15-letter words containing a, s, e, p, l
- sexual politics — the differences in the amount of power that male and female people have in a society or group
- shark repellent — any tactic used by a corporation to prevent a takeover by a corporate raider.
- sheffield plate — sheet copper with a cladding of silver.
- ship's articles — a type of contract by which sailors agree to the conditions, payment, etc, for the ship in which they are going to work
- shoulder weapon — a firearm that is fired while being held in the hands with the butt of the weapon braced against the shoulder.
- shove-halfpenny — a shuffleboard game played with coins or brass disks that are pushed by the hand and thumb down a board toward a scoring pit.
- sidereal period — the period of revolution of a body about another with respect to one or more distant stars
- simple equation — linear equation
- simple fraction — a ratio of two integers.
- simple fracture — a fracture in which the bone does not pierce the skin.
- simple interval — an interval of an octave or less.
- simple majority — less than half of the total votes cast but more than the minimum required to win, as when there are more than two candidates or choices.
- simplicidentate — belonging or pertaining to the Simplicidentata, formerly regarded as a suborder or division of rodents having only one pair of upper incisor teeth.
- sinai peninsula — broad peninsula in NE Egypt, between the Gulf of Suez & the Gulf of Aqaba
- singapore sling — a cocktail of gin, cherry brandy, sugar, and water.
- slab plastering — coarse plastering, as between the studs in a half-timbered wall.
- slap and tickle — sexual play
- sleeping beauty — a beautiful princess, the heroine of a popular fairy tale, awakened from a charmed sleep by the kiss of the prince who is her true love.
- sleeping tablet — A sleeping tablet is the same as a sleeping pill.
- slow-wave sleep — a recurrent period of deep sleep, typically totaling five or six hours a night, distinguished by the presence of slow brain waves and by very little dreaming.
- snafu principle — /sna'foo prin'si-pl/ [WWII Army acronym for "Situation Normal: All Fucked Up"] "True communication is possible only between equals, because inferiors are more consistently rewarded for telling their superiors pleasant lies than for telling the truth." - a central tenet of Discordianism, often invoked by hackers to explain why authoritarian hierarchies screw up so reliably and systematically. The effect of the SNAFU principle is a progressive disconnection of decision-makers from reality. This lightly adapted version of a fable dating back to the early 1960s illustrates the phenomenon perfectly: In the beginning was the plan, and then the specification; And the plan was without form, and the specification was void. And darkness was on the faces of the implementors thereof; And they spake unto their leader, saying: "It is a crock of shit, and smells as of a sewer." And the leader took pity on them, and spoke to the project leader: "It is a crock of excrement, and none may abide the odor thereof." And the project leader spake unto his section head, saying: "It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide it." The section head then hurried to his department manager, and informed him thus: "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength." The department manager carried these words to his general manager, and spoke unto him saying: "It containeth that which aideth the growth of plants, and it is very strong." And so it was that the general manager rejoiced and delivered the good news unto the Vice President. "It promoteth growth, and it is very powerful." The Vice President rushed to the President's side, and joyously exclaimed: "This powerful new software product will promote the growth of the company!" And the President looked upon the product, and saw that it was very good. After the subsequent disaster, the suits protect themselves by saying "I was misinformed!", and the implementors are demoted or fired.
- snapping beetle — click beetle.
- snapping turtle — either of two large, edible, freshwater turtles of the family Chelydridae, of North and Central America, having a large head and powerful hooked jaws, especially the common snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina.
- social spending — the money that is spent on welfare payments
- sodium sulphate — a solid white substance that occurs naturally as thenardite and is usually used as the white anhydrous compound (salt cake) or the white crystalline decahydrate (Glauber's salt) in making glass, detergents, and pulp. Formula: Na2SO4
- sophisticatedly — (of a person, ideas, tastes, manners, etc.) altered by education, experience, etc., so as to be worldly-wise; not naive: a sophisticated young socialite; the sophisticated eye of an experienced journalist.
- sostenuto pedal — a pedal on a grand piano that raises the dampers, allowing the tone to be sustained for those strings struck at the time the pedal is depressed.
- space telescope — a satellite put in orbit around the earth and equipped with an extremely accurate reflecting telescope, cameras, etc.: it is designed to relay astronomical data to the earth
- spanish needles — (used with a singular or plural verb) a composite plant, Bidens bipinnata, having achenes with downwardly barbed awns.
- spanish trefoil — alfalfa.
- sparkling water — soda water (def 1).
- special edition — newspaper, magazine: extra issue
- special effects — Usually, special effects. a video or audio illusion in film or other media, created with computer-generated images, prosthetic makeup, pyrotechnics, etc.
- special feature — an article differing from the normal format and focusing on a particular topic
- special library — a library maintained by an organization, as a business, association, or government agency, to collect materials and provide information of special relevance to the work of the organization.
- special licence — a licence permitting a marriage to take place by dispensing with the usual legal conditions
- special partner — a partner whose liability for the firm's debts is limited to the amount that partner has invested in the firm.
- special session — a session, as of a legislature or council, called to meet in addition to those held regularly.
- special student — a student who is not seeking a degree but enrols in a course, esp to gain academic credits
- special subject — an area of knowledge in which someone specializes
- speckle pattern — the visual appearance of a star as viewed through a large telescope, with irregularities caused by the distorting effect of local turbulence in the earth's atmosphere.
- spectral series — a series of lines in the spectrum of light emitted by excited atoms of an element, each line being related to the others in the series by a simple numerical equation and identified with a particular energy level of an atom of the element.
- spectrochemical — of, relating to, or utilizing the techniques of spectrochemistry.
- spell a paddock — to give a field a rest period by letting it lie fallow
- spermatoblastic — relating to a spermatoblast
- spherical angle — an angle formed by arcs of great circles of a sphere.
- spill the beans — the edible nutritious seed of various plants of the legume family, especially of the genus Phaseolus.
- spiral notebook — a notebook held together by a coil of wire passed through small holes punched at the back edge of the covers and individual pages
- splanchnopleure — the double layer formed by the association of the lower layer of the lateral plate of mesoderm with the underlying entoderm, which develops into the embryonic viscera.
- spraddle-legged — moving with or having the legs wide apart: a spraddle-legged walk.