16-letter words containing o, u, b, a
- rough-and-tumble — characterized by violent, random, disorderly action and struggles: a rough-and-tumble fight; He led an adventuresome, rough-and-tumble life.
- round lake beach — a town in NE Illinois.
- roundabout chair — corner chair.
- run the blockade — to go past or through a blockade
- santiago de cuba — a region in Ecuador, E of the Andes: the border long disputed by Peru.
- scarborough lily — a plant, Vallota speciosa, of the amaryllis family, native to southern Africa, having clusters of funnel-shaped, scarlet flowers.
- sebaceous glands — any of the cutaneous glands that secrete oily matter for lubricating hair and skin.
- self-lubrication — the process of becoming lubricated without external factors
- self-subjugation — the act, fact, or process of subjugating, or bringing under control; enslavement: The subjugation of the American Indians happened across the country.
- sodium bisulfate — a colorless crystalline compound, NaHSO 4 , soluble in water: used in dyeing, in the manufacture of cement, paper, soap, and an acid-type cleaner.
- 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 perborate — a white, crystalline, water-soluble solid, NaBO 2 ⋅3H 2 O or NaBO 3 ⋅4H 2 O, used chiefly as a bleaching agent and antiseptic.
- soft brown sugar — a type of moist sugar made by coating white sugar with dark molasses
- sounding balloon — a balloon carrying instruments aloft to make atmospheric measurements, especially a radiosonde balloon.
- south sea bubble — the financial crash that occurred in 1720 after the South Sea Company had taken over the national debt in return for a monopoly of trade with the South Seas, causing feverish speculation in their stocks
- southern baptist — a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, founded in Augusta, Georgia, in 1845, that is strictly Calvinistic and active in religious publishing and education.
- subcartilaginous — partially or incompletely cartilaginous.
- subjectification — to make subjective.
- subordinationism — the doctrine that the first person of the Holy Trinity is superior to the second, and the second superior to the third.
- subtropical high — one of several highs, as the Azores and Pacific highs, that prevail over the oceans at latitudes of about 30 degrees N and S. Also called subtropical anticyclone. Compare high (def 37).
- sulfocarbanilide — thiocarbanilide.
- swamp buttonwood — the buttonbush.
- take the trouble — If you take the trouble to do something, you do something which requires a small amount of additional effort.
- teutoburger wald — a chain of wooded hills in Germany, in Westphalia: Romans defeated by German tribes a.d.
- the unobservable — something that cannot be observed
- tintinnabulation — the ringing or sound of bells.
- to cut both ways — If you say that something cuts both ways, you mean that it can have two opposite effects, or can have both good and bad effects.
- to mean business — If you say that someone means business, you mean they are serious and determined about what they are doing.
- to overabound in — to have or contain too large a quantity or number of something
- to pass the buck — If you pass the buck, you refuse to accept responsibility for something, and say that someone else is responsible.
- tobacco industry — business of selling smoking products
- transport number — that fraction of the total electric current that anions and cations carry in passing through an electrolytic solution.
- tridarn cupboard — a Welsh cupboard of the late 17th and 18th centuries, with an open, canopied upper section for display.
- twin-carburettor — (of an engine) having two carburettors
- typhoid bacillus — the bacterium Salmonella typhosa, causing typhoid fever.
- unaccomplishable — to bring to its goal or conclusion; carry out; perform; finish: to accomplish one's mission.
- unconfirmability — to establish the truth, accuracy, validity, or genuineness of; corroborate; verify: This report confirms my suspicions.
- uncontradictable — to assert the contrary or opposite of; deny directly and categorically.
- uncountable noun — An uncountable noun is the same as an uncount noun.
- uncountable-noun — a noun, as water, electricity, or happiness, that typically refers to an indefinitely divisible substance or an abstract notion, and that in English cannot be used, in such a sense, with the indefinite article or in the plural.
- under bare poles — (of a sailing vessel) with no sails set
- unenforceability — to put or keep in force; compel obedience to: to enforce a rule; Traffic laws will be strictly enforced.
- uniformed branch — the branch of a police force in which officers wear a uniform
- unimpressionable — easily impressed or influenced; susceptible: an impressionable youngster.
- unreasonableness — not reasonable or rational; acting at variance with or contrary to reason; not guided by reason or sound judgment; irrational: an unreasonable person.
- vapor combustion — Vapor combustion is a closed burn system used for treating liquid waste which contains volatile organic compounds.
- vertebral column — spinal column.
- vocabulary entry — (in dictionaries) a word, phrase, abbreviation, symbol, affix, name, etc., listed with its definition or explanation in alphabetical order or listed for identification after the word from which it is derived or to which it is related.
- volunteer bureau — an agency that matches up people wishing to do voluntary work with appropriate voluntary organizations
- wheelchair-bound — unable to walk through injury, illness, etc and relying on a wheelchair to move around