15-letter words containing t, b, a, r, l
- distractibility — inability to sustain one's attention or attentiveness, which is rapidly diverted from one topic to another: a symptom of a variety of mental disorders, as manic disorder, schizophrenia, or anxiety states.
- dithyrambically — In dithyrambic fashion.
- dolomite marble — coarse-grained dolomite.
- double integral — an integral in which the integrand involves a function of two variables and that requires two applications of the integration process to evaluate.
- 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.
- doublet pattern — a pattern, as on a fabric, in which a figure or group is duplicated in reverse order on the opposite side of a centerline.
- eat like a bird — any warm-blooded vertebrate of the class Aves, having a body covered with feathers, forelimbs modified into wings, scaly legs, a beak, and no teeth, and bearing young in a hard-shelled egg.
- elaborated code — a way of talking which is explicit and does not assume that the listener shares the same assumptions and understandings as the speaker
- 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
- eleutherophobia — the fear of freedom
- elm bark beetle — the bark-boring beetle (Scolytus multistriatus) that feeds on the bark of elm trees and carries Dutch elm disease
- enfant terrible — If you describe someone as an enfant terrible, you mean that they are clever but unconventional, and often cause problems or embarrassment for their friends or families.
- enterobacterial — relating to enterobacteria
- ethyl carbamate — a colourless odourless crystalline ester that is used in the manufacture of pesticides, fungicides, and pharmaceuticals. Formula: CO(NH2)OC2H5
- false buckthorn — a spiny shrub or small tree, Bumelia lanuginosa, of the sapodilla family, native to the southern U.S., having gummy, milky sap and white, bell-shaped flowers and yielding a hard, light-brown wood.
- fibrocartilages — Plural form of fibrocartilage.
- finger alphabet — a series of shapes made by the fingers that indicate letters of an alphabet and can be used in fingerspelling for the deaf
- flatbed scanner — a type of optical scanner having a flat, stationary surface on which a page is scanned by a moving head.
- flemish brabant — a province of central Belgium, formed in 1995 from the N part of Brabant province: densely populated and intensively farmed, with large industrial centres. Pop: 1 031 904 (2004 est). Area: 2106 sq km (813 sq miles)
- floral tributes — bunches or arrangements of flowers left as a memorial at the site of a fatal incident
- football ground — an area of land where football games are played
- football player — sportsperson: plays football
- four-ball match — a match, scored by holes, between two pairs of players, in which the four players tee off and the partners alternate in hitting the pair's ball having the better lie off the tee.
- free-tailed bat — any of various small, swift, insect-eating bats of the family Molossidae, common in warm climates, having thick, leathery ears and a tail that projects well beyond the tail membrane.
- garbage collect — garbage collection
- gastric balloon — an inflatable rubber bag placed in the stomach to reduce its capacity as an aid to losing weight
- gibraltar board — a type of lining board with a cardboard surface and a gypsum core
- gilbert islands — a group of islands in the W Pacific: with Banaba, the Phoenix Islands, and three of the Line Islands they constitute the independent state of Kiribati; until 1975 they formed part of the British colony of Gilbert and Ellice Islands; achieved full independence in 1979. Pop: 82 902 (2005). Area: 295 sq km (114 sq miles)
- gladbach-rheydt — a former city in W Germany; now part of Mönchengladbach.
- globe artichoke — artichoke (defs 1, 2).
- great bear lake — a lake in NW Canada, in the Northwest Territories. 12,275 sq. mi. (31,792 sq. km).
- great rebellion — English Civil War.
- green vegetable — a vegetable having green edible parts, as lettuce or broccoli.
- gyrostabilizers — Plural form of gyrostabilizer.
- halting problem — The problem of determining in advance whether a particular program or algorithm will terminate or run forever. The halting problem is the canonical example of a provably unsolvable problem. Obviously any attempt to answer the question by actually executing the algorithm or simulating each step of its execution will only give an answer if the algorithm under consideration does terminate, otherwise the algorithm attempting to answer the question will itself run forever. Some special cases of the halting problem are partially solvable given sufficient resources. For example, if it is possible to record the complete state of the execution of the algorithm at each step and the current state is ever identical to some previous state then the algorithm is in a loop. This might require an arbitrary amount of storage however. Alternatively, if there are at most N possible different states then the algorithm can run for at most N steps without looping. A program analysis called termination analysis attempts to answer this question for limited kinds of input algorithm.
- harlequin table — a writing or dressing table having a central set of compartments that rise when drop leaves are raised.
- heartbreakingly — causing intense anguish or sorrow.
- hot-air balloon — passenger balloon
- hypercatabolism — an abnormally high metabolic breakdown of a substance or tissue which leads to weight loss and physical deterioration
- hypermetabolism — Biology, Physiology. the sum of the physical and chemical processes in an organism by which its material substance is produced, maintained, and destroyed, and by which energy is made available. Compare anabolism, catabolism.
- hypermutability — liable or subject to change or alteration.
- immeasurability — Immeasurableness.
- immensurability — The quality of being immensurable.
- impenetrability — the state or quality of being impenetrable.
- imperishability — not subject to decay; indestructible; enduring.
- imponderability — The state or characteristic of being imponderable.
- imprescriptable — Alt form imprescriptible.
- in the ballpark — a tract of land where ball games, especially baseball, are played.
- inalterableness — The state or quality of being inalterable.