16-letter words containing r, e, n, a, l
- lightheartedness — carefree; cheerful; merry: a lighthearted laugh.
- like gangbusters — a law-enforcement officer who specializes in breaking up organized crime, often by forceful or sensational means.
- limited monarchy — a monarchy that is limited by laws and a constitution.
- limited-monarchy — a limited train, bus, etc.
- listen to reason — be persuaded
- little brown bat — any of several small to medium-sized common bats of the genera Myotis and Eptesicus, found worldwide in caves, trees, and buildings, including M. lucifugus (little brown bat) and E. fuscus (big brown bat) a widespread North American species.
- little englander — an English person who believes the best interests of Britain are served by attention to Britain itself, rather than to the concerns of the empire.
- lizard peninsula — a promontory in SW England, in SW Cornwall: the southernmost point in Great Britain
- local government — the administration of the civic affairs of a city, town, or district by its inhabitants rather than by the state or country at large.
- logical relation — A relation R satisfying f R g <=> For all a, b, a R b => f a R g b This definition, by Plotkin, can be used to extend the definition of a relation on the types of a and b to a relation on functions.
- loire-atlantique — a department in NW France. 2695 sq. mi. (6980 sq. km). Capital: Nantes.
- lonely hearts ad — an advertisement placed by someone who is trying to find a lover or a friend
- long-wire aerial — a travelling-wave aerial consisting of one or more conductors, the length of which usually exceeds several wavelengths
- lord chamberlain — (in Britain) the chief official of the royal household
- lord howe island — an island in the S Pacific, E of Australia: a dependency of New South Wales. 5 sq. mi. (13 sq. km).
- lords-and-ladies — (used with a singular verb) cuckoopint.
- lorenz attractor — (mathematics) (After Edward Lorenz, its discoverer) A region in the phase space of the solution to certain systems of (non-linear) differential equations. Under certain conditions, the motion of a particle described by such as system will neither converge to a steady state nor diverge to infinity, but will stay in a bounded but chaotically defined region. By chaotic, we mean that the particle's location, while definitely in the attractor, might as well be randomly placed there. That is, the particle appears to move randomly, and yet obeys a deeper order, since is never leaves the attractor. Lorenz modelled the location of a particle moving subject to atmospheric forces and obtained a certain system of ordinary differential equations. When he solved the system numerically, he found that his particle moved wildly and apparently randomly. After a while, though, he found that while the momentary behaviour of the particle was chaotic, the general pattern of an attractor appeared. In his case, the pattern was the butterfly shaped attractor now known as the Lorenz attractor.
- lost river range — a mountain range in E central Idaho. Highest peak, Borah Peak (also highest in the state), 12,662 feet (3862 meters).
- louisiana french — French as spoken in Louisiana; Cajun. Abbreviation: LaF.
- lourenco marques — former name of Maputo.
- low-carbon steel — steel containing between 0.04 and 0.25 per cent carbon
- lower california — Baja California.
- lower palatinate — See under Palatinate (def 1).
- mach's principle — the proposition that there is no absolute space and that the inertia and acceleration of a body are determined by all of the matter of the universe.
- machine learning — The ability of a machine to improve its performance based on previous results.
- machine readable — of or relating to data encoded on an appropriate medium and in a form suitable for processing by computer.
- machine-readable — of or relating to data encoded on an appropriate medium and in a form suitable for processing by computer.
- maclaurin series — a Taylor series in which the reference point is zero.
- magneto-electric — of or relating to the induction of electric current or electromotive force by means of permanent magnets.
- magnolia warbler — a black and yellow wood warbler, Dendroica magnolia, of North America.
- malapportionment — (of a state or other political unit) poorly apportioned, especially divided, organized, or structured in a manner that prevents large sections of a population from having equitable representation in a legislative body.
- maleic anhydride — a colorless crystalline, unsaturated compound, C 4 H 2 O 3 , that is soluble in acetone and hydrolyzes in water: used in the production of polyester resins, pesticides, and fumaric and tartaric acids.
- malpighian layer — the deep, germinative layer of the epidermis.
- man of the world — a man who is widely experienced in the ways of the world and people; an urbane, sophisticated man.
- managerial staff — staff in positions of management
- marine biologist — scientist who studies sea life
- marmalade orange — a bitter variety of orange suitable for making marmalade
- marriage licence — an official document stating that a marriage will be allowed to take place
- marriage license — permit to marry
- marsh cinquefoil — a variety of cinquefoil, Potentilla palustris, that grows in marshy areas
- marxism-leninism — the modification of Marxism by Lenin stressing that imperialism is the highest form of capitalism
- matthew flinders — Matthew, 1774–1814, English navigator and explorer: surveyed coast of Australia.
- mcnaughten rules — (in English law) a set of rules established by the case of Regina v. McNaughten (1843) by which legal proof of insanity in the commission of a crime depends upon whether or not the accused can show either that he did not know what he was doing or that he is incapable of realizing that what he was doing was wrong
- medical examiner — a physician or other person trained in medicine who is appointed by a city, county, or the like, to perform autopsies on the bodies of persons supposed to have died from unnatural causes and to investigate the cause and circumstances of such deaths.
- medieval cornish — the Cornish language of the Middle Ages, usually dated from the 14th century to 1600.
- melodic interval — an intervening period of time: an interval of 50 years.
- menstrual cramps — pain in the lower abdomen as well as possibly in the lower back and legs associated with menstruation
- menstrual period — the bleeding from the womb that occurs approximately monthly in nonpregnant women of reproductive age
- mercantile paper — commercial paper.
- mercator sailing — sailing according to rhumb lines, which appear as straight lines on a Mercator chart.