18-letter words containing a, p, l, n, o, s
- reprocessing plant — a plant where materials are treated in order to make them reusable
- resurrection plant — a desert plant, Selaginella lepidophylla, occurring from Texas to South America, having stems that curl inward when dry.
- seafloor spreading — a process in which new ocean floor is created as molten material from the earth's mantle rises in margins between plates or ridges and spreads out.
- seasonal promotion — Seasonal promotions are items marketed to customers at the appropriate time of year, such as coats in the winter and bathing suits in the summer.
- secondary syphilis — the second stage of syphilis, characterized by eruptions of the skin and mucous membrane.
- segmental phonemes — phonemes consisting of sound segments; hence, the vowel, consonant, and semivowel sounds of a language
- self-contemplation — the act or process of thinking about oneself or one's values, beliefs, behavior, etc.
- self-preoccupation — the state of being preoccupied.
- sell someone a pup — to swindle someone by selling him something worthless
- simple enumeration — a procedure for arriving at empirical generalizations by haphazard accumulation of positive instances.
- sleeping policeman — a bump built across roads, esp in housing estates, to deter motorists from speeding
- slow on the uptake — slow to understand or learn
- slow-motion replay — a showing again in slow motion of a sequence of action, esp of part of a sporting contest immediately after it happens
- small pastern bone — the part of the foot of a horse, cow, etc., between the fetlock and the hoof.
- software backplane — (programming, tool) A CASE framework from Atherton.
- solitary sandpiper — a North American sandpiper, Tringa solitaria, of inland wetlands, having a brownish-gray, white-spotted back and whitish underparts.
- southampton island — an island in N Canada, in the Northwest Territories at the entrance to Hudson Bay. 19,100 sq. mi. (49,470 sq. km).
- spackling compound — spackle
- special collection — a collection of materials segregated from a general library collection according to form, subject, age, condition, rarity, source, or value.
- spin stabilization — a technique by which a bullet, rocket, etc, is made to spin around its longitudinal axis to assist it in maintaining a steady flight path
- stepping-off place — jumping-off place (def 2).
- super giant slalom — a slalom race in which the course is longer and has more widely spaced gates than in a giant slalom.
- television company — a company that broadcasts programmes by television
- temporal summation — the act or process of summing.
- to all appearances — apparently
- to learn the ropes — If you are learning the ropes, you are learning how a particular task or job is done.
- to lick into shape — If you lick, knock, or whip someone or something into shape, you use whatever methods are necessary to change or improve them so that they are in the condition that you want them to be in.
- to pull a fast one — If you say that someone has pulled a fast one on you, you mean that they have cheated or tricked you.
- to scrape a living — If you say that someone scrapes a living or scratches a living, you mean that they manage to earn enough to live on, but it is very difficult. In American English, you say they scrape out a living or scratch out a living.
- to spill the beans — If you spill the beans, you tell someone something that people have been trying to keep secret.
- universal coupling — a coupling between rotating shafts set at an angle to one another, allowing for rotation in three planes.
- up someone's alley — suited to someone's tastes or abilities
- wattless component — Electricity. reactive component.
- wild passionflower — the maypop, Passiflora incarnata.
- wilson's phalarope — a phalarope, Phalaropus tricolor, that breeds in the prairie regions of North America and winters in Argentina and Chile.
- world championship — an international competition in a particular sport or activity for people all around the world