18-letter words containing i, n, f, o, s
- 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.
- shift one's ground — to change one's argument or defense
- 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.
- sign of the zodiac — one of the twelve constellations along the path of the ecliptic.
- significant symbol — a verbal or nonverbal gesture, as a word or smile, that has acquired a conventionalized meaning.
- 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
- skin friction drag — aerodynamic resistance or drag due to the contact of moving air with the surface of an airplane, a glider, etc.
- slip of the tongue — If you describe something you said as a slip of the tongue, you mean that you said it by mistake.
- 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
- soft touch sealing — Soft touch sealing is a copolymer seal for a tank, with characteristics designed for softness, used instead of a metal seal to help avoid fire when sparks are generated.
- soldier of fortune — a person who independently seeks pleasure, wealth, etc., through adventurous exploits.
- solid-fuel heating — heating that uses solid fuel, such as coal or coke
- sonic depth finder — a sonar instrument that uses echolocation to measure depths under water.
- spirits of ammonia — a 10% solution of ammonia in alcohol
- 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 the union — A State of the Union speech or address is a speech, given once a year, in which the president of the United States talks about the current political issues that affect the country as a whole and about his plans for the year ahead.
- statement of claim — law: first pleading
- stepping-off place — jumping-off place (def 2).
- stinking goosefoot — a European goosefoot with foul-smelling leaves
- 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)
- sub-classification — to arrange in subclasses.
- 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
- sutton-in-ashfield — a market town in N central England, in W Nottinghamshire. Pop: 41 951 (2001)
- symmetric function — a polynomial in several indeterminates that stays the same under any permutation of the indeterminates.
- the bird has flown — the person in question has fled or escaped
- the final solution — the code name used by the Nazis to refer to the plan of mass murder of the Jews
- thorfinn karlsefni — 980–after 1007, Icelandic navigator, explorer, and leader of early colonizing expedition to Vinland, in North America.
- thrift-institution — economical management; economy; frugality.
- throw oneself into — to propel or cast in any way, especially to project or propel from the hand by a sudden forward motion or straightening of the arm and wrist: to throw a ball.
- time of one's life — the system of those sequential relations that any event has to any other, as past, present, or future; indefinite and continuous duration regarded as that in which events succeed one another.
- to find one's feet — If you say that someone is finding their feet in a new situation, you mean that they are starting to feel confident and to deal with things successfully.
- to get wind of sth — If you get wind of something, you hear about it, especially when someone else did not want you to know about it.
- to save one's life — If you say that someone cannot do something to save their life, you are emphasizing that they do it very badly.
- to twist the knife — If you twist the knife or if you turn the knife in someone's wound, you do or say something to make an unpleasant situation they are in even more unpleasant.
- torsion-free group — a group in which every element other than the identity has infinite order.
- transmission shaft — a shaft that rotates transmitting motion from the engine to the differential gear
- transmogrification — to change in appearance or form, especially strangely or grotesquely; transform.
- transrectification — rectification occurring in one circuit as a result of the application of an alternating voltage to another circuit.
- triangle of forces — a triangle whose sides represent the magnitudes and directions of three forces whose resultant is zero and which are therefore in equilibrium
- tune someone grief — to annoy or harass someone
- turn in on oneself — to withdraw or cause to withdraw from contact with others and become preoccupied with one's own problems
- under the aegis of — guided or protected by
- uriniferous tubule — a urine-bearing tubule in a nephron of a kidney.
- vermilion rockfish — a scarlet-red rockfish, Sebastes miniatus, inhabiting waters along the Pacific coast of North America, important as a food fish.
- visiting professor — a professor from another institution invited to teach at a university or college for a limited period, usually for a semester or one academic year.