16-letter words containing t, o, a, l, e
- to clear the air — If you do something to clear the air, you do it in order to resolve any problems or disagreements that there might be.
- to draw the line — If you draw the line at a particular activity, you refuse to do it, because you disapprove of it or because it is more extreme than what you normally do.
- to let off steam — If you let off steam, you get rid of your energy, anger, or strong emotions with physical activity or by behaving in a noisy or violent way.
- to lift a finger — If you say that a person does not lift a finger or raise a finger to do something, especially to help someone, you are critical of them because they do nothing.
- to lose track of — If you lose track of someone or something, you no longer know where they are or what is happening.
- to move a muscle — If you say that someone did not move a muscle, you mean that they stayed absolutely still.
- to play for time — If you play for time, you try to make something happen more slowly, because you do not want it to happen or because you need time to think about what to do if it happens.
- to play the fool — If you play the fool or act the fool, you behave in a playful, childish, and foolish way, usually in order to make other people laugh.
- to say the least — at the minimum
- to speak volumes — If something such as an action speaks volumes about a person or thing, it gives you a lot of information about them.
- to stake a claim — If you stake a claim, you say that something is yours or that you have a right to it.
- toad-in-the-hole — a dish consisting of beef or pork sausages baked in a coating of batter.
- topical-sentence — a sentence that expresses the essential idea of a paragraph or larger section, usually appearing at the beginning.
- topsail schooner — a sailing vessel fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts with square sails above the foresail, and often with a square sail before the foresail.
- torricelli's law — the law that states that the speed of flow of a liquid from an orifice is equal to the speed that it would attain if falling freely a distance equal to the height of the free surface of the liquid above the orifice.
- torvill and dean — two British ice dancers, Jayne Torvill, born 1957, and Christopher Dean, born 1958. They won the world championships in 1981–84, the European championships in 1981–82, 1984, and 1994, and the gold medal in the 1984 Olympic Games
- toulouse-lautrec — Henri Marie Raymond de [ahn-ree ma-ree re-mawn duh] /ɑ̃ˈri maˈri rɛˈmɔ̃ də/ (Show IPA), 1864–1901, French painter and lithographer.
- tracheobronchial — of, relating to, or affecting the trachea and bronchi.
- trail one's coat — to invite a quarrel by deliberately provocative behaviour
- training college — a school providing training for a special field or profession.
- transcontinental — passing or extending across a continent: a transcontinental railroad.
- transfer molding — a method of molding thermosetting plastic in which the plastic enters a closed mold from an adjoining chamber in which it has been softened.
- transmethylation — the transfer of a methyl group from one compound to another.
- transport police — the national police force for railways in Britain, which protects rail operators, staff and passengers
- transverse colon — the middle portion of the colon, lying across the upper abdominal cavity between the ascending colon on the right and the descending colon on the left.
- trapezoidal rule — a numerical method for evaluating the area between a curve and an axis by approximating the area with the areas of trapezoids.
- travelling clock — a small clock taken by someone who is travelling
- trial separation — an experimental period of living apart
- trichloromethane — chloroform (def 1).
- trim one's sails — an area of canvas or other fabric extended to the wind in such a way as to transmit the force of the wind to an assemblage of spars and rigging mounted firmly on a hull, raft, iceboat, etc., so as to drive it along.
- triple-expansion — noting a power source, especially a steam engine, using the same fluid at three successive stages of expansion to do work in three or more cylinders.
- tropical cyclone — a cyclone that originates over a tropical ocean area and can develop into the destructive storm known in the U.S. as a hurricane, in the western Pacific region as a typhoon, and elsewhere by other names. Compare extratropical cyclone, hurricane (def 1), willy-willy.
- two-family house — a house designed for occupation by two families in contiguous apartments, as on separate floors.
- two-tailed pasha — a distinctive vanessid butterfly of S Europe, Charaxes jasius, having mottled brown wings with a yellow-orange margin and frilled hind edges
- twofold purchase — a purchase using a double standing block and a double running block so as to give a mechanical advantage of four or five, neglecting friction, depending on whether the hauling is on the standing block or the running block.
- unapologetically — containing an apology or excuse for a fault, failure, insult, injury, etc.: An apologetic letter to his creditors explained the delay.
- uncoincidentally — happening by or resulting from coincidence; by chance: a coincidental meeting.
- uncollateralized — lacking or needing no collateral: uncollateralized loans.
- uncontradictable — to assert the contrary or opposite of; deny directly and categorically.
- unconventionally — not conventional; not bound by or conforming to convention, rule, or precedent; free from conventionality: an unconventional artist; an unconventional use of material.
- unconversational — of, relating to, or characteristic of conversation: a conversational tone of voice.
- uncountable noun — An uncountable noun is the same as an uncount noun.
- uncountable-noun — a noun, as water, electricity, or happiness, that typically refers to an indefinitely divisible substance or an abstract notion, and that in English cannot be used, in such a sense, with the indefinite article or in the plural.
- undenominational — free from religious sects or denominationalism; not limited or belonging to any particular religious group or groups.
- under-modulation — to reproduce (a sound or signal) at below the optimal output level in a recording or broadcasting system, causing it to be distorted.
- underutilization — to fail to utilize fully: to underutilize natural resources.
- unenforceability — to put or keep in force; compel obedience to: to enforce a rule; Traffic laws will be strictly enforced.
- universalization — to make universal.
- unostentatiously — (of a person) in a manner that is not trying to impress people with one's wealth or importance
- upsilon particle — the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet (Υ, υ).