16-letter words containing m, u, s, c, a
- political asylum — asylum provided by one nation to refugees, especially political refugees, from another nation.
- primary consumer — (in the food chain) an animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore.
- pseudoparenchyma — (in certain fungi and red algae) a compact mass of tissue, made up of interwoven hyphae or filaments, that superficially resembles plant tissue.
- punctuationalism — punctuated equilibrium.
- quantum sufficit — as much as suffices; enough.
- quasi-commercial — of, relating to, or characteristic of commerce.
- quasi-compulsory — required; mandatory; obligatory: compulsory education.
- quasi-democratic — pertaining to or of the nature of democracy or a democracy.
- quasi-diplomatic — of, relating to, or engaged in diplomacy: diplomatic officials.
- queen's champion — a hereditary official at British coronations, representing the king (King's Champion) or the queen (Queen's Champion) who is being crowned, and having originally the function of challenging to mortal combat any person disputing the right of the new sovereign to rule.
- rambunctiousness — difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous: a rambunctious child.
- rectus abdominis — a long flat muscle that extends along the whole length of both sides of the abdomen. It flexes the vertebral column, particularly the lumbar portion; it also tenses the anterior abdominal wall and assists in compressing the abdominal contents
- research quantum — the standard by which the contribution to a university of individual academics is measured and on the basis of which universities receive government funding and academics are promoted
- sauce americaine — a sauce prepared with tomatoes, garlic, wine, shallots, and herbs. See also à l’américaine.
- saxo grammaticus — c1150–1206? Danish historian and poet.
- schaumburg-lippe — a former state in NW Germany.
- sclerenchymatous — supporting or protective tissue composed of thickened, dry, and hardened cells.
- secular humanism — any set of beliefs that promotes human values without specific allusion to religious doctrines.
- security manager — The security manager of a store is the person responsible for organizing all security in the store and to whom security guards report.
- security measure — a precaution taken against terrorism, espionage or other danger
- semantic tableau — a method of demonstrating the consistency or otherwise of a set of statements by constructing a diagrammatic representation of all the circumstances that satisfy the set of statements
- semiagricultural — partly engaged in or given over to agriculture
- session musician — a studio musician, esp one who works freelance
- situation comedy — a comedy drama, especially a television series made up of discrete episodes about the same group of characters, as members of a family.
- smelting furnace — an industrial oven used to heat ore in order to extract metal
- sodium carbonate — Also called soda ash. an anhydrous, grayish-white, odorless, water-soluble powder, Na 2 CO 3 , usually obtained by the Solvay process and containing about 1 percent of impurities consisting of sulfates, chlorides, and bicarbonates of sodium: used in the manufacture of glass, ceramics, soaps, paper, petroleum products, sodium salts, as a cleanser, for bleaching, and in water treatment.
- sodium cyclamate — a white, crystalline, water-soluble powder, NaC 6 NH 1 2 SO 3 , that has been used as a sweetening agent: banned by the FDA in 1970.
- somatic mutation — a mutation occurring in a somatic cell, resulting in a change in the morphology or some other aspect of one part of an organism (usually a plant). It may be maintained by vegetative propagation but not by sexual reproduction
- sounding machine — any of various machines for taking and recording soundings.
- source materials — publications from which information is obtained
- start-up company — new business
- stick out a mile — to be extremely obvious
- stomach-churning — causing nausea.
- submarine chaser — a small patrol vessel, 100–200 feet (30–60 meters) long, designed for military operations against submarines.
- 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.
- synchronous dram — Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
- tandem computers — (company) A US computer manufacturer. Quarterly sales $544M, profits $49M (Aug 1994).
- thumbnail sketch — small preliminary drawing
- to move a muscle — If you say that someone did not move a muscle, you mean that they stayed absolutely still.
- tsushima current — a warm ocean current flowing northward along the west coast of Japan.
- ultramicroscopic — an instrument that uses scattering phenomena to detect the position of objects too small to be seen by an ordinary microscope.
- unaccomplishable — to bring to its goal or conclusion; carry out; perform; finish: to accomplish one's mission.
- uncircumstantial — of pertaining to, or derived from circumstances: a circumstantial result.
- undercompensated — to compensate or pay less than is fair, customary, or expected.
- undiscriminating — differentiating; analytical.
- undiscriminatory — 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.
- unsystematically — having, showing, or involving a system, method, or plan: a systematic course of reading; systematic efforts.
- vapor combustion — Vapor combustion is a closed burn system used for treating liquid waste which contains volatile organic compounds.
- vascular cambium — cambium.