16-letter words containing w, e, l, t, r
- two-stroke cycle — See under two-cycle.
- 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.
- up with the lark — up early in the morning
- utility software — system software that manages and optimizes the performance of hardware
- vegetable marrow — any of various summer squashes, as the cocozelle and zucchini.
- voluntary worker — a person who serves or acts in a specified function of their own accord and without compulsion or promise of remuneration
- walk a tightrope — be in a precarious position
- walk the streets — to be a prostitute
- walrus moustache — a long thick moustache drooping at the ends
- warning triangle — a triangle placed by a broken-down car to warn motorists to avoid it
- water lily tulip — a showy tulip, Tulipa kaufmanniana, of Turkestan, having spreading, white or pale-yellow flowers with yellow centers streaked with red.
- waterleaf family — the plant family Hydrophyllaceae, characterized by usually hairy herbaceous plants having lobed, divided, or compound leaves, five-parted blue or white flowers, and capsular fruit, and including baby-blue-eyes, phacelia, and waterleaf.
- waterless cooker — a tight-lidded kitchen utensil in which food can be cooked using only a small amount of water or only the juices emitted while cooking.
- way of the world — a comedy of manners (1700) by William Congreve.
- welfare benefits — financial assistance; social security payment
- welfare payments — government benefits
- well-appreciated — to be grateful or thankful for: They appreciated his thoughtfulness.
- well-articulated — made clear or distinct: articulated sounds.
- well-constructed — to build or form by putting together parts; frame; devise.
- well-illustrated — containing pictures, drawings, and other illustrations: an illustrated book.
- well-ordered set — a totally ordered set in which every nonempty subset has a smallest element with the property that there is no element in the subset less than this smallest element.
- well-represented — having good or sufficient representation
- well-upholstered — (of a person) fat
- west springfield — a city in SW Massachusetts, near Springfield.
- wheel of fortune — wheel (def 9).
- whirligig beetle — any of numerous aquatic beetles of the family Gyrinidae, commonly seen in groups circling about rapidly on the surface of the water.
- white water lily — any water lily of the genus Nymphaea, especially N. odorata, having fragrant, white flowers.
- whited sepulcher — an evil person who feigns goodness; hypocrite. Matt. 23:27.
- whited sepulchre — hypocrite
- wholeheartedness — fully or completely sincere, enthusiastic, energetic, etc.; hearty; earnest: a wholehearted attempt to comply.
- wiener schnitzel — Viennese Cookery. a breaded veal cutlet, variously seasoned or garnished.
- winchester rifle — a type of magazine rifle, first made in about 1866.
- wolfenden report — a study produced in 1957 by the Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution in Britain, which recommended that homosexual relations between consenting adults be legalized
- woman of letters — a woman engaged in literary pursuits, especially a professional writer.
- woodland culture — a long pre-Columbian tradition characterized by the corded pottery of a hunting and later agricultural people of the eastern U.S. noted for the construction of burial mounds and other structures and dating from c1000 b.c. to a.d. 1700.
- world exposition — world's fair.
- world federalist — a promoter or supporter of world federalism.
- worth one's salt — a crystalline compound, sodium chloride, NaCl, occurring as a mineral, a constituent of seawater, etc., and used for seasoning food, as a preservative, etc.
- worth your while — If an action or activity is worth someone's while, it will be helpful, useful, or enjoyable for them if they do it, even though it requires some effort.
- writ of election — a writ by an executive authority requiring the holding of an election, especially one issued by a governor to require a special election for filling a vacancy in the representation from a state.