17-letter words containing l, e, s
- charles de gaulle — Charles André Joseph Marie [chahrlz ahn-drey joh-zuh f muh-ree;; French sharl ahn-drey zhoh-zef ma-ree] /tʃɑrlz ˈɑn dreɪ ˈdʒoʊ zəf məˈri;; French ʃarl ɑ̃ˈdreɪ ʒoʊˈzɛf maˈri/ (Show IPA), 1890–1970, French general and statesman: president 1959–69.
- charles henry dow — Charles Henry, 1851–1902, U.S. journalist and publisher: a founder of Dow Jones company.
- charles lindbergh — Anne (Spencer) Morrow, 1906–2001, U.S. writer (wife of Charles Augustus Lindbergh).
- charles the great — ("Charles the Great") a.d. 742–814, king of the Franks 768–814; as Charles I, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire 800–814.
- charles townshend — Charles, 1725–67, English politician, chancellor of the exchequer for whom the Townshend Acts are named.
- checkable deposit — a checking account
- chelsea pensioner — an old ex-soldier resident in the Chelsea Royal Hospital
- chemiluminescence — the phenomenon in which a chemical reaction leads to the emission of light without incandescence
- chemoluminescence — (chemistry) The emission of light as the result of a chemical reaction.
- chiltern hundreds — (in Britain) short for Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds; a nominal office that an MP applies for in order to resign his seat
- chinese vermilion — pimento (def 3).
- choanoflagellates — Plural form of choanoflagellate.
- chocolate biscuit — a biscuit covered with chocolate
- chocolate soldier — a person who mistakenly believes that he or she is very powerful, important, or impressive
- cholecystectomies — Plural form of cholecystectomy.
- chukchi peninsula — a peninsula in the extreme NE of Russia, in NE Siberia: mainly tundra
- cinisello balsamo — a city in N Italy, near Milan.
- circle the wagons — to take defensive action; prepare for an attack: from arranging a wagon train in a circular formation
- circumscriptively — In a circumscriptive manner.
- circumterrestrial — surrounding or revolving about the earth.
- civil partnership — A civil partnership is a legal relationship between two people of the same sex that is similar to marriage.
- class-a amplifier — an electronic amplifier in which the output current flows for the whole of the input signal cycle
- class-b amplifier — an electronic amplifier in which the output flows for half of the input signal cycle
- class-c amplifier — an electronic amplifier in which the output current flows for less than half of the input cycle
- classical chinese — a written form of Chinese used from about the 5th century b.c. to 220 a.d.
- classical college — (in Quebec) a college offering a programme that emphasizes the classics and leads to university entrance
- classless society — a society in which class distinctions are negligible or absent
- clear box testing — white box testing
- cleveland heights — city in NE Ohio: suburb of Cleveland: pop. 50,000
- clipperton island — an uninhabited atoll in the E Pacific SW of Mexico, under French administration. Area: 6 sq km (2.3 sq miles)
- close corporation — a small private limited company
- close parenthesis — right parenthesis
- close punctuation — punctuation in which many commas, full stops, etc, are used
- close the book on — to bring to a definite end
- close the door on — rule out, exclude
- close to the bone — If something is too close to the bone, it makes you feel uncomfortable because it is very close to the truth or to the real nature of something.
- close to the wind — sailing as nearly as possible towards the direction from which the wind is blowing
- close-order drill — practice in formation marching and other movements, in the carrying of arms during formal marching, and in the formal handling of arms for ceremonies and guard.
- closed-captioning — (of a television program, film, or video) distributed with synchronized transcription of speech and written descriptions of other relevant audio elements, as for the hearing-impaired, that are visible only when the option to display them is selected. Abbreviation: CC.
- closing-down sale — a sale held to clear stock from a shop that is ceasing to operate
- clumber (spaniel) — a short-legged spaniel with a heavy body and a thick coat of straight, white hair marked with yellow or orange
- coal-tar creosote — impure phenol or carbolic acid, distinct from the creosote of wood tar.
- coarse-grain salt — salt with a much larger grain size than table salt
- coastguard vessel — a ship used by the coastguard
- cocktail waitress — a woman who serves in a bar or cocktail lounge
- codlins-and-cream — an onagraceous plant, Epilobium hirsutum, native to Europe and Asia and introduced into North America, having purplish-red flowers and hairy stems and leaves
- cohesionless soil — any free-running type of soil, such as sand or gravel, whose strength depends on friction between particles
- coldstream guards — a guard regiment of the English royal household: formed in Coldstream, Scotland, 1659–60, and instrumental in restoring the English monarchy under Charles II.
- collaborativeness — Quality of being collaborative.
- college professor — a lecturer or researcher who works in a college