17-letter words containing i, s, o, c, r, a
- poststructuralism — a variation of structuralism, often seen as a critique, emphasizing plurality of meaning and instability of concepts that structuralism uses to define society, language, etc.
- prairie provinces — the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, which lie in the N Great Plains region of North America: the chief wheat and petroleum producing area of Canada
- pre-modifications — an act or instance of modifying.
- precision casting — investment casting.
- prefect apostolic — the administrator, usually below the rank of bishop, in charge of a prefecture apostolic.
- presentation copy — a copy of a book given by the publisher or author
- press association — an organization formed for the purpose of gathering news for transmittal to its members. Compare news agency.
- primary processes — the generally unorganized mental activity characteristic of the unconscious and occurring in dreams, fantasies, and related processes.
- prismatic compass — a hand compass equipped with sights and prisms to permit aiming the instrument at a point and at the same time reading the compass direction of the point.
- procurator fiscal — In the Scottish legal system, the procurator fiscal is a public official who puts people on trial.
- production values — the quality of a media production (such as a film) in regards to elements such as colours, quality, style, etc
- prostatic utricle — a small pouch near the prostate gland that opens into the urethra.
- pseudo-democratic — pertaining to or of the nature of democracy or a democracy.
- pseudo-historical — of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events: historical records; historical research.
- pseudo-moralistic — a person who teaches or inculcates morality.
- psychographically — Psychology. a graph indicating the relative strength of the personality traits of an individual.
- psychoprophylaxis — Lamaze method.
- psychotherapeutic — psychotherapy.
- purple of cassius — a purple pigment precipitated as a sol by the interaction of gold chloride and a solution of stannic acid and stannous chloride: used chiefly in the manufacture of ruby glass, ceramic glazes, and enamels.
- pyroligneous acid — a yellowish, acidic, water-soluble liquid, containing about 10 percent acetic acid, obtained by the destructive distillation of wood: used for smoking meats.
- pyrosulfuric acid — a strong, crystalline acid, H2S2O7, prepared commercially as a heavy, oily, fuming liquid: used in making explosives and dyes, as a sulfating agent, etc.
- rack one's brains — to strain in mental effort, esp to remember something or to find the solution to a problem
- radioactive waste — the radioactive by-products from the operation of a nuclear reactor or from the reprocessing of depleted nuclear fuel.
- radioluminescence — luminescence induced by nuclear radiation.
- railroad crossing — place for vehicles to cross train tracks
- recoil escapement — anchor escapement.
- recreationalist's — recreationist.
- recrystallization — to become crystallized again.
- recursion formula — a formula for determining the next term of a sequence from one or more of the preceding terms.
- recursive acronym — (convention) A hackish (and especially MIT) tradition is to choose acronyms and abbreviations that refer humorously to themselves or to other acronyms or abbreviations. The classic examples were two MIT editors called EINE ("EINE Is Not Emacs") and ZWEI ("ZWEI Was EINE Initially"). More recently, there is a Scheme compiler called LIAR (Liar Imitates Apply Recursively), and GNU stands for "GNU's Not Unix!" - and a company with the name CYGNUS, which expands to "Cygnus, Your GNU Support". See also mung.
- renaissance woman — a woman who has acquired profound knowledge or proficiency in more than one field.
- rescue operations — operations or organized procedures to bring people or a person out of danger, attack, harm, etc
- respiratory chain — a series of mitochondrial proteins that transport electrons of hydrogen, released in the Krebs cycle, from acetyl coenzyme A to inhaled oxygen to form H 2 O: the energy released in the process is conserved as ATP.
- respiratory tract — the passages through which air enters and leaves the body
- retrocessionaires — a reinsurance company that accepts or takes a retrocession.
- revascularization — the restoration of the blood circulation of an organ or area, achieved by unblocking obstructed or disrupted blood vessels or by surgically implanting replacements.
- rhetorical stress — stress required by the meaning of a line, as distinguished from that required by the meter.
- road construction — the building of roads
- roman catholicism — the faith, practice, and system of government of the Roman Catholic Church.
- rotation of crops — a system of rotating in a fixed order the kinds of crops, as grain or grass, grown in the same field, to maintain soil fertility
- rush-hour traffic — the large number of vehicles that move along roads, travelling to or from work at the beginning and end of the working day
- sacrifice paddock — a grassed area allowed to be grazed completely, to be cultivated and resown later
- sacrificial anode — Chemistry. an anode that is attached to a metal object subject to electrolysis and is decomposed instead of the object.
- safety precaution — a precaution that is taken in order to ensure that something is safe and not dangerous
- saint christopher — Saint, died a.d. c250, Christian martyr.
- saint croix river — Also called Santa Cruz. a U.S. island in the N Lesser Antilles: the largest of the Virgin Islands. 82 sq. mi. (212 sq. km).
- san francisco bay — a bay in W California: the harbor of San Francisco; connected with the Pacific by the Golden Gate strait. 50 miles (80 km) long; 3–12 miles (5–19 km) wide.
- sandro botticelli — Sandro [san-droh,, sahn-;; Italian sahn-draw] /ˈsæn droʊ,, ˈsɑn-;; Italian ˈsɑn drɔ/ (Show IPA), (Alessandro di Mariano dei Filipepi) 1444?–1510, Italian painter.
- scarlet firethorn — a Eurasian evergreen, thorny shrub, Pyracantha coccinea, of the rose family, having white, hairy flower clusters and bright red berries.
- scrophulariaceous — belonging to the Scrophulariaceae, the figwort family of plants.