17-letter words containing d, e, t, n, s
- secondary quality — one of the qualities attributed by the mind to an object perceived, such as color, temperature, or taste.
- seine-saint-denis — a department of N central France, in Île-de-France region. Capital: Bobigny. Pop: 1 396 122 (2003 est). Area: 236 sq km (92 sq miles)
- self-administered — to manage (affairs, a government, etc.); have executive charge of: to administer the law.
- self-commendation — the act of commending; recommendation; praise: commendation for a job well done.
- self-condemnation — the act of condemning.
- self-conditioning — Also called operant conditioning, instrumental conditioning. a process of changing behavior by rewarding or punishing a subject each time an action is performed until the subject associates the action with pleasure or distress.
- self-depreciating — self-deprecating.
- self-dissociation — an act or instance of dissociating.
- self-introduction — the act of introducing or the state of being introduced.
- self-reproduction — the act or process of reproducing.
- semi-manufactured — the making of goods or wares by manual labor or by machinery, especially on a large scale: the manufacture of television sets.
- serendipity berry — miracle fruit (def 2).
- set on a pedestal — an architectural support for a column, statue, vase, or the like.
- set one's hand to — to sign (a document)
- set one's mind on — to be determined on or determinedly desirous of
- seventh amendment — an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, guaranteeing trial by jury.
- sheltered housing — accommodation designed esp for the elderly or infirm consisting of a group of individual premises, often with some shared facilities and a caretaker
- shetland pullover — a thick woollen sweater made from Shetland wool
- shetland sheepdog — one of a breed of small sheepdogs resembling a miniature collie, raised originally in the Shetland Islands.
- shooting incident — an incident involving guns
- shorthold tenancy — letting of a dwelling for between one and five years at a fair rent
- shouting distance — hailing distance.
- sinbad the sailor — a merchant in The Arabian Nights who makes seven adventurous voyages
- single-sheet feed — a mechanism for feeding or taking single sheets of paper into a printer
- single-track road — a road that is only wide enough for one vehicle
- sir arthur harden — Sir Arthur, 1865–1940, English biochemist: Nobel Prize 1929.
- sixth commandment — “Thou shalt not kill”: sixth of the Ten Commandments.
- sleep deprivation — a condition in which you have not had enough sleep
- slenderness ratio — aspect ratio (def 4a).
- slenderness-ratio — Aeronautics. the ratio of the span of an airfoil to its mean chord.
- sodium propionate — a transparent, crystalline, water-soluble powder, C 3 H 5 NaO 2 , used in foodstuffs to prevent mold growth, and in medicine as a fungicide.
- sound effects man — a man who produces sounds artificially or reproduces them from a recording, etc, to create a theatrical effect, such as the bringing together of two halves of a hollow coconut shell to simulate a horse's gallop. Such sound effects are used in plays, films, etc
- sound spectrogram — a graphic representation, produced by a sound spectrograph, of the frequency, intensity, duration, and variation with time of the resonance of a sound or series of sounds.
- south farmingdale — a town on central Long Island, in SE New York.
- south frigid zone — the part of the earth's surface between the Antarctic Circle and the South Pole.
- south sea islands — the islands in the S Pacific that constitute Oceania
- southern rhodesia — a former name (until 1964) of Zimbabwe (def 1).
- southern sporades — a group of Greek islands in the Aegean, including the Dodecanese, lying off the SW coast of Turkey
- southern studfish — See under studfish.
- special education — education that is modified or particularized for those with singular needs, as disabled or maladjusted people, slow learners, or gifted children.
- speech impediment — speaking disorder
- speed restriction — the maximum speed allowed for road vehicles, trains, or other vehicles
- spitting distance — a short space or distance
- split keyboarding — the act or practice of editing data from one terminal on another terminal
- split one's sides — to laugh very heartily
- spondylolisthesis — the forward displacement of a vertebra.
- spotted sandpiper — a North American sandpiper, Actitis macularia, that has brownish-gray upper parts and white underparts, and is spotted with black in the summer.
- square and rabbet — annulet (def 1).
- st. vitus's dance — St. Vitus's dance.
- stage-door johnny — a man who often goes to a theater or waits at a stage door to court an actress.