22-letter words containing a, l, e, s, n
- st-pierre and miquelon — group of islands in the Atlantic, south of Newfoundland, constituting a political unit of France: includes the islands of St-Pierre (c. 10 sq mi, 26 sq km) & Miquelon & several islets: 93 sq mi (241 sq km); pop. 6,000
- start the ball rolling — to open or initiate (an action, discussion, movement, etc)
- statistical dependence — a condition in which two random variables are not independent. X and Y are positively dependent if the conditional probability, P(X|Y), of X given Y is greater than the probability, P(X), of X, or equivalently if P(X&Y) > P(X).P(Y). They are negatively dependent if the inequalities are reversed
- statute of limitations — a statute defining the period within which legal action may be taken.
- straining at the leash — eagerly impatient to begin something
- structural engineering — the branch of civil engineering dealing with the design and planning of large structures
- student volunteer army — a students' voluntary organization that aims to undertake useful work in communities, founded in 2010 to help clear up after a damaging earthquake in Christchurch
- subliminal advertising — a form of advertising on film or television that employs subliminal images to influence the viewer unconsciously
- supplementary question — a question asked in Parliament by an MP during Questions to the Prime Minister
- tactile user interface — (interface) (TUI) Hardware and software to provide access to computer-based graphical[?] information using touch, often intended for blind people. See also haptics.
- take/tickle sb's fancy — If something takes your fancy or tickles your fancy, you like it a lot when you see it or think of it.
- talk someone's arm off — to talk to someone at great length or without pause
- talk through one's hat — a shaped covering for the head, usually with a crown and brim, especially for wear outdoors.
- tell it to the marines — of or relating to the sea; existing in or produced by the sea: marine vegetation.
- ten-spined stickleback — a small teleost fish, Gasterosteus pungitius, of the family Gasterosteidae, of rivers and coastal regions, having ten spines along the back and occurring in cold and temperate northern regions
- textual user interface — (interface) (TUI) Either a text-based version of a GUI, or a full-screen version of a CLI.
- the atlantic provinces — certain of the Canadian provinces with coasts facing the Gulf of St Lawrence or the Atlantic: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador
- the chattering classes — the educated sections of society, considered as enjoying discussion of political, social, and cultural issues
- the continental system — Napoleon's plan in 1806 to blockade Britain by excluding her ships from ports on the mainland of Europe
- the edinburgh festival — an arts festival held in Edinburgh in August
- the houston ship canal — a canal linking Houston to the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway
- the medical profession — the occupation of working as a doctor of medicine
- the pennsylvania dutch — a group of German-speaking people in E Pennsylvania, descended from 18th-century settlers from SW Germany and Switzerland
- the-leaning-tower-pisa — a round, marble campanile in Pisa, Italy, begun in 1174 and now 17 feet (5.2 meters) out of the perpendicular in its height of 179 feet (54 meters).
- thermal imaging system — equipment providing images of a target, or of a person or thing under examination
- threespine stickleback — a widely distributed stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, occurring in marine, brackish, or fresh waters throughout the northern hemisphere.
- tip the scales/balance — If something tips the scales or tips the balance, it gives someone a slight advantage.
- to drop someone a line — If you drop someone a line, you write to them.
- to lead someone astray — If you are led astray by someone or something, you behave badly or foolishly because of them.
- to open the floodgates — If events open the floodgates to something, they make it possible for that thing to happen much more often or much more seriously than before.
- to overplay one's hand — If someone overplays their hand, they act more confidently than they should because they believe that they are in a stronger position than they actually are.
- to play fast and loose — If you say that someone is playing fast and loose, you are expressing disapproval of them for behaving in a deceitful, immoral, or irresponsible way.
- to seal someone's fate — If something seals a person's or thing's fate, it makes it certain that they will fail or that something unpleasant will happen to them.
- to swallow one's pride — If you swallow your pride, you decide to do something even though you think it will cause you to lose some respect.
- toey as a roman sandal — very anxious
- total allergy syndrome — a condition in which a person suffers from a large number of symptoms that are claimed to be caused by allergies to various substances used or encountered in modern life
- trans-siberian railway — a railway in S Russia, extending from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Pacific: constructed between 1891 and 1916, making possible the settlement and industrialization of sparsely inhabited regions. Length: 9335 km (5800 miles)
- transformational rules — rules that specify in purely syntactic terms a method by which theorems may be derived from the axioms of a formal system
- unemployment insurance — a government program that provides a limited number of payments to eligible workers who are involuntarily unemployed.
- unilateral disarmament — disarmament, especially nuclear disarmament, carried out by one state on its own
- unitarian universalism — a North American liberal religious denomination in the Judeo-Christian heritage, formed in 1961 by the merger of the Unitarians, organized in 1825, and the Universalists, organized in 1793.
- united empire loyalist — any of the American colonists who settled in Canada during or after the War of American Independence because of loyalty to the British Crown
- universal postal union — an international organization, formed in Bern, Switzerland (1875), that administers and regulates international postal service. Abbreviation: UPU.
- universal product code — a bar code that indicates price, product classification, etc., and can be read electronically, as at checkout counters in supermarkets. Abbreviation: UPC.
- unprofessional conduct — activity that is contrary to the accepted code of conduct of a profession
- unreasonable behaviour — conduct by a spouse sufficient to cause the irretrievable breakdown of a marriage
- valencia simple tasker — (operating system) (VSTa) A small microkernel based Unix-like operating system, taking ideas from QNX and Plan 9, available under GPL.
- valvular insufficiency — abnormal closure of a heart valve resulting in failure to prevent regurgitation of blood.
- van der waals equation — an equation of state relating the pressure, volume, and absolute temperature of a gas, taking into account the finite size of the molecules and the attractive force between them.
- video display terminal — Computers. a computer terminal consisting of a screen on which data or graphics can be displayed. Abbreviation: VDT.