16-letter words containing r, s, f
- factor of safety — the ratio of the maximum stress that a structural part or other piece of material can withstand to the maximum stress estimated for it in the use for which it is designed.
- fahrenheit scale — Gabriel Daniel [German gah-bree-el dah-nee-el] /German ˈgɑ briˌɛl ˈdɑ niˌɛl/ (Show IPA), 1686–1736, German physicist: devised a temperature scale and introduced the use of mercury in thermometers.
- faintheartedness — The quality or state of being fainthearted.
- fairview heights — a city in SW Illinois.
- false beechdrops — either of two parasitic or saprophytic plants of the genus Monotropa, especially the tawny or reddish M. hypopithys (false beechdrops) of eastern North America.
- false dragonhead — a North American plant, Physostegia virginiana, of the mint family, having a spike of tubular, two-lipped, pink or white flowers.
- family of curves — a collection of curves whose equations differ only by values assigned a parameter or parameters.
- fancy dress ball — a ball at which the guests wear fancy dress
- farewell address — (initial capital letters) U.S. History. a statement that President George Washington published in a Philadelphia newspaper in 1796 to announce that he would not run for a third term and to give his views on foreign and domestic policy.
- farewell to arms — a novel (1929) by Ernest Hemingway.
- farmer's reducer — a solution of ferricyanide and hypo for reducing density and increasing contrast in a negative.
- farmhouse cheese — cheese that is made by traditional methods, on or as if on a farm
- farmington hills — a city in SE Michigan.
- farquhar islands — an island group in the Indian Ocean: administratively part of the Seychelles
- fashion designer — creator of clothing designs
- fashion industry — the industry that deals with the world of fashion
- father christmas — Santa Claus.
- father confessor — confessor (def 2).
- father-surrogate — a male who replaces an absent father and becomes an object of attachment.
- federal district — a district in which the national government of a country is located, especially one in Latin America.
- federal register — a bulletin, published daily by the U.S. federal government, containing the schedule of hearings before Congressional and federal agency committees, together with orders, proclamations, etc., released by the executive branch of the government.
- federalist party — a political group that favored the adoption by the states of the Constitution.
- feel constrained — If you feel constrained to do something, you feel that you must do it, even though you would prefer not to.
- feira de santana — a city in BahÍa state, E Brazil.
- feline distemper — distemper1 (def 1c).
- fellow passenger — a person travelling on the same vehicle, plane, ship etc as you
- feme-sole trader — a married woman who is entitled to carry on business on her own account and responsibility, independently of her husband.
- feminine caesura — a caesura occurring immediately after an unstressed or short syllable.
- fend for oneself — to manage by oneself; get along without help
- ferdinand marcos — Ferdinand E(dralin) [ed-ruh-lin] /ˈɛd rə lɪn/ (Show IPA), 1917–1989, Philippine political leader: president 1965–86.
- fermat's theorem — the theorem that an integer raised to a prime power leaves the same remainder as the integer itself when divided by the prime.
- ferrous sulphate — an iron salt with a saline taste, usually obtained as greenish crystals of the heptahydrate, which are converted to the white monohydrate above 100°C: used in inks, tanning, water purification, and in the treatment of anaemia. Formula: FeSO4
- ferruginous duck — a common European duck, Aythyra nyroca, having reddish-brown plumage with white wing bars
- fertile crescent — an agricultural region extending from the Levant to Iraq.
- fertility symbol — an object, esp a phallic symbol, used in fertility-cult ceremonies to symbolize regeneration
- fibonacci series — a sequence of integers in which each integer (Fibonacci number) after the second is the sum of the two preceding integers; specif., the series 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, . . .
- fictitious force — any force that is postulated to account for apparent deviations from Newton's laws of motion appearing in an accelerated reference system.
- fielder's choice — a fielder's attempt to put out a base runner rather than the batter when a play at first base would put out the batter.
- figure of speech — any expressive use of language, as a metaphor, simile, personification, or antithesis, in which words are used in other than their literal sense, or in other than their ordinary locutions, in order to suggest a picture or image or for other special effect. Compare trope (def 1).
- figure-conscious — concerned to keep an attractively slim body shape
- file compression — (algorithm) The compression of data in a file, usually to reduce storage requirements.
- filterable virus — a virus particle small enough to pass through a filter of diatomaceous earth or porcelain, which will not pass bacteria: chiefly historical or an informal indicator of size, as synthetic membrane filters now permit passage of the smallest virus.
- finance minister — a member of a government in charge of the financial affairs of a state etc
- finger exercises — exercises that are intended to increase the flexibility and dexterity of a player's fingers
- fingertip search — When the police carry out a fingertip search of a place, they examine it for evidence in a very detailed way.
- finished product — the product that emerges at the end of a manufacturing process
- finless porpoise — a porpoise Neophocaena phocaenoides of the Indian and pacific Oceans that completely lacks a dorsal fin
- fire regulations — rules intended to make sure that people and property stay safe in the event of a fire
- firework display — a public event at which fireworks are set alight
- first balkan war — Balkan War (def 1).