17-letter words containing r, e, c, t
- unofficial strike — a strike that is not approved by the strikers' trade union
- unprecedentedness — without previous instance; never before known or experienced; unexampled or unparalleled: an unprecedented event.
- unpredictableness — not predictable; not to be foreseen or foretold: an unpredictable occurrence.
- unreconstructible — not capable of being reconstructed.
- upper paleolithic — See under Paleolithic.
- vacuum extraction — applying suction to a baby's head during birth to help it emerge
- valence electrons — an electron of an atom, located in the outermost shell (valence shell) of the atom, that can be transferred to or shared with another atom.
- 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.
- verticillium wilt — a disease affecting many temperate-climate plants in hot weather, caused by soil-inhabiting fungi of the genus Verticillium and characterized by wilt, dulling or yellowing of leaf color, and withering near the base.
- 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.
- voice recognition — the control of a computer system by a voice or voices that the computer has been instructed to accept
- voice synthesizer — a computer system that is used to artificially produce the human voice
- 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.
- wall street crash — the dramatic collapse of share prices on the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929, an important factor in the early stages of the Depression
- war correspondent — a reporter or commentator assigned to send news or opinions directly from battle areas.
- warehouse receipt — a receipt for goods placed in a warehouse.
- warehousing costs — the costs involved in storing goods in a warehouse
- 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.
- wave-cut platform — a flat surface at the base of a cliff formed by erosion by waves
- weapons inspector — a person who inspects a country's weapons
- wearable computer — a small computer that is worn or carried on the body; a wearable computing device: a wrist-worn wearable computer with a head-mounted display.
- wedding reception — party after a marriage
- western red cedar — an arborvitae, Thuja plicata, of western North America, grown as an ornamental.
- white book cd-rom — (hardware, standard) A more open CD-ROM standard than Green Book CD-ROM. All films mastered on CD-ROM after March 1994 use White Book. Like Green Book, it is ISO 9660 compliant, uses mode 2 form 2 addressing and can only be played on a CD-ROM drive which is XA (Extended Architecture) compatible. White book CDs are labelled "Video CD".
- wild service tree — either of two European trees, Sorbus domestica, bearing a small, acid fruit that is edible when overripe, or S. torminalis (wild service tree) bearing a similar fruit.
- 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.
- winchester bushel — a unit of dry measure containing 4 pecks, equivalent in the U.S. (and formerly in England) to 2150.42 cubic inches or 35.24 liters (Winchester bushel) and in Great Britain to 2219.36 cubic inches or 36.38 liters (Imperial bushel) Abbreviation: bu., bush.
- winding staircase — long set of spiral stairs
- 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.
- without prejudice — fairly
- working substance — a substance, usually a fluid, that undergoes changes in pressure, temperature, volume, or form as part of a process for accomplishing work.
- writ of execution — a writ ordering that a judgment be enforced
- 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.
- zygomatic process — any of several bony processes that articulate with the cheekbone.