17-letter words containing f, a, i, t
- south-west africa — a former name of Namibia.
- spaghettification — the theoretical stretching of an object as it encounters extreme differences in gravitational forces, especially those associated with a black hole.
- span of attention — attention span.
- spatial frequency — the measure of fine detail in an optical image in terms of cycles per millimetre
- spoonbill catfish — flathead catfish.
- sports facilities — places and things for doing sports
- staff association — an association of employees that performs some of the functions of a trade union, such as representing its members in discussions with the management, and may also have other social and professional purposes
- standard function — a subprogram provided by a translator that carries out a task, for example the computation of a mathematical function, such as sine, square root, etc
- stannous fluoride — a white, crystalline powder, SnF 2 , slightly soluble in water: used as a source of fluorine in the prevention of dental caries, especially as a toothpaste additive.
- stare in the face — to gaze fixedly and intently, especially with the eyes wide open.
- statue of liberty — a large copper statue, on Liberty Island, in New York harbor, depicting a woman holding a burning torch: designed by F. A. Bartholdi and presented to the U.S. by France; unveiled 1886.
- stay of execution — If you are given a stay of execution, you are legally allowed to delay obeying an order of a court of law.
- stock certificate — a certificate evidencing ownership of one or more shares of stock in a corporation.
- straight arm lift — a wrestling attack, in which a wrestler twists the opponent's arm against the joint and lifts him or her by it, often using the shoulder as a fulcrum
- strait of otranto — a stretch of water between SE Italy and Albania, connecting the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea; of strategic importance during World War I
- stratified sample — a sample that is not drawn at random from the whole population, but separately from a number of disjoint strata of the population in order to ensure a more representative sample
- strike-slip fault — a geological fault on which the movement is along the strike of the fault
- suffice it to say — Suffice it to say or suffice to say is used at the beginning of a statement to indicate that what you are saying is obvious, or that you will only give a short explanation.
- sufficient reason — the principle that nothing happens by pure chance, but that an explanation must always be available
- sustentation fund — a fund, esp in the Church of Scotland, to augment the support of ministers
- take no notice of — pay no attention to, disregard
- teaching software — computer software for use in providing online education
- technical offence — an action which is prohibited by law, but for which no blame can be attached to the person who commits it
- temple of artemis — the temple at Ephesus dedicated to Artemis.
- terminal platform — (in the oil industry) an offshore platform from which oil or gas is pumped ashore through a pipeline
- the bag of tricks — every device; everything
- the carboniferous — the Carboniferous period or rock system
- the confederation — the original 13 states of the United States of America constituted under the Articles of Confederation and superseded by the more formal union established in 1789
- the facts of life — the details of sexual behaviour and reproduction, esp as told to children
- the faint-hearted — people of a nervous disposition
- the final curtain — the closing of the curtain at the end of the action of a play
- the final whistle — a blast on a referee's whistle to indicate that a game is over
- the life and soul — a person regarded as the main source of merriment and liveliness
- the morning after — the aftereffects of excess, esp a hangover
- the olympic flame — the flame that is symbolically lit at the site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia and transported by relay to the place where the Olympic Games are to be held. It is used to ignite a fire in a cauldron that will burn throughout the Games
- the south pacific — the part of the Pacific Ocean to the south of the equator
- thermal diffusion — the separation of constituents, often isotopes, of a fluid under the influence of a temperature gradient.
- thiosulfuric acid — an acid, H 2 S 2 O 3 , that may be regarded as sulfuric acid with one oxygen atom replaced by sulfur.
- thuringian forest — a forested mountain region in central Germany: a resort area.
- to play the field — If someone plays the field, they have a number of different romantic or sexual relationships.
- to play with fire — If you say that someone is playing with fire, you mean that they are doing something dangerous that may result in great harm for them and cause many problems.
- to raise the roof — If a group of people inside a building raise the roof, they make a very loud noise, for example by singing or shouting.
- to say nothing of — You use to say nothing of when you mention an additional thing which gives even more strength to the point you are making.
- traffic diversion — a special route arranged for traffic to follow when the normal route cannot be used
- traffic policeman — a policeman controlling traffic, esp while stationed at an intersection, or enforcing traffic regulations
- traffic violation — driving offence
- transfer function — The transfer function of a circuit is the ratio of the response to the input.
- transformationist — transformist.
- transignification — (in the Eucharist) a change in the significance of the bread and wine to symbolize the body and blood of Christ.
- trapdoor function — a function defined from data by means of a mathematical procedure in such a way that it is easy to obtain the function when the data are known, but when the procedure and data are not known it becomes very difficult to determine the original data: used in cryptography, where the data are the characters of the plain text, or message, and the trapdoor function is the cryptogram.