16-letter words containing r, e, t, o, a, l
- to blaze a trail — If someone blazes a trail, they discover or develop something new.
- to clear the air — If you do something to clear the air, you do it in order to resolve any problems or disagreements that there might be.
- to draw the line — If you draw the line at a particular activity, you refuse to do it, because you disapprove of it or because it is more extreme than what you normally do.
- to lift a finger — If you say that a person does not lift a finger or raise a finger to do something, especially to help someone, you are critical of them because they do nothing.
- to lose track of — If you lose track of someone or something, you no longer know where they are or what is happening.
- to play for time — If you play for time, you try to make something happen more slowly, because you do not want it to happen or because you need time to think about what to do if it happens.
- topsail schooner — a sailing vessel fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts with square sails above the foresail, and often with a square sail before the foresail.
- torricelli's law — the law that states that the speed of flow of a liquid from an orifice is equal to the speed that it would attain if falling freely a distance equal to the height of the free surface of the liquid above the orifice.
- torvill and dean — two British ice dancers, Jayne Torvill, born 1957, and Christopher Dean, born 1958. They won the world championships in 1981–84, the European championships in 1981–82, 1984, and 1994, and the gold medal in the 1984 Olympic Games
- toulouse-lautrec — Henri Marie Raymond de [ahn-ree ma-ree re-mawn duh] /ɑ̃ˈri maˈri rɛˈmɔ̃ də/ (Show IPA), 1864–1901, French painter and lithographer.
- tracheobronchial — of, relating to, or affecting the trachea and bronchi.
- trail one's coat — to invite a quarrel by deliberately provocative behaviour
- training college — a school providing training for a special field or profession.
- transcontinental — passing or extending across a continent: a transcontinental railroad.
- transfer molding — a method of molding thermosetting plastic in which the plastic enters a closed mold from an adjoining chamber in which it has been softened.
- transmethylation — the transfer of a methyl group from one compound to another.
- transport police — the national police force for railways in Britain, which protects rail operators, staff and passengers
- transverse colon — the middle portion of the colon, lying across the upper abdominal cavity between the ascending colon on the right and the descending colon on the left.
- trapezoidal rule — a numerical method for evaluating the area between a curve and an axis by approximating the area with the areas of trapezoids.
- travelling clock — a small clock taken by someone who is travelling
- trial separation — an experimental period of living apart
- trichloromethane — chloroform (def 1).
- trim one's sails — an area of canvas or other fabric extended to the wind in such a way as to transmit the force of the wind to an assemblage of spars and rigging mounted firmly on a hull, raft, iceboat, etc., so as to drive it along.
- triple-expansion — noting a power source, especially a steam engine, using the same fluid at three successive stages of expansion to do work in three or more cylinders.
- tropical cyclone — a cyclone that originates over a tropical ocean area and can develop into the destructive storm known in the U.S. as a hurricane, in the western Pacific region as a typhoon, and elsewhere by other names. Compare extratropical cyclone, hurricane (def 1), willy-willy.
- twofold purchase — a purchase using a double standing block and a double running block so as to give a mechanical advantage of four or five, neglecting friction, depending on whether the hauling is on the standing block or the running block.
- uncollateralized — lacking or needing no collateral: uncollateralized loans.
- uncontradictable — to assert the contrary or opposite of; deny directly and categorically.
- unconversational — of, relating to, or characteristic of conversation: a conversational tone of voice.
- under-modulation — to reproduce (a sound or signal) at below the optimal output level in a recording or broadcasting system, causing it to be distorted.
- underutilization — to fail to utilize fully: to underutilize natural resources.
- unenforceability — to put or keep in force; compel obedience to: to enforce a rule; Traffic laws will be strictly enforced.
- universalization — to make universal.
- upsilon particle — the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet (Υ, υ).
- utility software — system software that manages and optimizes the performance of hardware
- utilization rate — The utilization rate is the percentage of the total equipment or refinery which is involved in producing something.
- valence electron — 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.
- valency electron — an electron in the outer shell of an atom, responsible for forming chemical bonds
- vegetable marrow — any of various summer squashes, as the cocozelle and zucchini.
- vegetable oyster — salsify.
- velcro fastening — a fastening made of Velcro
- ventriculography — radiography of the ventricles of the heart after injection of a contrast medium
- vertebral column — spinal column.
- victorian values — qualities considered to characterize the Victorian period, including enterprise and initiative and the importance of the family
- 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.
- voluntary helper — a person who aids or assists in a specified function of one's own accord and without compulsion or promise of remuneration
- voluntary muscle — muscle whose action is normally controlled by an individual's will; mainly skeletal muscle, composed of parallel bundles of striated, multinucleate fibers.
- voluntary sector — the part of the economy that consists of non-profit-making organizations, as opposed to the public and private sectors
- voluntary worker — a person who serves or acts in a specified function of their own accord and without compulsion or promise of remuneration
- volunteer bureau — an agency that matches up people wishing to do voluntary work with appropriate voluntary organizations