17-letter words containing i, r, s, a
- slings and arrows — Slings and arrows are unpleasant things that happen to you and that are not your fault.
- smarandache logic — neutrosophic logic
- smoke and mirrors — (used with a singular or plural verb) something that distorts or blurs facts, figures, etc., like a magic or conjuring trick; artful deception.
- social democratic — A social democratic party is a political party whose principles are based on social democracy.
- social enterprise — a business organization that works to benefit society as a whole
- social networking — the development of social and professional contacts; the sharing of information and services among people with a common interest.
- social notworking — the practice of spending time unproductively on social networking websites, esp when one should be working
- socialist realism — a state-approved artistic or literary style in some socialist countries, as the U.S.S.R., that characteristically celebrates an idealized vision of the life and industriousness of the workers.
- socratic elenchus — the drawing out of the consequences of a position in order to show them to be contrary to some accepted position
- sodium bichromate — a red or orange crystalline, water-soluble solid, Na 2 Cr 2 O 7 ⋅2H 2 O, used as an oxidizing agent in the manufacture of dyes and inks, as a corrosion inhibitor, a mordant, a laboratory reagent, in the tanning of leather, and in electroplating.
- sodium dichromate — a red or orange crystalline, water-soluble solid, Na 2 Cr 2 O 7 ⋅2H 2 O, used as an oxidizing agent in the manufacture of dyes and inks, as a corrosion inhibitor, a mordant, a laboratory reagent, in the tanning of leather, and in electroplating.
- sodium propionate — a transparent, crystalline, water-soluble powder, C 3 H 5 NaO 2 , used in foodstuffs to prevent mold growth, and in medicine as a fungicide.
- sodium pyroborate — borax1 .
- sodium-vapor lamp — an electric lamp in which sodium vapor is activated by current passing between two electrodes, producing a yellow, glareless light: used on streets and highways.
- software engineer — a person who writes computer programs
- soil conservation — any of various methods to achieve the maximum utilization of the land and preserve its resources through such controls as crop rotation, prevention of soil erosion, etc.
- solicitor general — a law officer who maintains the rights of the state in suits affecting the public interest, next in rank to the attorney general.
- sorolla y bastida — Joaquín [hwah-keen] /ʰwɑˈkin/ (Show IPA), 1863–1923, Spanish painter.
- south farmingdale — a town on central Long Island, in SE New York.
- south lanarkshire — a council area of S Scotland, comprising the S part of the historical county of Lanarkshire: included within Strathclyde Region from 1975 to 1996: has uplands in the S and part of the Glasgow conurbation in the N: mainly agricultural. Administrative centre: Hamilton. Pop: 303 010 (2003 est). Area: 1771 sq km (684 sq miles)
- south west africa — a former name of Namibia.
- south-west africa — a former name of Namibia.
- southern rhodesia — a former name (until 1964) of Zimbabwe (def 1).
- southern triangle — the constellation Triangulum Australe.
- spaghetti western — a low-budget western movie shot in Italy or Spain, usually with Italian actors and an American star.
- spanish civil war — the civil war in Spain 1936–39.
- sparc xterminal 1 — (computer) Sun's lowest cost networked Unix desktop, it is board-upgradeable to a SPARC 4. It comes with a choice of frame buffers: 8-bit colour, Turbo GX, or Turbo GX plus. This product was expected to replace the SPARCclassic X. UK availability was planned for March 1995.
- spark transmitter — a transmitting set that generates electromagnetic waves by the oscillatory discharge from a capacitor through an inductor and a spark gap.
- spastic paralysis — a condition in which the muscles affected are marked by tonic spasm and increased tendon reflexes.
- spatial frequency — the measure of fine detail in an optical image in terms of cycles per millimetre
- special messenger — a postal worker who delivers mail by special delivery
- special privilege — exclusive advantage
- spectroheliograph — an apparatus for making photographs of the sun with a monochromatic light to show the details of the sun's surface and surroundings as they would appear if the sun emitted only that light.
- spectroradiometer — an instrument for determining the radiant-energy distribution in a spectrum, combining the functions of a spectroscope with those of a radiometer.
- spectroscopically — an optical device for producing and observing a spectrum of light or radiation from any source, consisting essentially of a slit through which the radiation passes, a collimating lens, and an Amici prism.
- spectrum analysis — the determination of the constitution or condition of bodies and substances by means of the spectra they produce.
- spenserian sonnet — a sonnet employing the rhyme scheme abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee.
- spenserian stanza — the stanza used by Spenser in his Faerie Queene and employed since by other poets, consisting of eight iambic pentameter lines and a final Alexandrine, with a rhyme scheme of ababbcbcc.
- sperrin mountains — a mountain range in NW Northern Ireland
- spherical polygon — a closed figure formed by arcs of great circles on a spherical surface.
- spiny-headed worm — any of a small group of endoparasites of the phylum Acanthocephala, as larvae parasitic in insects and crustaceans and as adults in various vertebrates.
- spiral bevel gear — a bevel gear having curved teeth tending to converge on the axis of rotation.
- spiritual bouquet — the spiritual presentation of a good work to another person.
- spiritual healing — faith healing
- split keyboarding — the act or practice of editing data from one terminal on another terminal
- split personality — multiple personality.
- sports facilities — places and things for doing sports
- spot-illustration — a rounded mark or stain made by foreign matter, as mud, blood, paint, ink, etc.; a blot or speck.
- spotted sandpiper — a North American sandpiper, Actitis macularia, that has brownish-gray upper parts and white underparts, and is spotted with black in the summer.
- spread your wings — if you spread your wings, you do something new and rather difficult or move to a new place, because you feel more confident in your abilities than you used to and you want to gain wider experience