12-letter words starting with f
- faits divers — brief news stories, as those typically found in some French newspapers, that are sensational, lurid, etc.
- fall back on — to drop or descend under the force of gravity, as to a lower place through loss or lack of support.
- fall down on — to fail or be unsuccessful in (a job, etc.)
- fall forward — (communications) A feature of a modem protocol where two modems which fall back to a lower speed because of data corruption can later return to the higher speed if the connection improves.
- fall foul of — to come into conflict with
- fall in love — become infatuated
- fall in with — to drop or descend under the force of gravity, as to a lower place through loss or lack of support.
- fall through — to drop or descend under the force of gravity, as to a lower place through loss or lack of support.
- fall webworm — the larva of any of several moths, as Hyphantria cunea (fall webworm) or Loxostege similalis (garden webworm) which spins a web over the foliage on which it feeds.
- fallaciously — In a fallacious manner, erroneously, illogically.
- falling band — a large, flat collar, usually trimmed with lace, worn by men in the 17th century.
- falling door — flap door (def 1).
- falling star — an incandescent meteor; a shooting star.
- false acacia — black locust.
- false aralia — any of several Polynesian shrubs or small trees belonging to the genus Dizygotheca, of the ginseng family, having palmately compound, mottled leaves and often grown as a houseplant.
- false arrest — arrest or detention of a person contrary to or unauthorized by law.
- false bottom — a horizontal partition above the actual bottom of a box, trunk, etc., especially one forming a secret compartment.
- false cirrus — a type of thick cirrus cloud spreading from the top of a cumulonimbus cloud
- false colour — colour used in a computer or photographic display to help in interpreting the image, as in the use of red to show high temperatures and blue to show low temperatures in an infrared image converter
- false friend — a word or expression in one language that, because it resembles one in another language, is often wrongly taken to have the same meaning, for example, the French agenda which means diary, not agenda
- false gavial — a SE Asian crocodile, Tomistoma schlegeli, similar to but smaller than the gavial
- false indigo — any of several North American shrubs belonging to the genus Amorpha, of the legume family, especially A. fruticosa, having compound leaves with pinnate leaflets and long, dense clusters of purplish flowers.
- false mildew — downy mildew (def 1).
- false-acacia — Also called false acacia, yellow locust. a North American tree, Robinia pseudoacacia, of the legume family, having pinnate leaves and clusters of fragrant white flowers.
- false-mildew — Also called false mildew. any fungus of the family Peronosporaceae, causing many plant diseases and producing a white, downy mass of conidiophores, usually on the under surface of the leaves of the host plant.
- falsehearted — Alternative spelling of false-hearted.
- familiarised — Simple past tense and past participle of familiarise.
- familiarized — to make (onself or another) well-acquainted or conversant with something.
- familiarizes — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of familiarize.
- familiarness — commonly or generally known or seen: a familiar sight.
- family album — photos of a family
- family bible — a large Bible usually having pages at the front for recording the marriages, births, and deaths in a family.
- family court — court of domestic relations.
- family hotel — a hotel owned by a family in which family members work
- family leave — a leave of absence from work in order to have or take care of a baby or to care for an ailing family member.
- family style — a way of serving food, as in boardinghouses and some restaurants, in which the people at the table help themselves from large dishes passed around from hand to hand
- fan magazine — a magazine containing information and gossip about celebrities.
- fan vaulting — a system of fan vaults.
- fanaticizing — Present participle of fanaticize.
- fancifulness — The quality of being fanciful.
- fancy diving — diving competition from a springboard into water, the contestants being judged chiefly by their grace and control in executing a specified series of dives in a prescribed manner.
- faneuil hall — a market house and public hall in Boston, Massachusetts, called “the Cradle of Liberty” because it was used as a meeting place by American patriots immediately before the Revolutionary War.
- fanning mill — a machine for winnowing grain by the action of riddles and sieves and an air blast.
- fantasticate — to make or render fantastic.
- fantasticism — the quality of being fantastic
- far and away — at or to a great distance; a long way off; at or to a remote point: We sailed far ahead of the fleet.
- far and near — at or to a great distance; a long way off; at or to a remote point: We sailed far ahead of the fleet.
- far and wide — at or to a great distance; a long way off; at or to a remote point: We sailed far ahead of the fleet.
- far-reaching — extending far in influence, effect, etc.: the far-reaching effect of his speech.
- faraday cage — an enclosure constructed of grounded wire mesh or parallel wires that shields sensitive electrical instruments from electrostatic interference.