15-letter words containing e, n, c, a, s, r
- semitranslucent — imperfectly or almost translucent.
- sentence adverb — an adverb modifying or commenting upon the content of a sentence as a whole or upon the conditions under which it is uttered, as frankly in Frankly, he can't be trusted.
- service station — Also called gas station. a place equipped for servicing automobiles, as by selling gasoline and oil, making repairs, etc.
- servo-mechanism — A servo-mechanism is a system or device that provides increased power to operate a control.
- sesquicarbonate — a salt intermediate in composition between a carbonate and a bicarbonate or consisting of the two combined.
- sesquicentenary — a hundred and fiftieth anniversary
- seven-card stud — a variety of poker in which each player is dealt one card face down in each of the first two rounds, one card face up in each of the next four rounds, and one card face down in the last round, each of the last five rounds being followed by a betting interval. Compare stud poker (def 1).
- seven-year itch — scabies.
- sharing economy — a system in which people rent, borrow, or share commodities, services, and resources owned by individuals, usually with the aid of online technology, in an effort to save money, cut costs, and reduce waste.
- shock resistant — not affected by impact
- shock treatment — electroconvulsive therapy
- shock-resistant — strong or resilient enough to sustain minor impacts without damage to the internal mechanism: a shock-resistant watch.
- shopping arcade — a place where a number of shops are connected together under one roof
- shoshone cavern — a large cave in NW Wyoming: a national monument.
- silicon carbide — a very hard, insoluble, crystalline compound, SiC, used as an abrasive and as an electrical resistor in objects exposed to high temperatures.
- simple fraction — a ratio of two integers.
- sinclair, clive — Clive Sinclair
- singing teacher — a teacher who gives instruction in how to sing
- small cranberry — See under cranberry (def 1).
- snafu principle — /sna'foo prin'si-pl/ [WWII Army acronym for "Situation Normal: All Fucked Up"] "True communication is possible only between equals, because inferiors are more consistently rewarded for telling their superiors pleasant lies than for telling the truth." - a central tenet of Discordianism, often invoked by hackers to explain why authoritarian hierarchies screw up so reliably and systematically. The effect of the SNAFU principle is a progressive disconnection of decision-makers from reality. This lightly adapted version of a fable dating back to the early 1960s illustrates the phenomenon perfectly: In the beginning was the plan, and then the specification; And the plan was without form, and the specification was void. And darkness was on the faces of the implementors thereof; And they spake unto their leader, saying: "It is a crock of shit, and smells as of a sewer." And the leader took pity on them, and spoke to the project leader: "It is a crock of excrement, and none may abide the odor thereof." And the project leader spake unto his section head, saying: "It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide it." The section head then hurried to his department manager, and informed him thus: "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength." The department manager carried these words to his general manager, and spoke unto him saying: "It containeth that which aideth the growth of plants, and it is very strong." And so it was that the general manager rejoiced and delivered the good news unto the Vice President. "It promoteth growth, and it is very powerful." The Vice President rushed to the President's side, and joyously exclaimed: "This powerful new software product will promote the growth of the company!" And the President looked upon the product, and saw that it was very good. After the subsequent disaster, the suits protect themselves by saying "I was misinformed!", and the implementors are demoted or fired.
- source language — the language in which a text appears that is to be translated into another language. Compare target language (def 1).
- spanish america — the Spanish-speaking countries south of the U.S.: Mexico, Central America (with the exception of Belize), South America (with the exceptions of Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, and Suriname), and most of the West Indies.
- special partner — a partner whose liability for the firm's debts is limited to the amount that partner has invested in the firm.
- speckle pattern — the visual appearance of a star as viewed through a large telescope, with irregularities caused by the distorting effect of local turbulence in the earth's atmosphere.
- speech training — training designed to improve spoken skills, such as voice projection
- speed indicator — an instrument for counting the number of revolutions of a gasoline engine.
- spherical angle — an angle formed by arcs of great circles of a sphere.
- splanchnopleure — the double layer formed by the association of the lower layer of the lateral plate of mesoderm with the underlying entoderm, which develops into the embryonic viscera.
- sporting chance — an even or fair opportunity for a favorable outcome in an enterprise, as winning in a game of chance or in any kind of contest: They gave the less experienced players a sporting chance by handicapping the experts.
- spring-cleaning — a complete cleaning of a place, as a home, done traditionally in the spring of the year.
- sprinkler dance — a celebratory dance in which participants extend one arm and shake it to imitate the action of a rotating water sprinkler
- stage direction — an instruction written into the script of a play, indicating stage actions, movements of performers, or production requirements.
- standard candle — a unit of luminous intensity; the candela: not in scientific usage because of possible confusion with a former unit (international candle)
- standard clause — a clause which is inserted as standard into certain types of contracts or agreements
- standing charge — fixed energy costs
- star connection — a connection used in a polyphase electrical device or system of devices in which the windings each have one end connected to a common junction, the star point, and the other end to a separate terminal
- station officer — a person who is in charge of a fire station
- storm insurance — insurance cover against damage caused by windstorms
- straining piece — (in a queen-post roof) a horizontal beam uniting the tops of the two queen posts, and resisting the thrust of the roof.
- street accident — a traffic accident
- stretch a point — a sharp or tapering end, as of a dagger.
- structural gene — cistron.
- student teacher — a student who is studying to be a teacher and who, as part of the training, observes classroom instruction or does closely supervised teaching in an elementary or secondary school.
- subcontraoctave — the octave below the contraoctave, which is three octaves below the middle C octave on a standard keyboard
- subject-raising — a rule that moves the subject of a complement clause into the clause in which it is embedded, as in the derivation of He is likely to be late from It is likely that he will be late
- subtrochanteric — Anatomy. either of two knobs at the top of the femur, the greater on the outside and the lesser on the inside, serving for the attachment of muscles between the thigh and pelvis.
- sugarcane borer — the larva of the pyralid moth, Diatraea saccharalis, a serious pest of sugarcane, corn, rice, and sorghums.
- summary offence — an offence that is triable in a magistrates' court
- superexcitation — the act of exciting.
- superficialness — being at, on, or near the surface: a superficial wound.