational courses
- thalamencephalon — the diencephalon.
- the black forest — a hilly wooded region of SW Germany, in Baden-Württemberg: a popular resort area
- the commonwealth — the government in England under the Cromwells and Parliament from 1649 to 1660
- the creole state — a nickname for Louisiana
- the early church — the Christian church in the centuries immediately following Christ's death
- the eastern bloc — (formerly) the Soviet bloc
- the eternal city — Rome
- the gentle craft — fishing
- the long paddock — a stockroute or roadside area offering feed to sheep and cattle in dry times
- the wheel blacks — the international wheelchair rugby football team of New Zealand
- the-card-players — a painting (1892) by Paul Cézanne.
- theatrical agent — an intermediary who brings together actors who are seeking work and theatre producers who are offering parts
- thermal constant — a quantity that is considered invariable throughout a series of calculations relating to the heat of bodies
- thermal cracking — Thermal cracking is an extraction process in which hydrocarbons such as crude oil are heated to a high temperature to break the molecular bonds.
- thermionic valve — vacuum tube.
- thermoacidophile — any organism, especially a type of archaebacterium, that thrives in strongly acidic environments at high temperatures.
- thermoplasticity — soft and pliable when heated, as some plastics, without any change of the inherent properties.
- thick-tailed ray — Ichthyology. any ray of the order Rajiformes, having a relatively thick, fleshy tail, including the guitarfishes and the skates.
- three-ball match — a match among three players each of whom plays a ball.
- thumbnail sketch — small preliminary drawing
- to call the tune — If you say that a person or organization is calling the tune, you mean that they are in a position of power or control in a particular situation.
- to change places — If you change places with another person, you start being in their situation or role, and they start being in yours.