0%

19-letter words containing a, s, v, o

  • over sb's dead body — You can say over my dead body to emphasize that you feel very strongly that something should not happen, and that you will do everything you can to prevent it.
  • over someone's head — the upper part of the body in humans, joined to the trunk by the neck, containing the brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
  • over-sentimentality — the quality or state of being sentimental or excessively sentimental.
  • overplay one's hand — If you say that someone is overplaying something such as a problem, you mean that they are making it seem more important than it really is.
  • palomar observatory — an astronomical observatory situated on Palomar Mountain in S California, having a 200-inch (508-cm) reflecting telescope and a 48-inch (122-cm) Schmidt telescope.
  • pneumogastric nerve — the vagus nerve.
  • popular sovereignty — the doctrine that sovereign power is vested in the people and that those chosen to govern, as trustees of such power, must exercise it in conformity with the general will.
  • postal savings bank — any of the savings banks formerly operated by local post offices and limited to small accounts.
  • pre-order traversal — traversal
  • private prosecution — a prosecution started by a private individual rather than by the police
  • privatization issue — an issue of shares available for purchase by members of the public when a publicly owned organization is transferred to the private sector
  • professional advice — advice given by someone trained in a particular and relevant profession or job
  • progressive judaism — Reform Judaism.
  • provably unsolvable — The set or property of problems for which no algorithm at all exists. E.g. the Halting Problem. See also provably difficult.
  • pseudo-conservative — disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
  • pseudo-intransitive — denoting an occurrence of a normally transitive verb in which a direct object is not explicitly stated or forms the subject of the sentence, as in Margaret is cooking or these apples cook well
  • psychological novel — a novel that focuses on the complex mental and emotional lives of its characters and explores the various levels of mental activity.
  • pyorrhea alveolaris — a chronic periodontitis of the gums and tooth sockets, characterized by the formation of pus and, usually, by loosening of the teeth
  • pyorrhea-alveolaris — Pathology. a discharge of pus.
  • radius of curvature — the absolute value of the reciprocal of the curvature at a point on a curve.
  • rake over the coals — a black or dark-brown combustible mineral substance consisting of carbonized vegetable matter, used as a fuel. Compare anthracite, bituminous coal, lignite.
  • rancho palos verdes — a town in SW California.
  • reactive depression — depression occurring in response to some situational stress, as loss of one's job.
  • removable hard disk — (storage)   A type of magnetic disk, or possibly magneto-optical disk which is not permanently attached to the disk drive (not a fixed disk) but which can be taken out and replaced, allowing many disks to be used in the same drive. The term "removable disk" would seem to be applicable to floppy disks but is generally reserved for hard disks in suitable cartridges such as those made by Syquest, Iomega and others. Removable disk packs were common on minicomputers such as the PDP-11 in use in the 1970s except that the drives were the size of washing machines and the disk packs as big as car wheels. Removable disks became popular on microcomputers in the 1990s as a cheap way of expanding disk space, transporting large amounts of data between computers and storing backups. Large, cheap fixed hard disks and USB memory sticks have made removable disks less attractive.
  • reserved occupation — in time of war, an occupation from which one will not be called up for military service
  • resistance movement — a movement fighting (for freedom, etc), often secretly or illegally, against an invader in an occupied country or against the country's government, etc
  • restorative justice — a theory and method in criminal justice in which it is arranged that the victim and the community receive restitution from the offender.
  • reversible reaction — a reaction that, depending on ambient conditions, can proceed in either of two directions: the production of the reaction products from the reactants, or the production of the original reactants from the formed reaction products. Compare equilibrium (def 4).
  • roosevelt corollary — a corollary (1904) to the Monroe Doctrine, asserting that the U.S. might intervene in the affairs of an American republic threatened with seizure or intervention by a European country.
  • sacrifice operative — a euphemistic term for a suicide bomber
  • salvage archaeology — the collection of archaeological data and materials from a site in danger of imminent destruction, as from new construction or flooding.
  • san fernando valley — valley in SW Calif., partly in NW Los Angeles: c. 260 sq mi (673 sq km)
  • san salvador island — an island in the central Bahamas: the first land in the New World seen by Christopher Columbus (1492). Area: 156 sq km (60 sq miles)
  • saturation coverage — news coverage (of an event, etc) that is very thorough in order not to miss any details
  • save someone's neck — to help someone else escape from such a situation
  • segmentation cavity — blastocoel.
  • selective attention — mental focus on sth in particular
  • semipalmated plover — a New World plover, Charadrius semipalmatus, having a black ring around the chest and semipalmate feet, inhabiting beaches and salt marshes.
  • sensory deprivation — the experimental or natural reduction of environmental stimuli, as by physical isolation or loss of eyesight, often leading to cognitive, perceptual, or behavioral changes, as disorientation, delusions, or panic.
  • separation negative — Photography. a black-and-white negative of one of the additive primary colors used to form a color image.
  • seventh commandment — “Thou shalt not commit adultery”: seventh of the Ten Commandments.
  • soviet central asia — the region of the former Soviet Union now occupied by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan
  • speculative fiction — a broad literary genre encompassing any fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements
  • stanford university — (education)   A University in the city of Palo Alto, California, noted for work in computing, especially artificial intelligence. See SAIL.
  • stanislavski method — method (def 5).
  • stochastic variable — a random variable.
  • stratford-upon-avon — town in S Warwickshire, England, on the Avon: birthplace & burial place of Shakespeare: pop. of county district (called Stratford-on-Avon) 106,000
  • subtractive process — a process of color photography in which the colors are formed by combination of cyan, yellow, and magenta lights.
  • supreme de volaille — suprême (def 2).
  • take evasive action — If you take evasive action, you deliberately move away from someone or something in order to avoid meeting them or being hit by them.
Was this page helpful?
Yes No
Thank you for your feedback! Tell your friends about this page
Tell us why?