14-letter words containing m, r
- assembly rooms — a set of rooms used as a public place of entertainment, usually dating from the eighteenth or nineteenth century
- assemblymember — A person who serves as a member of an assembly.
- assemblyperson — a member of a legislative assembly, especially a member of the lower house of the legislature in certain states of the U.S.
- asthenospermia — (medicine) Loss or reduction in the strength or energy of sperm cells, hence infertility. Not always infertile many are subfertile.
- asthenospermic — (medicine) Characterised by or pertaining to asthenospermia, hence infertile.
- astigmatometer — an apparatus for measuring the degree of astigmatism.
- astrochemistry — the study of the chemistry of celestial bodies and space, esp by means of spectroscopy
- astrocompasses — Plural form of astrocompass.
- astronomically — of, relating to, or connected with astronomy.
- asymmetrically — not identical on both sides of a central line; unsymmetrical; lacking symmetry: Most faces are asymmetric.
- at one's mercy — compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence: Have mercy on the poor sinner.
- atacama desert — a desert region along the W coast of South America, mainly in N Chile: a major source of nitrates. Area: about 80 000 sq km (31 000 sq miles)
- atomic orbital — Physics, Chemistry. a wave function describing the state of a single electron in an atom (atomic orbital) or in a molecule (molecular orbital) the electron in that state.
- atomic reactor — reactor (def 4).
- atomic veteran — a veteran of the armed forces who was exposed to radioactivity during the testing or use of nuclear (atomic) weapons in World War II or subsequent wars.
- atomic warfare — war in which nuclear weapons are used
- atomic-powered — powered by atomic energy
- aurothiomalate — (chemistry) A thiomalate with the addition of gold.
- autocollimator — an instrument combining the functions of a telescope and collimator, for detecting and measuring very small deviations in a beam of light.
- autoenrollment — Automatic enrollment (especially of security certificates in a computer system).
- automatic door — a self-opening door
- award ceremony — ceremony at which an award is presented
- azimuth circle — a device for measuring azimuths, consisting of a graduated ring equipped with a sighting vane on each side, which fits concentrically over a compass.
- back formation — the invention of a new word on the assumption that a familiar word is derived from it. The verbs edit and burgle were so created from editor and burglar
- back-formation — the analogical creation of one word from another word that appears to be a derived or inflected form of the first by dropping the apparent affix or by modification.
- backstrap loom — a simple horizontal loom, used especially in Central and South America, on which one of two beams holding the warp yarn is attached to a strap that passes across the weaver's back.
- bactrian camel — a two-humped camel, Camelus bactrianus, used as a beast of burden in the cold deserts of central Asia
- ballroom dance — a social dance, popular since the beginning of the 20th century, in conventional rhythms, such as the foxtrot and the quickstep
- balsam of peru — an aromatic balsam that is obtained from the tropical South American leguminous tree Myroxylon pereirae and is similar to balsam of Tolu
- baltimore chop — a batted ball that takes a high bounce upon hitting the ground on or immediately in front of home plate, often enabling the batter to reach first base safely.
- bamboo curtain — (esp in the 1950s and 1960s) the political and military barrier to communications around the People's Republic of China
- bamboo network — a network of close-knit Chinese entrepreneurs with large corporate empires in southeast Asia
- bamboo turning — turning of spindles and framing members to simulate the jointing of bamboo.
- ban-the-bomber — a person who vigorously advocates banning the development or use of nuclear weapons.
- banana problem — (programming, humour) From the story of the little girl who said "I know how to spell "banana", but I don't know when to stop". Not knowing where or when to bring a production to a close (compare fencepost error). One may say "there is a banana problem" of an algorithm with poorly defined or incorrect termination conditions, or in discussing the evolution of a design that may be succumbing to featuritis (see also creeping elegance, creeping featuritis).
- bandar lampung — a port in Indonesia, in S Sumatra on the Sunda Strait; formed by merging the cities of Tanjungkarang and Telukbetung, and sometimes still referred to as Tanjungkarang-Telukbetung. Pop: 742 749 (2000)
- barba amarilla — fer-de-lance.
- barium bromate — colorless, slightly water-soluble, poisonous crystals, Ba(BrO 3) 2 ⋅H 2 O, used in the preparation of certain bromates.
- barium sulfate — an odorless, tasteless, white powder, BaSO4, insoluble in water: it is used as a paint pigment, as a filler for paper, textiles , etc., and as an opaque substance that is ingested to aid in making diagnostic X-rays of the stomach and intestine
- barium sulfide — a gray or yellowish-green, water-soluble, poisonous powder, BaS, used chiefly as a depilatory and as an intermediate in the synthesis of pigments, especially lithopone.
- barium-hydrate — Also called calcined baryta, barium oxide, barium monoxide, barium protoxide. a white or yellowish-white poisonous solid, BaO, highly reactive with water: used chiefly as a dehydrating agent and in the manufacture of glass.
- barometrically — By means of a barometer.
- barometrograph — barograph.
- barrier method — Barrier methods of contraception involve the use of condoms, diaphragms, or other devices that physically prevent the sperm from reaching the egg.
- battered woman — See under battered woman syndrome.
- battered-women — the array of physical and psychological injuries exhibited by women (battered women or battered wives) who have been beaten repeatedly or otherwise abused by their partners or spouses.
- bavarian cream — a cold dessert consisting of a rich custard set with gelatine and flavoured in various ways
- bayes' theorem — the fundamental result which expresses the conditional probability P(E/A) of an event E given an event A as P(A/E).P(E)/P(A); more generally, where En is one of a set of values Ei which partition the sample space, P(En/A) = P(A/En)P(En)/Σ P(A/Ei)P(Ei). This enables prior estimates of probability to be continually revised in the light of observations
- beach umbrella — a large umbrella used as a sunshade on the beach
- beach wormwood — a composite plant, Artemisia stellerana, having yellow flowers and deeply lobed leaves covered with dense white fuzz.