17-letter words containing s, i, m, n
- listings magazine — a magazine with lists of TV and radio schedules
- load displacement — the weight, in long tons, of a cargo vessel loaded so that the summer load line touches the surface of the water.
- lombrosian school — a school of criminology, promulgating the theories and employing the methods developed by Lombroso.
- luminous efficacy — the quotient of the luminous flux of a radiation and its corresponding radiant flux
- luminous exitance — the ability of a surface to emit light expressed as the luminous flux per unit area at a specified point on the surface
- lymphadenopathies — Plural form of lymphadenopathy.
- lyon king of arms — the chief herald of Scotland
- m-expression lisp — (MLISP) The original "meta-language" syntax of Lisp, designed by John McCarthy in 1962. MLISP was intended for external use in place of the parenthesised S-expression syntax.
- macro-linguistics — a field of study concerned with language in its broadest sense and including cultural and behavioral features associated with language.
- macroinstructions — Plural form of macroinstruction.
- magellanic clouds — either of two irregular galactic clusters in the southern heavens that are the nearest independent star system to the Milky Way.
- magnesium sulfate — a white, water-soluble salt, MgSO 4 , used chiefly in medicine and in the processing of leather and textiles.
- magnetic constant — the permeability of free space, which has the value 4π × 10–7 henry per metre
- magnetic roasting — roasting of a nonmagnetic ore to render it magnetic so that it can be separated from gangue by means of a magnetic field.
- magnetoelasticity — the phenomenon, consisting of a change in magnetic properties, exhibited by a ferromagnetic material to which stress is applied.
- magnetoresistance — a change in the electrical resistance of a material upon exposure to a magnetic field.
- mains electricity — electricity supplied to a building through wires
- maintained school — a school financially supported by the state
- maintainer script — (Debian) One of the scripts (preinst, prerm, postinst, postrm) that may be included in a Debian binary package. These scripts may create and/or remove symlinks, files or directories that, for some reason, could not be done directly by dpkg. Maintainer scripts frequently create or update the symlinks in the /etc/rc?.d directories and start, stop, or restart daemons.
- maintenance costs — the costs associated with keeping a road, building, vehicle, or machine in good condition by regularly checking it and repairing it when necessary
- maison de moliere — Comédie Française.
- majority decision — a decision supported by more than half the people involved
- make conversation — If you make conversation, you talk to someone in order to be polite and not because you really want to.
- make inroads into — to start to use up the supply of something
- make no apologies — If you say that you make no apologies for what you have done, you are emphasizing that you feel that you have done nothing wrong.
- make noises about — to give indications of one's intentions
- make something of — to find a use for
- maladministration — to administer or manage badly or inefficiently: The mayor was a bungler who maladministered the city budget.
- malayo-polynesian — a family of languages extending from Madagascar to the central Pacific, including Malagasy, Malay, Indonesian, Tagalog, and Polynesian
- man in the street — the ordinary person; the average citizen: the political opinions of the man in the street.
- man's best friend — a dog, especially as a pet.
- management skills — skills regarding the technique, practice, or science of managing a company, business, etc
- manganese dioxide — a blackish, crystalline or powdery substance, MnO2, that is a strong oxidizing agent, used in making batteries, matches, etc.
- manicure scissors — scissors for manicuring or trimming the nails
- manifest function — any function of an institution or other social phenomenon that is planned and intentional.
- manitoulin island — an island in N Lake Huron belonging to Canada. 80 miles (130 km) long.
- mann-whitney test — a statistical test of the difference between the distributions of data collected in two experimental conditions applied to unmatched groups of subjects but comparing the distributions of the ranks of the scores
- marais des cygnes — a river in E central Kansas and W Missouri, flowing SE to the Osage River. 150 miles (241 km) long.
- maraschino cherry — a cherry cooked in colored syrup and flavored with maraschino, used to garnish desserts, cocktails, etc.
- mare fecunditatis — (Sea of Fertility) a dark plain in the fourth quadrant and extending into the first quadrant of the face of the moon: about 160,000 sq. mi. (415,000 sq. km).
- mariner's compass — a compass used for navigational purposes, consisting of a pivoted compass card in a gimbal-mounted, nonferrous metal bowl.
- marital relations — a euphemistic term for sexual intercourse between married partners
- marquesas islands — a group of volcanic islands in the S Pacific, in French Polynesia. Pop: 8712 (2002). Area: 1287 sq km (497 sq miles)
- martha's vineyard — an island off SE Massachusetts: summer resort. About 100 sq. mi. (259 sq. km).
- mascarene islands — a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, E of Madagascar, including Mauritius, Reunion, and Rodrigues.
- masculine caesura — a caesura occurring immediately after a stressed or a long syllable.
- mass merchandiser — a retailer or retail store that seeks to sell large quantities of goods quickly through such means as discounting, customer self-service, or unadorned display and packaging, as in a warehouse.
- master of science — a master's degree given usually in a specific branch of the natural sciences, mathematics, or technology.
- materials science — the study of the characteristics and uses of various materials, as glass, plastics, and metals.
- maternal instinct — motherly urge to protect and nurture