12-letter words containing e, l, i, p
- spectatorial — a person who looks on or watches; onlooker; observer.
- speculatrice — a female speculator
- speedballing — the practice of taking cocaine and heroin together intravenously
- speleologist — the exploration and study of caves.
- spellbinding — to hold or bind by or as if by a spell; enchant; entrance; fascinate.
- spelling bee — a spelling competition won by the individual or team spelling the greatest number of words correctly; spelldown.
- sphacelation — the process of mortification
- sphericality — the state of being a sphere
- sphincterial — relating to a sphincter
- spider plant — Also called ribbon plant. a plant, Chlorophytum comosum, of the lily family, native to southern Africa, that has long, narrow leaves and clusters of white flowers and is widely cultivated as a houseplant.
- spiegeleisen — a lustrous, crystalline pig iron containing a large amount of manganese, sometimes 15 percent or more, used in making steel.
- spinal nerve — any of a series of paired nerves that originate in the nerve roots of the spinal cord and emerge from the vertebrae on both sides of the spinal column, each branching out to innervate a specific region of the neck, trunk, or limbs.
- spindle file — a device for holding bills, memos, etc., having a projecting metal spike or hooked object on which to stick papers.
- spindle side — the female side or line of descent of a family; distaff side (opposed to spear side).
- spindle tree — any of various shrubs or trees of the genus Euonymus, esp E. europaeus, of Europe and W Asia, typically having red fruits and yielding a hard wood formerly used in making spindles: family Celastraceae
- spinulescent — producing spines
- spirit level — a device for determining true horizontal or vertical directions by the centering of a bubble in a slightly curved glass tube or tubes filled with alcohol or ether.
- spiritualize — to make spiritual.
- spirochaetal — resulting from spirochaetes
- spitefulness — full of spite or malice; showing spite; malicious; malevolent; venomous: a spiteful child.
- splenization — the transformation of something into a spleenlike tissue
- split screen — Also called composite shot. Movies, Television. a type of process photography in which two or more shots are juxtaposed and projected simultaneously on the screen.
- split second — a fraction of a second.
- split ticket — a ballot on which not all votes have been cast for candidates of the same party.
- split-screen — Split-screen is used to describe the technique in making films and television programmes in which two different pieces of film are shown at the same time.
- splotchiness — the state or condition of being splotchy
- spot welding — fusing metal
- spotted tail — (Sinte-galeshka) 1833?–81, Brulé Sioux leader.
- spotted wilt — a viral disease of plants, characterized by wilting and by brown, sunken spots and streaks on the stems and leaves.
- spray millet — the seeds of millet left on the spike and sold in pet shops for cage birds.
- spree killer — a person who kills more than one victim in more than one location in a very short period of time.
- spring-clean — to subject (a place) to a spring-cleaning.
- sputteringly — in a sputtering manner
- state police — a police force under state authority rather than under the authority of a city or county in the state.
- stegophilist — a person who enjoys climbing up the outside of buildings
- stem reptile — any member of the extinct order Cotylosauria, comprising heavy-bodied, splay-limbed, plant-eating reptiles that arose during the Carboniferous Period and that are considered to include the ancestors of all other reptiles.
- stephenville — a town in central Texas.
- stipulaceous — of, relating to, having, resembling, or living on stipules
- stool pigeon — a pigeon used as a decoy.
- streptolysin — a type of hemolysin produced by certain species of streptococcus.
- strike plate — strike (def 67).
- strophiolate — having a strophiole
- stupefyingly — to put into a state of little or no sensibility; benumb the faculties of; put into a stupor.
- subduplicate — of the square root of ratios
- subepidermal — just below the epidermis or skin
- subspecialty — a lesser or minor specialty: a cinematographer with a subspecialty of portrait photography.
- sulfite pulp — wood pulp made by the sulfite process.
- sulphadoxine — an antibiotic drug of the sulphonamide group, commonly used in combination with pyrimethamine to treat malaria, and in combination with various drugs to treat certain infections
- sulphonamide — any of a class of organic compounds that are amides of sulphonic acids containing the group –SO2NH2 or a group derived from this. An important class of sulphonamides are the sulfa drugs
- super-polite — showing good manners toward others, as in behavior, speech, etc.; courteous; civil: a polite reply.