18-letter words containing f, o, r, s
- self-incrimination — the act of incriminating oneself or exposing oneself to prosecution, especially by giving evidence or testimony.
- self-instructional — pertaining to or constituting learning materials and conditions arranged so that students can proceed to learn on their own with little or no supervision.
- self-interrogation — the act of interrogating; questioning.
- self-mortification — the inflicting of pain or privation on oneself: He was certain that self-mortification was the only road to salvation.
- self-preoccupation — the state of being preoccupied.
- self-raising flour — flour with baking powder
- self-recrimination — the act of recriminating, or countercharging: Hope gave way to recrimination with both sides claiming the moral high ground.
- sell oneself short — If you sell someone short, you do not point out their good qualities as much as you should or do as much for them as you should.
- senior aircraftman — a rank in the Royal Air Force comparable to that of a private in the army, though not the lowest rank in the Royal Air Force
- sense of direction — Your sense of direction is your ability to know roughly where you are, or which way to go, even when you are in an unfamiliar place.
- shatterproof glass — glass designed to resist shattering
- shift one's ground — to change one's argument or defense
- shoot from the hip — the act of shooting with a bow, firearm, etc.
- shrubby cinquefoil — a small shrub, Potentilla fruticosa, of the rose family, native to the Northern temperate region, having pinnate leaves and numerous, showy, bright-yellow flowers.
- silvery cinquefoil — any of several plants belonging to the genus Potentilla, of the rose family, having yellow, red, or white five-petaled flowers, as P. reptans (creeping cinquefoil) of the Old World, or P. argentea (silvery cinquefoil) of North America.
- six-finger country — an isolated area considered as being inhabited by people who practise inbreeding
- sixth-form college — (in England and Wales) a college offering A-level and other courses to pupils over sixteen from local schools, esp from those that do not have sixth forms
- skin friction drag — aerodynamic resistance or drag due to the contact of moving air with the surface of an airplane, a glider, etc.
- smooth fox terrier — a breed of short-haired fox terrier with a mostly white, smooth coat.
- society of friends — a Christian denomination, founded in England c. 1650 by George Fox, that has no formal creed, liturgy, or priesthood and rejects violence in human relations, esp. warfare
- soda-lime feldspar — plagioclase.
- software backplane — (programming, tool) A CASE framework from Atherton.
- soldier of fortune — a person who independently seeks pleasure, wealth, etc., through adventurous exploits.
- sonic depth finder — a sonar instrument that uses echolocation to measure depths under water.
- sound and the fury — a novel (1929) by William Faulkner.
- speak for yourself — If you say 'Speak for yourself' when someone has said something, you mean that what they have said is only their opinion or applies only to them.
- spectrofluorimeter — an instrument in which the spectrum of secondarily emitted fluorescent light is used to identify chemical compounds.
- spectrofluorometer — an instrument in which the spectrum of secondarily emitted fluorescent light is used to identify chemical compounds.
- spirits of ammonia — a 10% solution of ammonia in alcohol
- spotted flycatcher — a European woodland songbird, Muscicapa striata, with a greyish-brown streaked plumage: family Muscicapidae (Old World flycatchers)
- spur-of-the-moment — occurring or done without advance preparation or deliberation; extemporaneous; unplanned: a spur-of-the-moment decision.
- squinting modifier — a word or phrase that can modify either the words that precede it or those that follow, as frequently in the sentence Studying frequently is tedious.
- standard of living — a grade or level of subsistence and comfort in everyday life enjoyed by a community, class, or individual: The well-educated generally have a high standard of living.
- standoff insulator — a type of insulator that supports an electrical conductor at a distance from other elements or surfaces.
- state of emergency — If a government or other authority declares a state of emergency in an area, it introduces special measures such as increased powers for the police or army, usually because of civil disorder or because of a natural disaster such as an earthquake.
- stirling's formula — a relation that approximates the value of n factorial (n!), expressed as .
- strait of magellan — a strait between the mainland of S South America and Tierra del Fuego, linking the S Pacific with the S Atlantic. Length: 600 km (370 miles). Width: up to 32 km (20 miles)
- straits of florida — a sea passage between the Florida Keys and Cuba, linking the Atlantic with the Gulf of Mexico
- structural formula — a chemical formula showing the linkage of the atoms in a molecule diagrammatically, as H–O–H.
- sugarloaf mountain — a mountain in SE Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, at the entrance to Guanabara Bay. 1280 feet (390 meters).
- sunflower seed oil — the oil extracted from sunflower seeds, used as a salad oil, in the manufacture of margarine, etc
- surface-to-surface — (of a missile, message, etc.) capable of traveling from a base on the surface of the earth to a target also on the surface.
- symmetric function — a polynomial in several indeterminates that stays the same under any permutation of the indeterminates.
- take the wraps off — to reveal
- terms of reference — Terms of reference are the instructions given to someone when they are asked to consider or investigate a particular subject, telling them what they must deal with and what they can ignore.
- the bird has flown — the person in question has fled or escaped
- the first sea lord — the senior of the two serving naval officers who sits on the admiralty board of the Ministry of Defence
- the mosque of omar — the mosque in Jerusalem, Israel, built in 691 ad by caliph 'Abd al-Malik: the third most holy place of Islam; stands on the Temple Mount alongside the al-Aqsa mosque
- the worse for wear — If you say that someone is the worse for wear, you mean that they are tired, ill, or in a bad state because they have been very active, been through a difficult experience, or been drinking alcohol.
- thorfinn karlsefni — 980–after 1007, Icelandic navigator, explorer, and leader of early colonizing expedition to Vinland, in North America.