12-letter words containing r, o, s, a, l
- aristolochia — any of various plants of the genus Aristolochia of the family Aristolochiaceae
- aristotelian — of or relating to Aristotle or his philosophy
- arms control — an agreement between two or more countries to reduce the number of weapons owned, with the aim of preventing war
- arousability — to stimulate sexually.
- arthroplasty — surgical repair of a diseased joint
- articulators — Plural form of articulator.
- artiodactyls — Plural form of artiodactyl.
- arts council — an organization that provides funding for a variety of arts activities
- ash-coloured — silver-grey in colour
- asphalt rock — a rock formation, usually of limestone or sandstone, containing large amounts of bitumens.
- aspirational — If you describe someone as aspirational, you mean that they have strong hopes of moving to a higher social status.
- assimilators — Plural form of assimilator.
- assimilatory — characterized by assimilation; assimilating.
- astrobiology — the branch of biology that investigates the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe
- astrogeology — the study of the structure, composition, and history of other planets and other bodies in the solar system
- astrological — the study that assumes and attempts to interpret the influence of the heavenly bodies on human affairs.
- astronomical — If you describe an amount, especially the cost of something as astronomical, you are emphasizing that it is very large indeed.
- at all hours — If you say that something happens at all hours of the day or night, you disapprove of it happening at the time that it does or as often as it does.
- atholl brose — a mixture of whisky and honey left to ferment before consumption
- australopith — (archaeology, anthropology, paleonotology) Of or pertaining to the extinct hominid primates, of the genus Australopithecus, from the Pleistocene period.
- autodiallers — Plural form of autodialler.
- avariciously — characterized by avarice; greedy; covetous.
- bachelorship — the state of being a bachelor; bachelorhood
- bacon-slicer — a machine for cutting bacon into slices
- bardolatrous — relating to or characterized by bardolatry
- barn swallow — the US and Canadian name for the common swallow, Hirundo rustica
- barratrously — In a barratrous manner.
- battlefronts — Plural form of battlefront.
- below stairs — People sometimes use below stairs to refer to the servants in a rich household and the things that are connected with them.
- bib overalls — overall (def 3a).
- bitter aloes — a bitter purgative drug made from the leaves of several species of aloe
- black forest — wooded mountain region in SW Germany
- black grouse — a large N European grouse, Lyrurus tetrix, the male of which has a bluish-black plumage and lyre-shaped tail
- black scoter — a scoter of Eurasia and North America, Melanitta nigra, the adult male of which is black.
- blastosphere — blastula
- board school — (formerly) a school managed by a board elected by local ratepayers
- boardsailing — windsurfing
- borosilicate — a salt of boric and silicic acids
- bottlewasher — a person or machine that washes bottles.
- box lacrosse — a form of lacrosse played indoors, usually on a hockey rink with a wooden floor, between two teams of six players.
- brass-collar — unwaveringly faithful to a political party; voting the straight ticket: a brass-collar Democrat.
- breastplough — a plough driven by the worker's breast, often used to pare turf
- brooks's law — (programming) "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later" - a result of the fact that the expected advantage from splitting work among N programmers is O(N) (that is, proportional to N), but the complexity and communications cost associated with coordinating and then merging their work is O(N^2) (that is, proportional to the square of N). The quote is from Fred Brooks, a manager of IBM's OS/360 project and author of "The Mythical Man-Month". The myth in question has been most tersely expressed as "Programmer time is fungible" and Brooks established conclusively that it is not. Hackers have never forgotten his advice; too often, management still does. See also creationism, second-system effect, optimism.
- burro's tail — a succulent Mexican plant, Sedum morganianum, of the stonecrop family, bearing small, rose-colored flowers and long, hanging, nearly cylindrical stems with closely packed whitish-green leaves.
- byelorussian — Byelorussian means belonging or relating to Byelorussia or to its people or culture.
- cadaverously — In a cadaverous manner.
- calcareously — in a calcareous manner
- calibrations — Plural form of calibration.
- call to arms — a command to report for active military duty.
- calorescence — the absorption of radiation by a body, subsequently re-emitted at a higher frequency (lower wavelength)