17-letter words containing a, c, u, t, e, n
- shouting distance — hailing distance.
- silk manufacturer — a person or business that is involved in the manufacture of silk thread and fabric
- socratic elenchus — the drawing out of the consequences of a position in order to show them to be contrary to some accepted position
- sound effects man — a man who produces sounds artificially or reproduces them from a recording, etc, to create a theatrical effect, such as the bringing together of two halves of a hollow coconut shell to simulate a horse's gallop. Such sound effects are used in plays, films, etc
- sound spectrogram — a graphic representation, produced by a sound spectrograph, of the frequency, intensity, duration, and variation with time of the resonance of a sound or series of sounds.
- south sea company — a British joint stock company that traded in South America in the 18th century. The South Sea Company took over the national debt in return for a monopoly of trade with the South Seas, causing feverish speculation in their stocks, and a financial crash in 1720 (the South Sea Bubble)
- spatial frequency — the measure of fine detail in an optical image in terms of cycles per millimetre
- special education — education that is modified or particularized for those with singular needs, as disabled or maladjusted people, slow learners, or gifted children.
- spectrum analyser — an instrument that splits an input waveform into its frequency components, which are then displayed
- spectrum analysis — the determination of the constitution or condition of bodies and substances by means of the spectra they produce.
- spot announcement — a brief radio or television announcement, usually an advertisement, made by an individual station during or after a network program.
- square centimeter — a unit of area measurement equal to a square measuring one centimeter on each side. 2 , sq. cm. Abbreviation: cm.
- squeegee merchant — a person who attempts to make money by squeegeeing the windscreens of cars that are stopped at traffic lights and then asking for payment
- st. vitus's dance — St. Vitus's dance.
- stand-up comedian — performer: tells jokes
- stannous chloride — a white, crystalline, water-soluble solid, SnCl 2 ⋅2H 2 O, used chiefly as a reducing and tinning agent, and as a mordant in dyeing with cochineal.
- stay of execution — If you are given a stay of execution, you are legally allowed to delay obeying an order of a court of law.
- storm in a teacup — a violent fuss or disturbance over a trivial matter
- subclavian artery — either of a pair of arteries, one on each side of the body, that carry the main supply of blood to the arms.
- subscription rate — the price charged for a subscription
- sufficient reason — the principle that nothing happens by pure chance, but that an explanation must always be available
- sum and substance — main idea, gist, or point: the sum and substance of an argument.
- supercolumniation — the placing of one order of columns above another.
- support mechanism — any formal system or method of providing support or assistance
- surface treatment — A surface treatment is a process applied to the surface of a material to make it better in some way, for example by making it more resistant to corrosion or wear.
- take into account — an oral or written description of particular events or situations; narrative: an account of the meetings; an account of the trip.
- take into custody — to arrest
- teacher education — training to become a teacher, usually at an institution of higher education
- technical support — an advising and troubleshooting service provided by a manufacturer, typically a software or hardware developer, to its customers, often online or on the telephone.
- telecommunicating — to transmit (data, sound, images, etc.) by telecommunications.
- telecommunication — Sometimes, telecommunication. (used with a singular verb) the transmission of information, as words, sounds, or images, usually over great distances, in the form of electromagnetic signals, as by telegraph, telephone, radio, or television.
- temporary account — A temporary account is an account which is closed out at the end of the year.
- terminal juncture — a form of juncture consisting of a change in pitch before a pause, marking the end of an utterance or a break between utterances, as between clauses. Compare close juncture, juncture (def 7), open juncture.
- tertiary consumer — a carnivore at the topmost level in a food chain that feeds on other carnivores; an animal that feeds only on secondary consumers.
- the black country — the formerly heavily industrialized region of central England, northwest of Birmingham
- the carboniferous — the Carboniferous period or rock system
- the final curtain — the closing of the curtain at the end of the action of a play
- the rann of kutch — an extensive salt waste in W central India, and S Pakistan: consists of the Great Rann in the north and the Little Rann in the southeast; seasonal alternation between marsh and desert; some saltworks. In 1968 an international tribunal awarded about 10 per cent of the border area to Pakistan. Area: 23 000 sq km (9000 sq miles)
- therapeutic index — the ratio between the dosage of a drug that causes a lethal effect and the dosage that causes a therapeutic effect.
- thermocoagulation — the coagulation of tissue by heat-producing high-frequency electric currents, used therapeutically to remove small growths or to create specific lesions in the brain.
- thousandths-place — last in order of a series of a thousand.
- thread escutcheon — a raised metal rim around a keyhole.
- torricellian tube — a vertical glass tube partly evacuated and partly filled with mercury, the height of which is used as a measure of atmospheric pressure
- touch a raw nerve — If you say that you have touched a nerve or touched a raw nerve, you mean that you have accidentally upset someone by talking about something that they feel strongly about or are very sensitive about.
- transfer function — The transfer function of a circuit is the ratio of the response to the input.
- ts'ao hsueh-ch'in — (Ts'ao Chan) c1717–63, Chinese novelist: author of The Dream of the Red Chamber.
- turn on the charm — If someone turns on the charm, they behave in a way that seems very friendly but which you think is insincere, often in order to obtain something or deceive someone.
- ultraconservative — extremely conservative, especially in politics.
- ultramicrobalance — a balance for weighing precisely, to a hundredth of a microgram or less, minute quantities of material.
- uncle tom's cabin — an antislavery novel (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe.