16-letter words containing w, a, r, i, n
- shorthand writer — a person trained to write in shorthand
- sir isaac newton — Sir Isaac, 1642–1727, English philosopher and mathematician: formulator of the law of gravitation.
- social darwinism — a 19th-century theory, inspired by Darwinism, by which the social order is accounted as the product of natural selection of those persons best suited to existing living conditions and in accord with which a position of laissez-faire is advocated.
- spring snowflake — a European amaryllidaceous plant, Leucojum vernum, with white nodding bell-shaped flowers
- swedenborgianism — of or relating to Emanuel Swedenborg, his religious doctrines, or the body of followers adhering to these doctrines and constituting the Church of the New Jerusalem, or New Church.
- swine erysipelas — erysipelas (def 2).
- swiss army knife — a small knife with blades and other tools, such as a nail file and corkscrew, all folding into the handle.
- swiss tournament — (in certain games and sports) a tournament system in which players are paired in each round according to the scores they then have, playing a new opponent each time. More players can take part than in an all-play-all tournament of the same duration
- 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.
- twin-carburettor — (of an engine) having two carburettors
- twin-lens camera — a camera having two separately mounted lenses coordinated to eliminate parallax errors or for making stereoscopic photographs.
- virginia cowslip — a perennial woodland plant (Mertensia virginica) of the borage family, native to E North America and having clusters of blue or purple, bell-shaped flowers
- walking dragline — a very large-capacity dragline mounted on feet or pads instead of tracks
- war of secession — American Civil War.
- ward christensen — (person) The inventor of XMODEM and of the BBS. Ward did physics in college and programmed mainframes for IBM. Ward and friend Randy Suess set up their BBS on first on 1978-02-16 in Chicago. It ran on an S-100 computer with 64k RAM and two single-sided 8" 250kB diskettes.
- warminster broom — a European shrub, Cytisus praecox, of the legume family, having yellowish-white or yellow, pealike flowers.
- warning triangle — a triangle placed by a broken-down car to warn motorists to avoid it
- washing-up water — water used for washing dishes
- washington thorn — a dense tree, Crataegus phaenopyrum, of the rose family, native to the eastern coast of the U.S., having triangular leaves, small clusters of white flowers, and clusters of bright red fruit.
- water chinquapin — an American lotus, Nelumbo lutea, having pale-yellow flowers and an edible seed.
- water-base paint — latex paint.
- weak interaction — the interaction between elementary particles and the intermediate vector bosons that carry the weak force from one particle to another.
- weatherstripping — A piece of weatherstrip material.
- welfare benefits — financial assistance; social security payment
- western sandwich — a sandwich with a western omelet for a filling.
- wheelchair-bound — unable to walk through injury, illness, etc and relying on a wheelchair to move around
- white propaganda — propaganda that comes from the source it claims to come from
- whole nine yards — a common unit of linear measure in English-speaking countries, equal to 3 feet or 36 inches, and equivalent to 0.9144 meter.
- willem-alexander — full name Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand. born 1967, king of the Netherlands from 2013
- willow ptarmigan — a ptarmigan, Lagopus lagopus, of arctic and subarctic regions of the New and Old Worlds, having brown, mottled plumage in summer and white plumage in winter.
- wilson's warbler — a North American warbler, Wilsonia pusilla, having yellow plumage and a black patch on top of the head.
- wind river range — a mountain range in W Wyoming, part of the Rocky Mountains. Highest peak, Gannett Peak, 13,785 feet (4202 meters).
- windchill factor — an estimated measurement of the cooling effect of air and wind, esp. when applied to the loss of body heat from exposed skin; chill factor
- windfall profits — Windfall profits are excessive profits with a non-business cause such as a natural disaster.
- windward islands — a group of islands in the SE West Indies, consisting of the S part of the Lesser Antilles: includes British, French, and independent territories.
- windward passage — a strait in the West Indies, between Cuba and Haiti. 50 miles (80 km) wide.
- wire-transferred — to transmit (money or credit) by wire transfer.
- wisconsin rapids — a city in central Wisconsin.
- with a free hand — with generosity; lavishly
- withdrawing room — a room to withdraw or retire to; drawing room.
- woodland caribou — a variety of caribou inhabiting the bogs and forests of eastern Canada, having large, palmate antlers.
- word association — stimulation of an associative pattern by a word.
- writ of subpoena — a legal document commanding the attendance in court, as a witness, of the person on whom it is served, under a penalty
- wrongful trading — the act of allowing a company to continue trading when its insolvency is inevitable