16-letter words containing c, h, e, i, l
- plainclothes man — a detective or police officer who wears civilian clothes while on duty
- plutarch's lives — (Parallel Lives) a collection (a.d. 105–15) by Plutarch of short biographies of the leading political figures of ancient Greece and Rome.
- poisoned chalice — If you refer to a job or an opportunity as a poisoned chalice, you mean that it seems to be very attractive but you believe it will lead to failure.
- polyphonic prose — prose characterized by the use of poetic devices, as alliteration, assonance, rhyme, etc., and especially by an emphasis on rhythm not strictly metered.
- postencephalitic — inflammation of the substance of the brain.
- price leadership — the setting of the price of a product or service by a dominant firm at a level that competitors can match, in order to avoid a price war
- pseudohistorical — of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events: historical records; historical research.
- public ownership — ownership by the state; nationalization
- pyruvic aldehyde — a yellow, liquid compound, C 3 H 4 O 2 , containing both an aldehyde and a ketone group, usually obtained in a polymeric form: used chiefly in organic synthesis.
- re-entry vehicle — the section of a spacecraft or ballistic missile designed to return to earth.
- recovery vehicle — a truck used to transport motor vehicles which have broken down to another location (generally a repair garage), or to recover vehicles which are no longer on a drivable surface
- recycling scheme — a scheme enabling the public to recycle waste
- research library — a general or specialized library that collects materials for use in intensive research projects.
- rhynchocephalian — belonging or pertaining to the Rhynchocephalia, an order of lizardlike reptiles that are extinct except for the tuatara.
- riau archipelago — a group of islands belonging to Indonesia, off the SE coast of the Malay Peninsula, at the entrance to the Strait of Malacca. 36,510 sq. mi. (94,561 sq. km).
- saddle stitching — to sew, bind, or decorate with a saddle stitch.
- schaumburg-lippe — a former state in NW Germany.
- schlieren method — a method for detecting regions of differing densities in a clear fluid by photographing a beam of light passed obliquely through it.
- schmaltz herring — herring caught just before spawning, when it has much fat
- school committee — (in New Zealand) a parent group selected to support a primary school
- school inspector — an official whose job is to inspect schools and to report on their quality and conditions
- school-age child — a child who is old enough to go to school
- schoolteacherish — showing characteristics thought to be typical of a schoolteacher, as strictness and primness.
- schouten islands — a group of islands belonging to Papua New Guinea, in the Pacific Oceans, off the N coast of New Guinea.
- scrovegni chapel — Arena Chapel.
- second childhood — senility; dotage.
- secular humanism — any set of beliefs that promotes human values without specific allusion to religious doctrines.
- seleucia trachea — an ancient city in SE Asia Minor, on the River Calycadnus (modern Goksu Nehri): captured by the Turks in the 13th century; site of present-day Silifke (Turkey)
- shag pile carpet — a large piece of thick material with a nap of long rough strands that you put on a floor
- shipping channel — a navigational pathway that a ship uses to travel from one place to another
- shirring elastic — elastic used for shirring
- shopping channel — television station used to sell goods
- shopping complex — a shopping centre
- silky flycatcher — any of several passerine birds of the family Ptilogonatidae, of the southwestern U.S. to Panama, related to the waxwings.
- simonyi, charles — Charles Simonyi
- slap in the face — smack on the cheek
- social gathering — party, get-together
- sour-milk cheese — cottage cheese made from sour milk.
- spanish mackerel — an American game fish, Scomberomorus maculatus, inhabiting the Atlantic Ocean.
- special handling — (in the U.S. Postal Service) the handling of third- and fourth-class mail as first-class upon the payment of a fee.
- spectroheliogram — a photograph of the sun made with a spectroheliograph.
- spherical excess — the difference between the sum of the angles of a spherical triangle and two right angles.
- splanchnic nerve — Anatomy. any of several nerves to the viscera and blood vessels of the chest and pelvic areas.
- st. clair shores — a city in SE Michigan, near Detroit.
- st. lucie cherry — mahaleb.
- stannic chloride — a colorless fuming and caustic liquid, SnCl 4 , soluble in water and alcohol, that converts with water to a crystalline solid: used for electrically conductive and electroluminescent coatings and in ceramics.
- stannic sulphide — an insoluble solid compound of tin usually existing as golden crystals or as a yellowish-brown powder: used as a pigment. Formula: SnS2
- stilton (cheese) — a rich, crumbly cheese with veins of blue-green mold
- sulu archipelago — an island group in the SW Philippines, separating the Sulawesi Sea from the Sulu Sea. 1086 sq. mi. (2813 sq. km). Capital: Jolo.
- summa theologica — a philosophical and theological work (1265–74) by St. Thomas Aquinas, consisting of an exposition of Christian doctrine.