16-letter words containing m, i, s, a, t, r
- brood parasitism — a type of parasitism in which a bird (brood parasite), as a cowbird or European cuckoo, lays and abandons its eggs in the nest of another species
- cabinet minister — a minister who is a member of the cabinet
- calcium arsenate — a toxic, white powder, Ca3(AsO4)2, used as an insecticide in the form of a spray or dust
- canine distemper — distemper1 (def 1a).
- careers mistress — a female teacher who gives pupils advice and information about careers
- category mistake — a sentence that says of something in one category what can only intelligibly be said of something in another, as when speaking of the mind located in space
- celestial empire — Chinese Empire
- cholesterolaemia — the presence of abnormally high levels of cholesterol in the blood
- chorioamnionitis — Inflammation of the fetal membranes (amnion and chorion) due to a bacterial infection, most often associated with prolonged labour.
- christmas beetle — any of various greenish-gold Australian scarab beetles of the genus Anoplognathus, which are common in summer
- christmas cactus — a Brazilian cactus, Schlumbergera (formerly Zygocactus) truncatus, widely cultivated as an ornamental for its showy red flowers
- christmas dinner — the main meal on Christmas day, eaten any time in the afternoon or evening
- christmas factor — a protein implicated in the process of blood clotting, the lack of which causes Christmas disease
- christmas hamper — a collection of seasonal delicacies, often housed in a wicker hamper, which people or organizations give as Christmas presents
- christmas island — an island in the Indian Ocean, south of Java: administered by Singapore (1900–58), now by Australia; phosphate mining. Pop: 1496 (2013 est). Area: 135 sq km (52 sq miles)
- christmas lights — strings of lights put up in the Christmas period to decorate houses
- chromatographies — Plural form of chromatography.
- circumstantially — of pertaining to, or derived from circumstances: a circumstantial result.
- circumstantiated — Simple past tense and past participle of circumstantiate.
- circumstantiates — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of circumstantiate.
- closing argument — In a court case, a lawyer's closing argument is their final speech, in which they give a summary of their case.
- coadministration — Joint administration.
- collaborationism — The act of collaborating, especially with an enemy.
- commensurability — The quality of being commensurable or commensurate.
- communitarianism — A theory or system of social organization based on small self-governing communities.
- compartmentalise — to divide into categories or compartments.
- confederationism — The advocacy of confederation as a means of government.
- configurationism — Gestalt psychology
- contemporariness — existing, occurring, or living at the same time; belonging to the same time: Newton's discovery of the calculus was contemporary with that of Leibniz.
- contractarianism — any of various theories that justify moral principles and political choices because they depend on a social contract involving certain ideal conditions, as lack of ignorance or uncertainty.
- controversialism — The attitude or tendency to engage in controversy.
- creative commons — Sometimes, creative commons. a set of various licenses that allow people to share their copyrighted work to be copied, edited, built upon, etc., while retaining the copyright to the original work (often used attributively): We’re happy for other sites to share these photos under Creative Commons; a creative commons license.
- criminal assault — a punishable offence of attempting to harm another person through physical contact
- criminal justice — the system of law enforcement, involving police, lawyers, courts, and corrections, used for all stages of criminal proceedings and punishment.
- crosscontaminate — Alternative spelling of cross-contaminate.
- data compression — the act of compressing.
- demilitarisation — The removal of a military force, usually at the end of hostilities or as part of a treaty.
- demineralisation — Alternative spelling of demineralization.
- departmentalizes — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of departmentalize.
- depolymerisation — (chemistry) alternative spelling of depolymerization.
- determinableness — Capability of being determined; determinability.
- diamond district — the part of a town where diamond merchants and jewellers have their businesses
- diastereoisomers — Plural form of diastereoisomer.
- dinosaurs mating — (humour) The activity said to occur when yet another big iron merger or buy-out occurs; reflects a perception by hackers that these signal another stage in the long, slow dying of the mainframe industry. Also described as "elephants mating": lots of noise and action at a high level, with an eventual outcome in the somewhat distant future. In its glory days of the 1960s, it was "IBM and the Seven Dwarves": Burroughs, Control Data, General Electric, Honeywell, NCR, RCA, and Univac. Early on, RCA sold out to Univac and GE also sold out, and it was "IBM and the BUNCH" (an acronym for Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data, and Honeywell) for a while. Honeywell was bought out by Bull. Univac in turn merged with Sperry to form Sperry/Univac, which was later merged (although the employees of Sperry called it a hostile takeover) with Burroughs to form Unisys in 1986 (this was when the phrase "dinosaurs mating" was coined). In 1991 AT&T absorbed NCR, only to spit it out again in 1996. Unisys bought Convergent Technologies in 1988 and later others. More such earth-shaking unions of doomed giants seem inevitable.
- diplomatic corps — the entire body of diplomats accredited to and resident at a court or capital.
- direct-mail shot — the posting of unsolicited sales literature to potential customers' homes or business addresses
- discriminability — The condition of being discriminable.
- discriminatingly — With discrimination.
- discriminatorily — characterized by or showing prejudicial treatment, especially as an indication of bias related to age, color, national origin, religion, sex, etc.: discriminatory practices in housing; a discriminatory tax.
- disembarrassment — Freedom or relief from impediment or perplexity.