17-letter words containing a, s, d
- southern sporades — a group of Greek islands in the Aegean, including the Dodecanese, lying off the SW coast of Turkey
- special education — education that is modified or particularized for those with singular needs, as disabled or maladjusted people, slow learners, or gifted children.
- spectroradiometer — an instrument for determining the radiant-energy distribution in a spectrum, combining the functions of a spectroscope with those of a radiometer.
- spiny-headed worm — any of a small group of endoparasites of the phylum Acanthocephala, as larvae parasitic in insects and crustaceans and as adults in various vertebrates.
- spitting distance — a short space or distance
- split keyboarding — the act or practice of editing data from one terminal on another terminal
- spotted sandpiper — a North American sandpiper, Actitis macularia, that has brownish-gray upper parts and white underparts, and is spotted with black in the summer.
- spread your wings — if you spread your wings, you do something new and rather difficult or move to a new place, because you feel more confident in your abilities than you used to and you want to gain wider experience
- spruce gall aphid — any of various homopterous insects of the family Adelgidae, as Adelges abietis (spruce gall aphid) and Pineus pinifoliae (pine leaf aphid) that feed and form galls on conifers.
- square and rabbet — annulet (def 1).
- square-shouldered — having the shoulders held back, giving a straight form to the upper part of the back.
- st. crispin's day — October 25: anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt (1415).
- st. swithin's day — July 15, superstitiously regarded as a day that, should it rain or be fair, will be followed by 40 consecutive days of like weather.
- st. vitus's dance — St. Vitus's dance.
- stage-door johnny — a man who often goes to a theater or waits at a stage door to court an actress.
- stand on ceremony — to insist on or act with excessive formality
- stand your ground — relating to or denoting a legal principle or law that eliminates the duty to retreat by allowing, as a first response, self-defense by deadly force: We’re proud to represent Florida, the first stand your ground state.
- stand-up comedian — performer: tells jokes
- standard function — a subprogram provided by a translator that carries out a task, for example the computation of a mathematical function, such as sine, square root, etc
- standing expenses — fixed or flat expenses or charges
- 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.
- stannous fluoride — a white, crystalline powder, SnF 2 , slightly soluble in water: used as a source of fluorine in the prevention of dental caries, especially as a toothpaste additive.
- stars and stripes — US national flag
- statutory holiday — a public holiday; a holiday all workers are entitled to
- store and forward — to store (information) in a computer for later forward transmission through a telecommunication network
- strange interlude — a play (1928) by Eugene O'Neill.
- stratford-on-avon — a town in SW Warwickshire, in central England, on the Avon River: birthplace and burial place of Shakespeare.
- stratified sample — a sample that is not drawn at random from the whole population, but separately from a number of disjoint strata of the population in order to ensure a more representative sample
- straw in the wind — If you say that an incident or piece of news is a straw in the wind, you mean that it gives an indication of what might happen in the future.
- strawberry blonde — woman: with reddish fair hair
- stuttgart disease — an often fatal intestinal disease in dogs, caused by any of several spirochetes of the genus Leptospira.
- stymphalian birds — a flock of predacious birds of Arcadia that were driven away and killed by Hercules as one of his labors.
- subordinated debt — a debt that an unsecured creditor can only claim, in the event of a liquidation, after the claims of secured creditors have been paid
- subsidiary ledger — (in accounting) a ledger containing a group of detailed and related accounts the total of which is summarized in the control account.
- sudetes mountains — mountain range along the borders of N Czech Republic & SW Poland: highest peak, 5,259 ft (1,603 m)
- sulfurated potash — a yellowish-brown mixture consisting mainly of potassium polysulfides and potassium thiosulfate, used in treating mange.
- sum and substance — main idea, gist, or point: the sum and substance of an argument.
- sunday observance — the fact of keeping Sunday as a special day when people go to church
- sunday supplement — a special section incorporated in the Sunday editions of many newspapers, often containing features on books, celebrities, home entertainment, gardening, and the like.
- superaerodynamics — the branch of aerodynamics that deals with gases at very low densities.
- supervisory board — a board of management of which nonmanagerial workers are members, having supervisory powers over some aspects of management decision-making
- supply and demand — economy: basic market theory
- supreme commander — the military officer commanding all allied forces in a theater of war.
- surface condenser — a device condensing steam or vapor by passing it over a cool surface.
- surgical dressing — a dressing made of cotton, used for incisions made during surgery
- surrender to bail — to present oneself at court at the appointed time after having been on bail
- sustained-release — (of a drug or fertilizer) capable of gradual release of an active agent over a period of time, allowing for a sustained effect; timed-release; long-acting; prolonged-action; slow-release.
- sustentation fund — a fund, esp in the Church of Scotland, to augment the support of ministers
- swaddling clothes — cloth for wrapping around a baby
- sword and sorcery — a genre of literature and film, usually set in days of old with magic as well as sword fighting