20-letter words containing c, h, i, r, o
- schrodinger equation — the wave equation of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. Also called Schrödinger wave equation. Compare wave equation (def 2).
- season ticket holder — a person who has a season ticket
- semiautobiographical — pertaining to or being a fictionalized account of an author's own life.
- sex change operation — a surgical operation designed to change a person's physical sexual characteristics to those of the opposite sex
- short back and sides — If a man has a short back and sides, his hair is cut very short at the back and sides with slightly thicker, longer hair on the top of the head.
- silicon tetrahydride — silane (def 1).
- south american plate — a major tectonic division of the earth's crust, comprising the continent of South America and several ocean basins and bounded on the north by the Caribbean Plate, on the east by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, on the west by a submarine trench that borders the western coast of the continent, and on the south by the Antarctic Plate.
- southern oscillation — a low-latitude fluctuation of atmospheric pressure closely linked with El Niño events, specifically the periods of El Niño warming and La Niña cooling.
- special relationship — the exceptionally close political, diplomatic, cultural and historical relations between the United States and the United Kingdom
- spectrophotoelectric — pertaining to the relationship between the wavelength of the incident radiation and the number of electrons released by a photoelectric substance.
- spherical aberration — variation in focal length of a lens or mirror from center to edge, due to its spherical shape.
- spherical coordinate — 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.
- spiral of archimedes — a curve that is the locus of a point that moves outward with uniform speed along a vector, beginning at the origin, while the vector rotates about the origin with uniform angular velocity. Equation (in polar coordinates): r = aθ.
- step into the breach — If you step into the breach, you do a job or task which someone else was supposed to do or has done in the past, because they are suddenly unable to do it.
- stochastic terrorism — the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted: The lone-wolf attack was apparently influenced by the rhetoric of stochastic terrorism.
- stockholders' equity — the net assets of a corporation as owned by stockholders in capital stock, capital surplus, and undistributed earnings.
- stoichiometric ratio — The stoichiometric ratio is the exact ratio between air and flammable gas or vapor at which complete combustion takes place.
- straight-cut tobacco — tobacco that is cut in such a way that it will lie flat.
- switchboard operator — a person who operates an installation in a telephone exchange, office, hotel, etc, at which the interconnection of telephone lines is manually controlled
- synchronized skating — the art or sport of teams of up to twenty skaters holding onto each other and moving in patterns in time to music
- synchronous rotation — rotation of a satellite in which the period of rotation is equal to the period of orbit around its primary, leaving the same face always pointing toward the primary: The moon is in synchronous rotation about the earth.
- telephone subscriber — a person who subscribes to a telephone service
- tetrahydrocannabinol — a compound, C 21 H 30 O 2 , that is the physiologically active component in cannabis preparations (marijuana, hashish, etc.) derived from the Indian hemp plant or produced synthetically. Abbreviation: THC.
- the gnomes of zurich — Swiss bankers and financiers
- the internet account — An Internet provider in Sydney, Australia who provides SLIP, PPP and CLI accounts for the same rates. <[email protected]> handles Acorn software. E-mail: <[email protected]>. Telephone: +61 (2) 968 4333. Fax: +61 (2) 968 4334. Address: PO BOX 473, Crows Nest, NSE 2065, Australia.
- the methodist church — a group of people within the Christian religion who follow a system of faith and practice initiated by the English preacher John Wesley (1703–91) and his followers
- the price of someone — what someone deserves, esp a fitting punishment
- the thinking process — thought; the activity of thinking
- therapeutic abortion — abortion performed when a woman's pregnancy endangers her health.
- there is no call for — If you say that there is no call for someone to behave in a particular way, you are criticizing their behaviour, usually because you think it is rude.
- thermal conductivity — the amount of heat per unit time per unit area that can be conducted through a plate of unit thickness of a given material, the faces of the plate differing by one unit of temperature.
- thermodynamic system — a system whose states of equilibrium can be specified by a few macroscopic properties.
- three-thorned acacia — honey locust.
- to cross the rubicon — If you say that someone has crossed the Rubicon, you mean that they have reached a point where they cannot change a decision or course of action.
- to disturb the peace — If someone is accused of disturbing the peace, they are accused of behaving in a noisy and offensive way in public.
- to reach new heights — to become higher than ever before
- to stick in the craw — to be unacceptable or displeasing to someone
- tom, dick, and harry — the ordinary person; people generally; everyone: They invited every Tom, Dick, and Harry to the party.
- too much information — I don't want to hear any more
- toxic shock syndrome — a rapidly developing, sometimes fatal infection characterized by sudden onset of fever, gastrointestinal upsets, a sunburnlike rash, and a drop in blood pressure: caused by a Staphylococcus aureus toxin and occurring especially in menstruating women using high-absorbency tampons. Abbreviation: TSS.
- transposition cipher — a cipher that rearranges the letters of the plain text in a different sequence.
- tribromoacetaldehyde — bromal.
- trichloroacetic acid — a toxic, deliquescent, and colorless crystalline compound, C 2 HCl 3 O 2 , soluble in water, alcohol, and ether: used in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, herbicides, and other chemicals, and as a reagent for the detection of albumin. Abbreviation: TCA.
- triple witching hour — the last hour of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the four Fridays each year when stock options, stock index futures, and options on such futures simultaneously expire: regarded as a time of extreme volatility in trading.
- tropospheric scatter — transmission of radio frequency signals that have been scattered from irregularities in the troposphere to locations hundreds of kilometers distant.
- try conclusions with — to engage in an argument or contest with
- twisted stomach worm — stomach worm.
- under the microscope — If you say that something is under the microscope, you mean that it is being studied very closely, usually because it is believed that something is wrong with it.
- until further notice — If a situation is said to exist until further notice, it will continue for an uncertain length of time until someone changes it.
- video graphics array — (hardware) (VGA) A display standard for IBM PCs, with 640 x 480 pixels in 16 colours and a 4:3 aspect ratio. There is also a text mode with 720 x 400 pixels. IBM technical references define the *product name* of their original VGA display board as "Video Graphics Array", in contrast to the preceding boards, the "Color Graphics Adapter" (CGA) and "Enhanced Graphics Adapter" (EGA). See also Super Video Graphics Adapter.