21-letter words containing a, t, s, r
- social administration — the administration and maintenance of issues to do with social policies and welfare
- social anthropologist — an anthropologist who deals with cultural and social phenomena such as kinship systems or beliefs, esp of nonliterate peoples
- social inquiry report — (in Britain) a report on a person and his or her circumstances, which may be required by a court before sentencing and is made by a probation officer or a social worker from a local authority social services department
- social stratification — the act or an instance of stratifying.
- socialist labor party — a U.S. political party, organized in 1874, advocating the peaceful introduction of socialism.
- somatization disorder — a mental illness, usually beginning before age 20, characterized by multiple physical complaints for which no physical causes can be found and often leading to unnecessary treatment or surgery and to severe disability.
- somatotrophic-hormone — a hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary gland, that stimulates growth in humans.
- south pacific current — an ocean current that flows E in the South Pacific Ocean parallel to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
- sovereign wealth fund — an investment fund created using the financial assets of a national government
- space shuttle orbiter — orbiter (def 1).
- spark ignition engine — A spark ignition engine is an engine running on the Otto cycle.
- special correspondent — a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone
- special court-martial — a court-martial established to try violations of military law less serious than those tried by a general court-martial but more serious than those tried by a summary court-martial.
- spherical coordinates — Usually, spherical coordinates. any of three coordinates used to locate a point in space by the length of its radius vector and the angles this vector makes with two perpendicular polar planes.
- spin angular momentum — to make (yarn) by drawing out, twisting, and winding fibers: Pioneer women spun yarn on spinning wheels.
- splice the main brace — to join together or unite (two ropes or parts of a rope) by the interweaving of strands.
- split-finger fastball — a type of fastball that sinks abruptly as it nears home plate, thrown with the grip used for a forkball
- split-screen facility — a facility allowing different scenes to be shown on screen at the same time
- stabilization-process — the act or process of stabilizing or the state of being stabilized.
- staffordshire terrier — former name of American Staffordshire terrier.
- stare one in the face — to be glaringly obvious or imminent
- stations of the cross — a series of 14 crosses, often accompanied by 14 pictures or carvings, arranged in order around the walls of a church, to commemorate 14 supposed stages in Christ's journey to Calvary
- statistical inference — the theory, methods, and practice of forming judgments about the parameters of a population, usually on the basis of random sampling
- statutory corporation — a company or other body set up by statute
- statutory declaration — a declaration made under statutory authority before a justice of the peace or commissioner for oaths which may in certain cases be substituted for a statement on oath
- steady state universe — a universe described by the steady state theory.
- steady-state response — A steady-state response is the behavior of a circuit after a long time when steady conditions have been reached after an external excitation.
- steal someone's heart — to cause someone to feel love or affection
- steer clear of sb/sth — If you steer clear of someone or something, you deliberately avoid them.
- stem-and-leaf diagram — a histogram in which the data points falling within each class interval are listed in order
- step-down transformer — a device that transfers an alternating current from one circuit to one or more other circuits with a decrease of voltage
- stick in one's throat — to be difficult, or against one's conscience, for one to accept, utter, or believe
- stock list department — (in an American stock exchange) the department dealing with monitoring compliance with its listing requirements and rules
- stokes-adams syndrome — unconsciousness accompanying atrioventricular heart block, sometimes characterized by weakness, irregular pulse, and intermittent convulsive or nonconvulsive seizures.
- stop loss reinsurance — Stop loss reinsurance is a form of reinsurance under which the reinsurer pays the cedant's losses in any year over a particular percentage of the earned premium.
- strachey, christopher — Christopher Strachey
- strategic air command — a U.S. Air Force command charged with intercontinental air strikes, especially nuclear attacks.
- structural psychology — psychology centering on the analysis of the structure or content of conscious mental states by introspective methods.
- student participation — the extent to which students participate or involve themselves in a class, course, etc
- subliminal perception — perception of or reaction to a stimulus that occurs without awareness or consciousness
- substitution reaction — the replacement of an atom or group of atoms in a compound by another atom or group.
- suction and curettage — a technique involving extraction of the fetus through a suction tube, used to perform abortions during the early stages of pregnancy.
- summary court-martial — a court-martial composed of one commissioned officer, authorized to try minor offenses against military law.
- sun protection factor — SPF.
- sunday school teacher — someone who teaches at a Sunday school
- supergranulation cell — one of a number of large convection cells in the photosphere and chromosphere of the sun, each having a diameter of 10,000–20,000 miles (16,000–32,000 km) and lasting longer than a day.
- supplementary benefit — (formerly) an extra amount of money that is paid to someone by the government, in addition to their normal income. Replaced by income support in 1988
- surface acoustic wave — an acoustic wave generated on the surface of a piezoelectric substrate: used as a filter in electronic circuits
- surface friction drag — the part of the drag on a body moving through a fluid that is dependent on the nature of the surface of the body
- surface of projection — the surface upon which an image or a set of points is projected.