18-letter words containing s, w, a
- talk between ships — TBS (def 1).
- territorial waters — law: nation's boundaries
- the bird has flown — the person in question has fled or escaped
- the cat's whiskers — a person or thing that is excellent or superior
- the powers that be — You can refer to people in authority as the powers that be, especially when you want to say that you disagree with them or do not understand what they say or do.
- the welsh assembly — the elected assembly for Wales, based in Cardiff, that has certain powers devolved from the UK government
- the worse for wear — If you say that someone is the worse for wear, you mean that they are tired, ill, or in a bad state because they have been very active, been through a difficult experience, or been drinking alcohol.
- to bear witness to — If a person or thing bears witness to something, they show or say that it exists or happened.
- to sweep the board — If someone sweeps the board in a competition or election, they win nearly everything that it is possible to win.
- to watch your step — If someone tells you to watch your step, they are warning you to be careful about how you behave or what you say so that you do not get into trouble.
- townsend avalanche — avalanche (def 3).
- treaty of rijswijk — a treaty signed at Rijswijk in the Netherlands in 1697, ending the War of the Grand Alliance
- two-chamber system — the system of having two parliamentary chambers, as the House of Lords and the House of Commons in the United Kingdom
- ultrasonic welding — the use of high-energy vibration of ultrasonic frequency to produce a weld between two components which are held in close contact
- wandering minstrel — travelling performer
- war risk insurance — life insurance for members of the armed forces.
- wardrobe assistant — a person who assists the wardrobe mistress in a theatre
- warehouse capacity — the amount of storage space in a warehouse
- warrant of fitness — a six-monthly certificate required for motor vehicles certifying mechanical soundness
- waste minimization — a policy of generating as little waste as possible
- water stick insect — a slender sticklike flightless water bug, Ranatra linearis, that is predatory on small creatures such as water fleas
- watson-crick model — a widely accepted model for the three-dimensional structure of DNA, featuring a double-helix configuration for the molecule's two hydrogen-bonded complementary polynucleotide strands.
- wattless component — Electricity. reactive component.
- weather forecaster — meteorologist
- weberian apparatus — (in certain fishes) a chain of small bones and ligaments connecting the inner ear with the air bladder.
- welland ship canal — a ship canal in S Canada, in Ontario, connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario: 8 locks. 25 miles (40 km) long.
- wernicke's aphasia — a type of aphasia caused by a lesion in Wernicke's area of the brain and characterized by grammatical but more or less meaningless speech and an apparent inability to comprehend speech.
- wesleyan methodist — a member of any of the churches founded on the evangelical principles of John Wesley.
- west puente valley — a town in SW California.
- west-northwestward — moving, bearing, facing, or situated toward the west-northwest.
- west-southwestward — moving, bearing, facing, or situated toward the west-southwest.
- western alienation — a feeling of resentment by some inhabitants of western Canada against perceived favouritism by the national government towards the eastern provinces
- western meadowlark — any of several American songbirds of the genus Sturnella, of the family Icteridae, especially S. magna (eastern meadowlark) and S. neglecta (western meadowlark) having a brownish and black back and wings and a yellow breast, noted for their clear, tuneful song.
- westinghouse brake — a railroad air brake operated by compressed air.
- what has become of — If you wonder what has become of someone or something, you wonder where they are and what has happened to them.
- wheelchair housing — housing designed or adapted for a chairbound person
- whispering gallery — a space or gallery beneath a dome or broad arch in which low sounds produced at any of certain points are clearly audible at certain other distant points.
- white man's burden — the alleged duty of white colonizers to care for nonwhite indigenous subjects in their colonial possessions.
- white-spotted hyla — a type of tree frog (H. leucophyllata) of tropical America
- whittaker chambers — Robert, 1802–71, Scottish publisher and editor.
- wild passionflower — the maypop, Passiflora incarnata.
- wild sweet william — blue phlox.
- wildlife sanctuary — an area where wild animals and plants are protected
- wilson's phalarope — a phalarope, Phalaropus tricolor, that breeds in the prairie regions of North America and winters in Argentina and Chile.
- winged everlasting — a bushy composite plant, Ammobium alatum, of Australia, having winged branches, javelin-shaped leaves, and white flowers.
- withdrawal symptom — effects of stopping a drug
- without hesitation — immediately, willingly
- woman of the house — lady of the house.
- women at point sur — a narrative poem (1927) by Robinson Jeffers.
- women's liberation — a movement to combat sexual discrimination and to gain full legal, economic, vocational, educational, and social rights and opportunities for women, equal to those of men.