18-letter words containing f, a, p, i
- reinforced plastic — plastic with fibrous matter, such as carbon fibre, embedded in it to confer additional strength
- richard p. feynman — (person, computing, architecture) /fayn'mn/ 1918-1988. A US physicist, computer scientist and author who graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton. Feynmane was a key figure in helping Oppenheimer and team develop atomic bomb. In 1950 he became a professor at Caltech and in 1965 became Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics for QED (quantum electrodynamics). He was a primary figure in "solving" the Challenger disaster O-ring problem. He "rediscovered" the former Soviet Socialist Republic of Tuva. The 2001 film "Infinity" about Feynman's early life featured Matthew Broderick and Patricia Arquette. In 2001, "QED", a play about Feynman's life featuring Alan Alda opened.
- safety-deposit box — a lockable metal box or drawer, especially in a bank vault, used for safely storing valuable papers, jewelry, etc.
- saint peter's fish — another name for tilapia, taken from a Bible story about Saint Peter catching a fish with a coin in its mouth
- sampling frequency — sample rate
- seafloor spreading — a process in which new ocean floor is created as molten material from the earth's mantle rises in margins between plates or ridges and spreads out.
- self-contemplation — the act or process of thinking about oneself or one's values, beliefs, behavior, etc.
- self-deprecatingly — in a self-deprecating manner
- self-disparagement — the act of disparaging.
- self-preoccupation — the state of being preoccupied.
- self-tapping screw — a screw designed to tap its corresponding female thread as it is driven.
- soda-lime feldspar — plagioclase.
- spirits of ammonia — a 10% solution of ammonia in alcohol
- stepping-off place — jumping-off place (def 2).
- sweptwing aircraft — an aircraft which has wings that are swept (usually) backwards
- territory of papua — a former territory of Australia, consisting of SE New Guinea and adjacent islands: now part of Papua New Guinea
- the family compact — the ruling oligarchy in Upper Canada in the early 19th century
- to fall into place — If things fall into place, events happen naturally to produce a situation you want.
- to play favourites — to display favouritism
- unfair competition — acts done by a seller to confuse or deceive the public with intent to acquire a larger portion of the market, as by cutting prices below cost, misleading advertising, selling a spurious product under a false identity, etc.
- vermiform appendix — a narrow, blind tube protruding from the cecum, having no known useful function, in humans being 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 cm) long and situated in the lower right-hand part of the abdomen.
- wild passionflower — the maypop, Passiflora incarnata.
- wildlife programme — (esp on television) a documentary whose subject is wild animals in their natural habitat or undomesticated fauna and flora generally