15-letter words containing s, o, r, e, l
- cytomegalovirus — a virus of the herpes virus family that may cause serious disease in patients whose immune systems are compromised
- dealer's choice — a card game, as poker, in which the dealer decides what particular game is to be played, often depending on the number of players, and designates any special variations or unusual rules, including setting the stakes.
- debt counsellor — a person who advises people who are in debt on how to deal with their debt and get out of it
- declare oneself — to state strongly one's opinion
- decorated style — a 14th-century style of English architecture characterized by the ogee arch, geometrical tracery, and floral decoration
- decree absolute — A decree absolute is the final order made by a court in a divorce case which ends a marriage completely.
- deleteriousness — The quality of being deleterious.
- delsarte method — a theory or system devised by François Delsarte for improving musical and dramatic expression through the mastery of various bodily attitudes and gestures.
- demonstrability — The quality of being demonstrable.
- demonstrational — the act or circumstance of proving or being proved conclusively, as by reasoning or a show of evidence: a belief incapable of demonstration.
- demonstratively — characterized by or given to open exhibition or expression of one's emotions, attitudes, etc., especially of love or affection: She wished her fiancé were more demonstrative.
- depersonalizing — Present participle of depersonalize.
- dephosphorylate — to remove a phosphate group from (an organic compound)
- dermatoglyphics — the lines forming a skin pattern, esp on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet
- desacralization — the process of rendering anything less sacred; secularization
- descriptionless — Without a description.
- deserialization — The act or process of deserializing.
- desilverization — the process of desilverizing (metal); the state of having been desilverized
- dessertspoonful — You can refer to an amount of food resting on a dessertspoon as a dessertspoonful of food.
- desulfurization — The process of removing sulfur from a substance, such as flue gas or crude.
- detribalisation — Alternative form of detribalization.
- deuteranomalous — having deuteranomaly; relating to deuteranomaly
- dextrosinistral — left-handed, but having the right hand trained for writing.
- diaheliotropism — the tendency among plants to respond to the light of the sun by orienting their leaves perpendicular to the sun's rays, such that the upper surface of the leaves receives maximum light
- dictatorialness — The state or quality of being dictatorial.
- dielectric loss — the loss of power in a dielectric caused by the loss of energy in the form of heat generated by an electric field.
- disconcertingly — disturbing to one's composure or self-possession; upsetting, discomfiting.
- discovery inlet — an inlet of the Ross Sea, Antarctica.
- discretionarily — subject or left to one's own discretion.
- disk controller — (hardware, storage) (Or "hard disk controller", HDC) The circuit which allows the CPU to communicate with a hard disk, floppy disk or other kind of disk drive. The most common disk controllers in use are IDE and SCSI controllers. Most home personal computers use IDE controllers. High end PCs, workstations and network file servers mostly have SCSI adaptors.
- doctoral thesis — a thesis written as part of a doctorate
- dolphin striker — a short vertical strut between the bowsprit and a rope or cable (martingale) from the end of the jib boom to the stem or bows, used for maintaining tension and preventing upward movement of the jib boom
- dorsiventrality — The quality of being dorsiventral.
- dorsoventrality — Zoology. pertaining to the dorsal and ventral aspects of the body; extending from the dorsal to the ventral side: the dorsoventral axis.
- double exposure — the act of exposing the same film, frame, plate, etc., twice.
- double in brass — twice as large, heavy, strong, etc.; twofold in size, amount, number, extent, etc.: a double portion; a new house double the size of the old one.
- double or quits — twice as large, heavy, strong, etc.; twofold in size, amount, number, extent, etc.: a double portion; a new house double the size of the old one.
- double standard — any code or set of principles containing different provisions for one group of people than for another, especially an unwritten code of sexual behavior permitting men more freedom than women. Compare single standard (def 1).
- double-breasted — (of a coat, jacket, etc.) overlapping sufficiently in front to allow for two rows of buttons.
- downward closed — closure
- dr. strangelove — a person, especially a military or government official, who advocates initiating nuclear warfare.
- draw oneself up — to assume a straighter posture; stand or sit straight
- dressed to kill — woman: in stylish clothes
- drop handlebars — aerodynamic handlebars that drop down and curve towards the rider at the ends rather than turning upwards as on conventional bicycles
- droste-hulshoff — Annette Elisabeth Freiin von [ah-net-uh ey-lee-zah-bet frahy-in fuh n] /ɑˈnɛt ə eɪˈli zɑˌbɛt ˈfraɪ ɪn fən/ (Show IPA), 1797–1848, German poet.
- early admission — a plan for admission to colleges in the US, in which students apply to colleges earlier in the year than is customary and receive their results earlier too
- edriophthalmous — (of certain crustaceans) having stalkless eyes
- elastic rebound — a theory of earthquakes that envisages gradual deformation of the fault zone without fault slippage until friction is overcome, when the fault suddenly slips to produce the earthquake
- electric socket — a device on a wall where you can plug electrical equipment into the electricity supply
- electro-osmosis — movement of liquid through a capillary tube or membrane under the influence of an electric field: used in controlling rising damp