21-letter words containing f, a, i
- safe in the knowledge — If you do something safe in the knowledge that something else is the case, you do the first thing confidently because you are sure of the second thing.
- saint-maur-des-fosses — a town in N central France, near Paris, on the Marne River.
- sales finance company — a finance company that purchases, at a discount, installment contracts from dealers or that finances retail sales.
- saponification number — the number of milligrams of potassium hydroxide required to saponify one gram of a given ester, especially a glyceride.
- satisficing behaviour — the form of behaviour demonstrated by firms who seek satisfactory profits and satisfactory growth rather than maximum profits
- schema definition set — (SDS) Something in Portable Common Tool Environment.
- self-characterization — portrayal; description: the actor's characterization of a politician.
- semantic differential — a technique for measuring the connotative meaning of concepts by having an individual rate each concept on a series of graduated scales, each scale defined by a pair of polar adjectives, as good–bad or strong–weak.
- siamese fighting fish — a labyrinth fish, Betta splendens, that has been bred for centuries to develop brilliant coloration, very long fins, and pugnacity.
- sieve of eratosthenes — a method of obtaining prime numbers by sifting out the composite numbers from the set of natural numbers so that only prime numbers remain.
- silicon tetrafluoride — a colorless, fuming gas, SiF 4 , used chiefly in the manufacture of fluosilicic acid.
- sing a different tune — a succession of musical sounds forming an air or melody, with or without the harmony accompanying it.
- single parent benefit — a form of government funded financial assistance paid to single parents
- snap one's fingers at — any of the terminal members of the hand, especially one other than the thumb.
- social stratification — the act or an instance of stratifying.
- south pacific current — an ocean current that flows E in the South Pacific Ocean parallel to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
- sovereign wealth fund — an investment fund created using the financial assets of a national government
- split-finger fastball — a type of fastball that sinks abruptly as it nears home plate, thrown with the grip used for a forkball
- split-screen facility — a facility allowing different scenes to be shown on screen at the same time
- spotted alfalfa aphid — a pale yellowish aphid, Therioaphis maculata, of the southern U.S., especially west of the Mississippi River, that is marked with black spots and has fine spines on its back: a pest mainly of alfalfa and some other legumes, as clover.
- staffordshire terrier — former name of American Staffordshire terrier.
- stare one in the face — to be glaringly obvious or imminent
- stations of the cross — a series of 14 crosses, often accompanied by 14 pictures or carvings, arranged in order around the walls of a church, to commemorate 14 supposed stages in Christ's journey to Calvary
- statistical inference — the theory, methods, and practice of forming judgments about the parameters of a population, usually on the basis of random sampling
- stem-and-leaf diagram — a histogram in which the data points falling within each class interval are listed in order
- sun protection factor — SPF.
- supplementary benefit — (formerly) an extra amount of money that is paid to someone by the government, in addition to their normal income. Replaced by income support in 1988
- surface acoustic wave — an acoustic wave generated on the surface of a piezoelectric substrate: used as a filter in electronic circuits
- surface friction drag — the part of the drag on a body moving through a fluid that is dependent on the nature of the surface of the body
- surface of projection — the surface upon which an image or a set of points is projected.
- surface of revolution — a surface formed by revolving a plane curve about a given line.
- symphonie fantastique — a programmatic symphony (1830–31) in five movements by Hector Berlioz.
- take one's (own) life — to commit suicide
- take one's finger out — stop delaying or procrastinating
- take/come into effect — If a law or policy takes effect or comes into effect at a particular time, it officially begins to apply or be valid from that time. If it remains in effect, it still applies or is still valid.
- teacher certification — official qualifications for educators
- tetrabromofluorescein — eosin (def 1).
- the acting profession — actors considered as a group
- the barber of seville — Italian Il barbiere di Siviglia. a comic opera (1816) by Gioacchino Rossini based on a comedy (1775) by Beaumarchais.
- the battle of britain — from August to October 1940, the prolonged bombing of S England by the German Luftwaffe and the successful resistance by the RAF Fighter Command, which put an end to the German plan of invading Britain
- the birth of a nation — an American film (1915), directed by D. W. Griffith.
- the flickertail state — a name for the state of North Dakota
- the rock of gibraltar — a limestone promontory at the tip of S Spain
- the shipping forecast — a radio broadcast made by the BBC of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the British Isles
- the shit hits the fan — the real trouble begins
- the stationery office — (in the UK) the company that supplies the civil service with all its office supplies, machinery, printing and binding, etc
- the supreme sacrifice — the sacrifice of one's life
- theater of operations — the part of the theater of war, including a combat zone and a communications zone, that is engaged in military operations and their support.
- tide-generating force — the difference between the force of gravity exerted by the moon or the sun on a particle of water in the ocean and that exerted on an equal mass of matter at the centre of the earth. The lunar tide-generating forces are about 2.2 times greater than are the solar ones
- to fall into the trap — If someone falls into the trap of doing something, they think or behave in a way which is not wise or sensible.