17-letter words containing r, a, c, i
- unipalm group plc — (company) A company floated in March 1994.
- unofficial strike — a strike that is not approved by the strikers' trade union
- unpredictableness — not predictable; not to be foreseen or foretold: an unpredictable occurrence.
- upper paleolithic — See under Paleolithic.
- vacuum aspiration — menstrual extraction.
- vacuum extraction — applying suction to a baby's head during birth to help it emerge
- vaginal discharge — emission from the female genitalia
- varix lymphaticus — a similar condition affecting an artery or lymphatic vessel
- vascular cylinder — stele (sense 3)
- vehicle insurance — Vehicle insurance is insurance purchased for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles.
- velaric airstream — a current of mouth air produced by the action of the tongue, operant in forming click sounds.
- vernacularization — to translate into the natural speech peculiar to a people.
- vertical analysis — the conversion of an organization's profits and losses into overall percentages
- vertical mobility — movement from one social level to a higher one (upward mobility) or a lower one (downward mobility) as by changing jobs or marrying.
- vertical planning — the planning of education delivered in schools discussed between teachers of different classes or grades
- vertical retailer — A vertical retailer is a retail business that designs, produces, and sells its own products, without using middlemen or wholesalers, so that it can satisfy customer demands very efficiently.
- vice-presidential — relating to a person who ranks immediately below the chief executive or head of state of a republic
- victor emmanuel i — 1759–1824, king of Sardinia 1802–21.
- victoriano huerta — Victoriano [beek-taw-ryah-naw] /ˌbik tɔˈryɑ nɔ/ (Show IPA), 1854–1916, Mexican general: provisional president of Mexico 1913–14.
- vinaigrette sauce — a tart sauce of oil, vinegar, and seasonings, sometimes including chopped capers, pickles, etc., usually served cold with salads.
- vittore carpaccio — Vittore [veet-taw-re] /vitˈtɔ rɛ/ (Show IPA), c1450–1525, Venetian painter.
- voidable contract — a contract or agreement that is capable of being made of no legal effect or made void
- vulcan death grip — (jargon) A variant of Vulcan nerve pinch derived from a Star Trek classic epsisode where a non-existant "Vulcan death grip" was used to fool Romulans that Spock had killed Kirk.
- wage-price spiral — a situation in which wage and price increases drive each other upward and cause inflation
- warehouse receipt — a receipt for goods placed in a warehouse.
- warehousing costs — the costs involved in storing goods in a warehouse
- warm-up exercises — preparatory exercises done to warm up the muscles
- warsaw convention — a multilateral treaty on aviation set up chiefly to limit air carriers' liability to passengers and shippers on international flights in the event of an accident.
- weapons inspector — a person who inspects a country's weapons
- welfare economics — a branch of economics concerned with improving human welfare and social conditions chiefly through the optimum distribution of wealth, the relief or reduction of unemployment, etc.
- willow flycatcher — a North American flycatcher, Empidonax alnorum, of alder thickets and other moist areas, that has greenish-brown upper parts and whitish underparts and is almost indistinguishable except by voice from E. traillii (willow flycatcher)
- wimshurst machine — a device for the production of electric charge by electrostatic induction, consisting of two oppositely rotating glass or mica disks carrying metal strips upon which charges are induced and subsequently removed by contact with metallic combs.
- wind chill factor — A wind chill factor is a measure of the cooling effect of the wind on the temperature of the air.
- wind-chill factor — the apparent temperature felt on the exposed human body owing to the combination of temperature and wind speed.
- winding staircase — long set of spiral stairs
- windscreen washer — a small nozzle on the bonnet of a motor vehicle, from which jets of water are squirted electronically onto the windscreen to help clean it
- with a difference — If you describe a job or holiday, for example, as a job with a difference or a holiday with a difference, you mean that the job or holiday is very interesting and unusual.
- work-life balance — a situation in which one divides or balances one's time between work and activities outside of work: It's hard to achieve a reasonable work-life balance when you run your own business.
- working substance — a substance, usually a fluid, that undergoes changes in pressure, temperature, volume, or form as part of a process for accomplishing work.
- x-ray diffraction — diffraction of x-rays by the regularly spaced atoms of a crystal, useful for determining the arrangement of the atoms.
- xerox corporation — (company) A US company, founded in 1906, specialising in document related technology and services including photocopiers, printers and office software. Xerox's acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services added business process and document management to their product range. In 2013 they have 140,000 employees. Their research centre, XEROX PARC, prototyped several revolutionary advances in computing, which the company failed to exploit, including the WIMP desktop metaphor and XEROX Network Services.
- year of confusion — (in ancient Rome) the year of 445 days preceding the introduction, in 46 b.c., of the Julian calendar: lengthened to compensate for the cumulative errors of the Roman calendar.
- your day in court — Your day in court is your chance to give your side of an argument or other matter.
- zoogeographically — In a zoogeographical way.
- zoological garden — zoo (def 1).
- zygomatic process — any of several bony processes that articulate with the cheekbone.