17-letter words containing s, a, b
- hepatitis b virus — a form of hepatitis caused by a DNA virus (hepatitis B virus, or HBV) that persists in the blood, characterized by a long incubation period: usually transmitted by sexual contact or by injection or ingestion of infected blood or other bodily fluids.
- herbaceous border — A herbaceous border is a flower bed containing a mixture of plants that flower every year.
- high-carbon steel — steel containing between 0.5 and 1.5 per cent carbon
- histamine blocker — any of various substances that act at a specific receptor site to block certain actions of histamine.
- hold one's breath — If you say that someone is holding their breath, you mean that they are waiting anxiously or excitedly for something to happen.
- hold sb to ransom — If you say that someone is holding you to ransom in British English, or holding you for ransom in American English, you mean that they are using their power to try to force you to do something which you do not want to do.
- hottentot's bread — elephant's-foot.
- house of assembly — the legislature or the lower house of the legislature in certain countries of the Commonwealth of Nations.
- hubble's constant — the ratio of the recessional velocity of galaxies to their distance from the sun, with current measurements of its value ranging from 50 to 100 km/sec per megaparsec.
- hyperbolic secant — a hyperbolic function that is the reciprocal of cosh; sech
- hyperbolic spiral — rθ = a, (where a is a constant)
- i am bound to say — You can say 'I am bound to say' to introduce a statement expressing something that you find undesirable or unexpected.
- iberian peninsula — Also called Iberian Peninsula. a peninsula in SW Europe, comprising Spain and Portugal.
- impracticableness — The state of being impracticable; impracticability.
- impressionability — easily impressed or influenced; susceptible: an impressionable youngster.
- in double harness — in a harness for two animals pulling the same carriage, plow, etc.
- in-band signaling — in-band signalling
- incompatibilities — not compatible; unable to exist together in harmony: She asked for a divorce because they were utterly incompatible.
- inconceivableness — The quality of being inconceivable.
- indefatigableness — The state of being indefatigable.
- indescribableness — The quality of being indescribable.
- indian paintbrush — any of several semiparasitic plants belonging to the genus Castilleja, of the figwort family, as C. linariaefolia, of the western U.S.: the state flower of Wyoming.
- indian strawberry — a plant, Duchesnea indica, of the rose family, native to India, having yellow flowers and inedible fruit resembling strawberries.
- indispensableness — The characteristic of being indispensable; indispensability.
- indistinguishable — not distinguishable.
- indistinguishably — In an indistinguishable manner; so that separate components or differences cannot be discerned.
- inertial observer — a hypothetical observer who is not accelerated with respect to an inertial system. Newton's laws of motion and the special theory of relativity apply to the measurements which would be made by such observers
- inexhaustibleness — The quality of being inexhaustible.
- insectivorous bat — any bat of the suborder Microchiroptera, typically having large ears and feeding on insects. The group includes common bats (Myotis species), vampire bats, etc
- instance variable — (programming) In object-oriented programming, one of the variables of a class template which may have a different value for each object of that class. Instance variables hold the state of an object.
- insupportableness — The state of being insupportable; insufferableness.
- insurmountability — incapable of being surmounted, passed over, or overcome; insuperable: an insurmountable obstacle.
- intangible assets — intellectual property, etc.
- interdental brush — a small brush that is used to clean between the teeth
- intertranslatable — to turn from one language into another or from a foreign language into one's own: to translate Spanish.
- intestinal bypass — the surgical circumvention, by anastomosis, of a diseased portion of the intestine; also sometimes used to reduce nutrient absorption in morbidly obese patients.
- into one's barrow — suited to one's interests or desires
- intransitive verb — a verb that indicates a complete action without being accompanied by a direct object, as sit or lie, and, in English, that does not form a passive.
- investment banker — an executive in an investment bank
- invisible balance — the difference in value between total exports of services plus payment of property incomes from abroad and total imports of services plus payment abroad of property incomes
- irrecoverableness — The quality of being irrecoverable.
- japanese barberry — a thorny barberry, Berberis thunbergii, of Japan, having yellow flowers and bearing bright-red fruit, grown as a hedge plant.
- job advertisement — an announcement in a newspaper, on television, or on a poster about a post of employment
- job specification — a detailed description of the qualifications, skills, and experience required for a particular post of employment
- john of salisbury — c1115–80, English prelate and scholar.
- juvenile diabetes — any of several disorders characterized by increased urine production.
- kendal sneck bent — a fishhook having a wide, squarish bend.
- knowledgeableness — The state, quality, or measure of being knowledgeable; wisdom.
- laboratory school — a school maintained by a college or university for the training of student teachers.
- lambda expression — (mathematics) A term in the lambda-calculus denoting an unnamed function (a "lambda abstraction"), a variable or a constant. The pure lambda-calculus has only functions and no constants.