12-letter words containing w, o, y
- show the way — guide
- showy orchis — a wild orchid, Orchis spectabilis, of eastern North America, having a spike of showy flowers, each with purple, pink, or white sepals and petals united into a galea and a white lip.
- skew polygon — the figure formed by joining four or more points, not all in one plane, by the same number of lines
- snow crystal — a crystal of ice sufficiently heavy to fall from the atmosphere.
- snowy mespil — a N American tree, Amelanchier Lamarckii, that produces small white flowers in spring
- snowy plover — a small plover, Charadrius alexandrinus, mainly of the U.S. and Mexico, having a white breast and sand-colored upper parts.
- solway firth — an arm of the Irish Sea between SW Scotland and NW England. 38 miles (61 km) long.
- story writer — author of prose fiction
- straw yellow — a pale yellow; straw color.
- thirty-twomo — a book size of about 3¼ × 5½ inches (8.3 × 14 cm), determined by printing on sheets that are folded to form 32 leaves or 64 pages. Symbol: 32mo, 32°.
- this-worldly — distinguished by or relating to material or earthly concerns; not spiritual or concerned with life in a future or imaginary world
- to hold sway — If someone or something holds sway, they have great power or influence over a particular place or activity.
- to lay waste — If something or someone lays waste an area or town or lays waste to it, they completely destroy it.
- torts lawyer — a lawyer who specializes in tort cases
- towaway zone — See example at towaway.
- trolley wire — an overhead wire that provides the current required for the trolleys of electric vehicles
- turkey brown — an angler's name for a species of mayfly, Paraleptophlebia submarginata
- two-cylinder — (of an engine) having two cylinders
- unnewsworthy — (of a story or incident) not important or significant enough to be considered news
- unnoteworthy — worthy of notice or attention; notable; remarkable: a noteworthy addition to our collection of rare books.
- unroadworthy — not mechanically sound or suitable for use on the road
- variety show — vaudeville performance
- vowel system — the vowel sounds of a language, especially when considered as forming an interrelated and interacting group.
- wages policy — a government policy setting wages and wage increases for workers, for example, setting minimum wage requirements
- wave cyclone — a cyclone that forms on a front and, in maturing, produces an increasingly sharp, wavelike deformation of the front.
- webliography — a list of electronic documents, websites, or other resources available on the World Wide Web, especially those relating to a particular subject: a student's annotated webliography on Shakespeare.
- weeny-bopper — a child of 8 to 12 years, esp a girl, who is a keen follower of pop music
- west babylon — a city on S Long Island, in SE New York.
- whataboutery — (of two communities in conflict) the practice of repeatedly blaming the other side and referring to events from the past
- whipping boy — a person who is made to bear the blame for another's mistake; scapegoat.
- whiskey sour — a cocktail made with whiskey, lemon juice, and sugar.
- white bryony — a climbing herbaceous cucurbitaceous plant, Bryonia dioica, of Europe and North Africa, having greenish flowers and red berries
- whortleberry — the edible black berry of a Eurasian shrub, Vaccinium myrtillus, of the heath family.
- woburn abbey — a mansion in Woburn in Bedfordshire: originally an abbey; rebuilt in the 17th century for the Dukes of Bedford, altered by Henry Holland in the 18th century; deer park landscaped by Humphrey Repton
- woodburytype — a process using gelatine film exposed to the negative, which is then pressed into lead and processed, or a print of this type
- woodruff key — a key having the form of a nearly semicircular disk fitting into a recess in a shaft.
- woolly aphid — any plant louse of the family Aphididae, characterized by a waxy secretion that appears like a jumbled mass of fine, curly, white cottony or woolly threads, as Eriosoma lanigerum (woolly apple aphid or American blight) and Prociphilus tessellatus (woolly alder aphid)
- woolly pully — a woollen pullover; a warm jumper
- wordsmithery — the craft or skill of a wordsmith
- worldly-wise — wise as to the affairs of this world.
- worshipfully — In a worshipful manner; reverentially.
- yarrow-river — a river in SE Scotland, flowing into the Tweed. 14 miles (23 km) long.
- yellow alert — (in military or civilian defense) the first alert given when enemy aircraft are discovered approaching a military installation, city, coastline, etc. Compare blue alert, red alert, white alert.
- yellow avens — herb bennet.
- yellow belly — Slang. a person who is without courage, fortitude, or nerve; coward.
- yellow birch — a North American birch, Betula alleghaniensis (or B. lutea), having yellowish or silvery gray bark.
- yellow cress — any of various species of cress (Rorippa) that are related to watercress and have yellow flowers. They are not confined to water margins and some are garden weeds
- yellow daisy — the black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia hirta.
- yellow fever — an acute, often fatal, infectious febrile disease of warm climates, caused by an RNA virus transmitted by a mosquito, especially Aedes aegypti, and characterized by liver damage and jaundice.
- yellow light — a yellow traffic light, usually preceding a signal halting traffic in a particular direction.