16-letter words containing n, u
- judaeo-christian — of or relating to the religious writings, beliefs, values, or traditions held in common by Judaism and Christianity.
- judicial inquiry — a formal legal investigation conducted into a matter of public concern by a judge, appointed by the government
- julius rosenberg — Alfred, 1893–1946, German Nazi ideologist and political leader, born in Estonia.
- jump up and down — bounce
- junior executive — a trainee position in a business or organization
- junior flyweight — a boxer weighing up to 108 pounds (48.6 kg), between minimumweight and flyweight.
- junior's license — a driver's license issued to people under the age of 18
- jurisdictionally — In a jurisdictional way.
- justices in eyre — the justices travelling on circuit and presiding over such courts
- juvenile hormone — any of a class of insect and plant hormones acting to inhibit the molting of a juvenile insect into its adult form.
- juvenile officer — a police officer concerned with juvenile delinquents.
- juxtapositioning — Present participle of juxtaposition.
- kangaroo closure — a form of closure in which the chair or speaker selects certain amendments for discussion and excludes others
- karelian isthmus — a narrow strip of land between Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland, in the NW Russian Federation.
- keep under wraps — not reveal
- kentucky warbler — a wood warbler, Oporornis formosus, of the U.S., olive-green above, yellow below, and marked with black on the face.
- kentucky windage — a method of correcting for windage, gravity, etc., by aiming a weapon to one side of the target instead of by adjusting the sights.
- keyman insurance — life insurance taken out by a business firm on an essential or very important employee, with the firm as beneficiary.
- kidney corpuscle — Malpighian corpuscle.
- kingdom-of-nubia — a region in S Egypt and the Sudan, N of Khartoum, extending from the Nile to the Red Sea.
- kiss and make up — be reconciled
- know one's stuff — If you say that someone knows their stuff, you mean that they are good at doing something because they know a lot about it.
- knuckle sandwich — a punch in the mouth with a clenched fist.
- kolyma mountains — a mountain range in NE Siberia, Russia, near the Sea of Okhotsk, rising to over 6000 feet (1830 meters).
- kunlun mountains — mountain system in W China, between Tibet & Xinjiang: highest peak, c. 25,300 ft (7,711 m)
- labour agreement — a contract between workers and managers setting out working conditions, wages, etc
- labour relations — Labour relations refers to the relationship between employers and employees in industry, and the political decisions and laws that affect it.
- labour-intensive — Labour-intensive industries or methods of making things involve a lot of workers. Compare capital-intensive.
- labrador current — a cold ocean current flowing southwards off the coast of Labrador and meeting the warm Gulf Stream, causing dense fogs off the coast of Newfoundland
- language barrier — difficulty in communication due to language difference
- language isolate — isolate (def 9).
- laplace equation — the second-order partial differential equation indicating that the Laplace operator operating on a given function results in zero. Compare harmonic (def 4c).
- lapsang souchong — a large-leafed variety of China tea with a slightly smoky flavour
- latent ambiguity — uncertainty that arises when a seemingly clear written instrument is matched against an extrinsic fact, as when a description of something being sold fits two different items.
- laughing jackass — kookaburra.
- laurel and hardy — a team of US film comedians, Stan Laurel, 1890–1965, born in Britain, the thin one, and his partner, Oliver Hardy, 1892–1957, the fat one
- laurentides park — a national park in SE Canada, in Quebec province between the St. Lawrence and Lake St. John.
- leading question — a question so worded as to suggest the proper or desired answer.
- leaf-cutting ant — any of several tropical American ants of the genus Atta that cut and chew bits of leaves and flowers into a mash that they use to cultivate a fungus garden.
- leaf-cutting bee — any of the bees of the family Megachilidae that cut circular pieces from leaves or flowers to line their nests.
- league champions — the team that has come top of the league
- lean-burn engine — an engine designed to use a lean mixture of fuel and air in order to reduce petrol consumption and exhaust emissions
- leaps and bounds — You can use in leaps and bounds or by leaps and bounds to emphasize that someone or something is improving or increasing quickly and greatly.
- legion of honour — an order for civil or military merit instituted by Napoleon in France in 1802
- leisure sickness — a medical condition in which people who have been working become ill with symptoms such as fatigue or muscular pains at a weekend or while on holiday
- lenticular cloud — a very smooth, round or oval, lens-shaped cloud that is often seen, singly or stacked in groups, near a mountain ridge.
- lesbian cymatium — cyma reversa.
- liberal unionist — a Liberal who opposed Gladstone's policy of Irish Home Rule in 1886 and after
- lightbulb moment — a moment of sudden inspiration, revelation, or recognition
- lighthouse point — a city in NW Florida.