17-letter words containing a, l, e, s, u
- manganese sulfate — a pink, water-soluble, usually tetrahydrate salt, MnSO 4 ⋅4H 2 O, used chiefly in fertilizers, paints, and varnishes.
- marquesas islands — a group of volcanic islands in the S Pacific, in French Polynesia. Pop: 8712 (2002). Area: 1287 sq km (497 sq miles)
- masculine caesura — a caesura occurring immediately after a stressed or a long syllable.
- maxwell equations — equations developed by James Clerk Maxwell (1831–79) upon which classical electromagnetic theory is based
- mechanical tissue — a plant tissue made up of hard, thick-walled cells that add strength to an organ
- medical insurance — a type of insurance intended to cover possible future medical expenses
- mensural notation — a system of musical notation of the 13th to the late 16th centuries, marked by the use of note symbols such as the longa and brevis, the absence of bar lines and ties, and the equivalence in value of one note to either two or three of the next smaller degree.
- messier catalogue — a catalogue of 103 nonstellar objects, such as nebulae and galaxies, prepared in 1781–86. An object is referred to by its number in this catalogue, for example the Andromeda Galaxy is referred to as M31
- metallofullerenes — Plural form of metallofullerene.
- microencapsulated — Encapsulated using microencapsulation.
- miscellaneousness — Quality of being miscellaneous.
- misunderstandable — Capable of being misunderstood.
- monkeygland sauce — a piquant sauce, made from tomatoes, ketchup, fruit chutney, garlic, spices, etc
- more than usually — You use more than usually to show that something shows even more of a particular quality than it normally does.
- multimedia system — multimedia
- multimillionaires — Plural form of multimillionaire.
- mundane astrology — the astrology of worldly events, in contrast to the astrology of the individual: used especially in interpretations and forecasts involving politics, the stock market, weather, and disasters.
- muscae volitantes — floater (def 6).
- muscle dysmorphia — a mental disorder primarily affecting males, characterized by obsessions about a perceived lack of muscularity, leading to compulsive exercising, use of anabolic steroids, etc. Compare body dysmorphic disorder.
- musical interlude — an interval in a play, event or occasion during which music is played
- naked singularity — an infinitely dense point mass without a surrounding black hole
- narrow-shouldered — having shoulders which do not extend very far from the neck; not broad-shouldered
- national security — defence of a country
- natural resources — a naturally occurring source of wealth, as land or water.
- natural selection — the process by which forms of life having traits that better enable them to adapt to specific environmental pressures, as predators, changes in climate, or competition for food or mates, will tend to survive and reproduce in greater numbers than others of their kind, thus ensuring the perpetuation of those favorable traits in succeeding generations.
- natural-resources — a naturally occurring source of wealth, as land or water.
- neo-malthusianism — a view or doctrine advocating population control, especially by contraception.
- net present value — an assessment of the long-term profitability of a project made by adding together all the revenue it can be expected to achieve over its whole life and deducting all the costs involved, discounting both future costs and revenue at an appropriate rate
- nonunderstandable — Not understandable.
- nuclear chemistry — the branch of chemistry concerned with nuclear reactions
- nuclear isomerism — isomerism (def 2).
- nuclear scientist — a scientist who studies nuclear physics
- nuclear submarine — undersea vessel powered by atomic energy
- nuclear threshold — the point in war at which a combatant brings nuclear weapons into use
- nuclear-isomerism — Chemistry. the relation of two or more compounds, radicals, or ions that are composed of the same kinds and numbers of atoms but differ from each other in structural arrangement (structural isomerism) as CH 3 OCH 3 and CH 3 CH 2 OH, or in the arrangement of their atoms in space and therefore in one or more properties. Compare optical isomerism, stereoisomerism.
- olympic peninsula — a large peninsula of W Washington
- osculating circle — circle of curvature.
- out at the elbows — the bend or joint of the human arm between upper arm and forearm.
- out of all reason — unreasonable
- papanicolaou test — Pap test.
- parallel universe — Physics. any of a hypothetical collection of undetectable universes that are like our known universe but have branched off from our universe due to a quantum-level event. See also multiverse.
- parker house roll — a soft dinner roll made by folding a flat disk of dough in half.
- penalty shoot-out — In football, a penalty shoot-out is a way of deciding the result of a game that has ended in a draw. Players from each team try to score a goal in turn until one player fails to score and their team loses the game.
- perpetual spinach — a variety of spinach that keeps producing edible leaves
- personal computer — a compact computer that uses a microprocessor and is designed for individual use, as by a person in an office or at home or school, for such applications as word processing, data management, financial analysis, or computer games. Abbreviation: PC.
- personal equation — the tendency to personal bias that accounts for variation in interpretation or approach and for which allowance must be made.
- physical pendulum — any apparatus consisting of a body of possibly irregular shape allowed to rotate freely about a horizontal axis on which it is pivoted (distinguished from simple pendulum).
- plateau's problem — the problem in the calculus of variations of finding the surface with the least area bounded by a given closed curve in space.
- plug and feathers — an apparatus for splitting stone, consisting of two tapered bars (feathers) inserted into a hole drilled into the stone, between which a narrow wedge (plug) is hammered to spread them.
- pluvius insurance — insurance against rain