15-letter words containing a, t, r, i, s
- russian thistle — a saltwort, Salsola kali tenuifolia, that has narrow, spinelike leaves, a troublesome weed in the central and western U.S.
- rusty blackbird — a North American blackbird, Euphagus carolinus, the male of which has plumage that is uniformly bluish-black in the spring and rusty-edged in the fall.
- sabbatical year — Also called sabbatical leave. (in a school, college, university, etc.) a year, usually every seventh, of release from normal teaching duties granted to a professor, as for study or travel.
- saffian leather — leather made of sheepskin or goatskin tanned with sumac and usually dyed a bright color
- sagittal suture — a serrated line on the top of the skull that marks the junction of the two parietal bones
- sales promotion — the methods or techniques for creating public acceptance of or interest in a product, usually in addition to standard merchandising techniques, as advertising or personal selling, and generally consisting of the offer of free samples, gifts made to a purchaser, or the like.
- salisbury steak — ground beef, sometimes mixed with other foods, shaped like a hamburger patty and broiled or fried, often garnished or served with a sauce.
- sanitary cordon — cordon sanitaire.
- sanitary napkin — a pad of absorbent material, as cotton, worn by women during menstruation to absorb the uterine flow.
- santa gertrudis — one of an American breed of beef cattle, developed from Shorthorn and Brahman stock for endurance to torrid temperatures.
- saprophytically — any organism that lives on dead organic matter, as certain fungi and bacteria.
- sarcoptic mange — mange caused by burrowing mites of the genus Sarcoptes.
- satin bowerbird — the largest Australian bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus, the male of which has lustrous blue plumage
- sausage turning — turning of members to resemble a continuous row of sausages flattened at the ends.
- scaling circuit — an electronic device or circuit that aggregates electric pulses and gives a single output pulse for a predetermined number of input pulses
- scared shitless — terrified
- scarlet lychnis — a plant, Lychnis chalcedonica, of the pink family, having scarlet or sometimes white flowers, the arrangement and shape of the petals resembling a Maltese cross.
- scatter cushion — Scatter cushions are small cushions for use on sofas and chairs.
- scatter diagram — a graphic representation of bivariate data as a set of points in the plane that have Cartesian coordinates equal to corresponding values of the two variates.
- schiffs-reagent — a solution of rosaniline and sulfurous acid in water, used to test for the presence of aldehydes.
- schillerization — the process of altering crystals to produce schiller
- scratching post — a block or post of wood, usually covered with carpeting, on which a cat can use its claws.
- security camera — closed-circuit TV camera
- security thread — a colored thread running through the paper of a piece of paper money, used to deter counterfeiting.
- security threat — a threat to the security of a country
- segregationists — one who favors, encourages, or practices segregation, especially racial segregation.
- self-absorption — preoccupation with oneself or one's own affairs.
- self-admiration — a feeling of wonder, pleasure, or approval.
- self-authorized — given or endowed with authority: an authorized agent.
- self-caricature — a picture, description, etc., ludicrously exaggerating the peculiarities or defects of persons or things: His caricature of the mayor in this morning's paper is the best he's ever drawn.
- self-flattering — praise and exaggeration of one's own achievements coupled with a denial or glossing over of one's faults or failings; self-congratulation.
- self-generating — producing from within itself.
- self-generation — production or reproduction of something without the aid of an external agent; spontaneous generation.
- self-lacerating — to tear roughly; mangle: The barbed wire lacerated his hands.
- self-laceration — the result of lacerating; a rough, jagged tear.
- self-regulating — adjusting, ruling, or governing itself without outside interference; operating or functioning without externally imposed controls or regulations: a self-regulating economy; the self-regulating market.
- self-regulation — control by oneself or itself, as in an economy, business organization, etc., especially such control as exercised independently of governmental supervision, laws, or the like.
- self-regulative — used for or capable of controlling or adjusting oneself or itself: a self-regulative device.
- self-revelation — disclosure of one's private feelings, thoughts, etc., especially when unintentional.
- semantic memory — the recollection of facts and concepts
- semi-articulate — uttered clearly in distinct syllables.
- semi-figurative — of the nature of or involving a figure of speech, especially a metaphor; metaphorical and not literal: The word “head” has several figurative senses, as in “She's the head of the company.”. Synonyms: metaphorical, not literal, symbolic.
- semi-illiterate — unable to read and write: an illiterate group.
- semi-industrial — of, pertaining to, of the nature of, or resulting from industry: industrial production; industrial waste.
- semi-vegetarian — a person who eats mostly plant foods, dairy products, and eggs, and occasionally chicken, fish, and red meat.
- semiabstraction — a work of art whose subject matter is semi-abstract
- semicrystalline — partly or imperfectly crystalline.
- semidocumentary — a film or television programme that is fictional but includes many factual events or details
- semilogarithmic — (of graphing) having one scale logarithmic and the other arithmetic or of uniform gradation.
- semimanufacture — a product which forms an intermediate stage in the manufacture of another, often more complex product