18-letter words containing m, a, r, i
- apprentice plumber — a trainee plumber
- arm's-length price — a price of a transaction agreed in accordance with market values, disregarding any connection such as common ownership of the companies involved
- armed intervention — an official response to a situation which involves the armed forces
- army of occupation — an army that goes into a defeated country to enforce peace terms, keep order, etc.
- as near as damn it — as near as possible; very near
- assignment problem — (mathematics, algorithm) (Or "linear assignment") Any problem involving minimising the sum of C(a, b) over a set P of pairs (a, b) where a is an element of some set A and b is an element of set B, and C is some function, under constraints such as "each element of A must appear exactly once in P" or similarly for B, or both. For example, the a's could be workers and the b's projects. The problem is "linear" because the "cost function" C() depends only on the particular pairing (a, b) and is independent of all other pairings.
- associative memory — content addressable memory
- assortative mating — the reproductive pairing of individuals that have more traits in common than would likely be the case if mating were random (contrasted with disassortative mating).
- assumption of risk — Assumption of risk is the practice of paying for minor losses yourself, but protecting against catastrophic losses by buying insurance cover.
- astrometric binary — a binary star that can be recognized as such because of its undulating proper motion.
- astronomical clock — a complex clock showing astronomical phenomena, such as the phases of the moon
- asymmetric warfare — warfare in which opposing groups or nations have unequal military resources, and the weaker opponent uses unconventional weapons and tactics, as terrorism, to exploit the vulnerabilities of the enemy.
- asymptotic freedom — a property of the force between quarks, according to quantum chromodynamics, such that they behave almost like free particles when they are close together within a hadron.
- at/from a distance — If you are at a distance from something, or if you see it or remember it from a distance, you are a long way away from it in space or time.
- atmospheric engine — an early form of single-acting engine in which the power stroke is provided by atmospheric pressure acting upon a piston in an exhausted cylinder.
- atmospheric window — wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be transmitted through the earth's atmosphere. Atmospheric windows occur in the visible, infrared, and radio regions of the spectrum
- augmented interval — an interval that is a half step greater than the corresponding major or perfect interval
- automatic exposure — the automatic adjustment of the lens aperture and shutter speed of a camera by a control mechanism
- automatic tracking — a radar tracking system in which an automatic device uses the echo signal from the tracked object to keep the radar constantly beamed on target and to compute the range of the object.
- ballistocardiogram — a tracing made by a ballistocardiograph
- barium thiosulfate — a white, crystalline, water-insoluble, poisonous solid, BaS 2 O 3 ⋅H 2 O, used chiefly in the manufacture of explosives, matches, paints, and varnishes.
- battery eliminator — eliminator (def 2).
- battery-eliminator — a person or thing that eliminates.
- beggar-my-neighbor — beggar-your-neighbor.
- benchmark position — a public service job used for comparison with a similar position, such as a position in commerce, for wage settlements
- bichromate process — any of several methods of photography in which the light-sensitive medium is alkaline bichromate associated with a colloid such as gum, albumen, or gelatin.
- bilateral symmetry — the property of an organism or part of an organism such that, if cut in only one plane, the two cut halves are mirror images of each other
- bioinstrumentation — the use of instruments, as sensors, to detect and measure certain body functions, as of persons in spaceflight, and transmit the data to a point where it is evaluated
- black lives matter — a political and social movement originating among African Americans, emphasizing basic human rights and racial equality for black people and campaigning against various forms of racism. Abbreviations: BLM, B.L.M.
- board of examiners — a group of people who officially administer examinations
- british somaliland — a former British protectorate (1884–1960) in E Africa, on the Gulf of Aden: united with Italian Somaliland in 1960 to form Somalia (or the Somali Republic); in 1991 the self-styled republic of Somaliland, covering the same area as the former British Somaliland, declared itself independent and continues to function largely as a separate entity, though without international recognition
- building materials — materials such as bricks, cement, timber, etc
- burkitt's lymphoma — a cancer characterized by tumors containing lymphoid cells, occurring esp. in children, in the jaw, eyes, and internal organs: it is associated with the Epstein-Barr virus
- cabinet government — parliamentary government.
- calcium propionate — a white, water-soluble powder, CaC 6 H 10 O 4 , used in bakery products to inhibit the growth of fungi.
- calliper compasses — an instrument for measuring internal or external dimensions, consisting of two steel legs hinged together
- cambrian mountains — a mountain range in Wales, extending from Carmarthenshire in the S to Denbighshire in the N. Highest peak: Aran Fawddwy, 891 m (2970 ft)
- camel's-hair brush — an artist's small brush, made of hair from a squirrel's tail
- camp david accords — a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt issuing from talks at Camp David between Egyptian President Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Begin, and the host, U.S. President Carter: signed in 1979.
- campaign furniture — furniture, as chests or desks, having metal hinges on the corners and handles on the sides.
- carboxyhaemoglobin — haemoglobin coordinated with carbon monoxide, formed as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning. As carbon monoxide is bound in preference to oxygen, tissues are deprived of oxygen
- carcinoid syndrome — the systemic effects, including flushing, palpitations, diarrhea, and cramps, resulting from increased blood levels of serotonin secreted by a carcinoid.
- carolina jessamine — a vine, Gelsemium sempervirens, of the southern U.S. and Central America, of the logania family, having glossy, lance-shaped leaves and fragrant yellow flowers: the state flower of South Carolina.
- castration complex — an unconscious fear of having one's genitals removed, as a punishment for wishing to have sex with a parent
- categorial grammar — a theory that characterizes syntactic categories in terms of functions between classes of expressions. The basic classes are names (N) and sentences (S). Intransitive verbs are symbols for functions which take a name and yield a sentence (written S/N), adverbs form compound verbs from verbs (for example, run fast) and so are (S/N)/(S/N), etc
- celestial marriage — the rite or state of marriage, performed in a Mormon temple by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and believed to continue beyond death.
- cerebral dominance — the normal tendency for one half of the brain, usually the left cerebral hemisphere in right-handed people, to exercise more control over certain functions (e.g. handedness and language) than the other
- certification mark — a mark that certifies the origin, material, quality, mode of manufacture, accuracy, or other characteristic of a product or service: “UL” is a certification mark for appliances meeting the safety standards of Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.
- chambered nautilus — nautilus (def 1).
- charismatic church — a church that emphasizes communal prayer and the charismatic gifts of speaking in tongues, healing, etc