12-letter words containing w, e, l, a
- unwaveringly — to sway to and fro; flutter: Foliage wavers in the breeze.
- unwearyingly — in an unwearying manner
- utility wear — casual clothing that was originally intended for a particular activity, such as snowboarding or skiing
- verner's law — the statement by K. Verner of a regularity behind some apparent exceptions in the Germanic languages to Grimm's law, namely, that Proto-Germanic voiceless fricatives became voiced when between voiced sounds if the immediately preceding vowel was not accented in Proto-Indo-European.
- waffle cloth — honeycomb (def 5a).
- waffle weave — a textile weave that produces a textured pattern resembling the surface of a waffle.
- wager of law — a form of trial in which the accused offered to make oath of his innocence, supported by the oaths of 11 of his neighbours declaring their belief in his statements
- wages policy — a government policy setting wages and wage increases for workers, for example, setting minimum wage requirements
- waggle dance — a series of patterned movements performed by a scouting bee, communicating to other bees of the colony the direction and distance of a food source or hive site.
- wake-up call — an act or instance of waking up.
- walk of life — The walk of life that you come from is the position that you have in society and the kind of job you have.
- walk on eggs — the roundish reproductive body produced by the female of certain animals, as birds and most reptiles, consisting of an ovum and its envelope of albumen, jelly, membranes, egg case, or shell, according to species.
- walk-up rate — The walk-up rate at a hotel is the price charged to a customer who arrives without a reservation.
- walker hound — an American foxhound having a black, tan, and white, or, sometimes, a tan and white coat.
- walking beam — an overhead oscillating lever, pivoted at the middle, for transmitting force from a vertical connecting rod below one end to a vertical connecting rod, pump rod, etc., below the other end.
- walking fern — a fern, Camptosorus rhizophyllus, having simple, triangular fronds tapering into a prolongation that bends at the top and often takes root at the apex.
- walking leaf — leaf insect.
- walking line — a line on the plan of a curving staircase on which all treads are of a uniform width and that is considered to be the ordinary path taken by persons on the stair.
- walking pace — the speed at which someone walks
- walking race — a race in which competitors must walk
- walking shoe — a sturdy comfortable shoe worn by hillwalkers, etc
- wall creeper — a small, gray and crimson Old World bird, Tichodroma muraria, that inhabits cliffs in mountainous areas.
- wall-mounted — hung on a wall
- wallcovering — a flexible sheet of sized paper, fabric, plastic, etc., usually laminated and printed with a repeat pattern, for pasting on a wall as decoration and protection.
- walled plain — a circular or almost circular area on the moon, sometimes with a floor that is depressed, usually partially enclosed by walls that rise to varying heights and that are usually lower than those of a crater.
- wallpapering — Present participle of wallpaper.
- walnut creek — a town in W California.
- walter mitty — an ordinary, timid person who is given to adventurous and self-aggrandizing daydreams or secret plans as a way of glamorizing a humdrum life.
- walter pater — Walter Horatio, 1839–94, English critic, essayist, and novelist.
- waltz-length — having the hemline at mid calf: a waltz-length nightgown.
- wanne-eickel — a city in the Ruhr region in W Germany.
- war memorial — monument to dead soldiers
- warm welcome — friendly or enthusiastic reception
- warm-blooded — Also, endothermic. designating or pertaining to animals, as mammals and birds, whose blood ranges in temperatures from about 98° to 112°F (37° to 44°C) and remains relatively constant, irrespective of the temperature of the surrounding medium; homoiothermal.
- warrant sale — a sale of someone's personal belongings or household effects that have been seized to meet unpaid debts
- warren, earl — Earl, 1891–1974, U.S. lawyer and political leader: chief justice of the U.S. 1953–69.
- wash leather — a soft leather, usually made of sheepskin
- wash-leather — a soft leather, usually sheepskin, dressed in imitation of chamois.
- washing line — cord for hanging laundry to dry
- wastefulness — given to or characterized by useless consumption or expenditure: wasteful methods; a wasteful way of life.
- watchfulness — vigilant or alert; closely observant: The sentry remained watchful throughout the night.
- water ballet — synchronized movements, patterns, and other visual effects performed in the water by swimmers, usually to a musical accompaniment.
- water beetle — any of various aquatic beetles, as a predaceous diving beetle.
- water bottle — container that holds drinking water
- water closet — an enclosed room or compartment containing a toilet bowl fitted with a mechanism for flushing.
- water clover — a common freshwater fern, Marsilea quadrifolia, of lake edges and quiet ponds, having roots embedded in the bottom, very slender and often tangled stems, and floating, cloverlike leaves composed of four leaflets.
- water cooler — a container for holding drinking water that is cooled and drawn off by a faucet or spigot.
- water filter — device for removing impurities from water
- water locust — a spiny tree, Gleditsia aquatica, of the legume family, native to the southeastern coastal U.S., having pinnate leaves, greenish-yellow, bell-shaped flowers, and long-stalked, thin pods.
- water pistol — a toy gun that shoots a stream of liquid.