21-letter words containing m, e, a, t, n
- semantic differential — a technique for measuring the connotative meaning of concepts by having an individual rate each concept on a series of graduated scales, each scale defined by a pair of polar adjectives, as good–bad or strong–weak.
- serbia and montenegro — a former country in SE Europe, consisting of the republics of Serbia and Montenegro; replaced the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 2003, and dissolved in 2006 following Montenegro’s decision to secede
- settle someone's hash — a dish of diced or chopped meat and often vegetables, as of leftover corned beef or veal and potatoes, sautéed in a frying pan or of meat, potatoes, and carrots cooked together in gravy.
- seven-segment display — (electronics) (SSD) A kind of display element consisting of seven independently controllable lines arranged as a rectangular figure eight. A seven-segment display is the simplest device that can display any of the digits zero to nine (and some other characters) by lighting different combinations of lines. They are often seen in electronic calculators or measuring equipment.
- seventeenth amendment — an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1913, providing for the election of two U.S. senators from each state by popular vote and for a term of six years.
- sherman antitrust act — an act of Congress (1890) prohibiting any contract, conspiracy, or combination of business interests in restraint of foreign or interstate trade.
- siamese fighting fish — a labyrinth fish, Betta splendens, that has been bred for centuries to develop brilliant coloration, very long fins, and pugnacity.
- sick to one's stomach — afflicted with ill health or disease; ailing.
- sierra madre oriental — the system of mountains in the east of Mexico
- simple actor language — (language) (SAL) A minimal actor language, used for teaching in:
- slatwall merchandiser — A slatwall merchandiser is a three-dimensional display unit with grooves cut into its surface into which metal hanging rails can be fixed at various heights.
- somatization disorder — a mental illness, usually beginning before age 20, characterized by multiple physical complaints for which no physical causes can be found and often leading to unnecessary treatment or surgery and to severe disability.
- somatotrophic-hormone — a hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary gland, that stimulates growth in humans.
- spin angular momentum — to make (yarn) by drawing out, twisting, and winding fibers: Pioneer women spun yarn on spinning wheels.
- splice the main brace — to join together or unite (two ropes or parts of a rope) by the interweaving of strands.
- statistical mechanics — the science that deals with average properties of the molecules, atoms, or elementary particles in random motion in a system of many such particles and relates these properties to the thermodynamic and other macroscopic properties of the system.
- steal someone's heart — to cause someone to feel love or affection
- stem-and-leaf diagram — a histogram in which the data points falling within each class interval are listed in order
- step-down transformer — a device that transfers an alternating current from one circuit to one or more other circuits with a decrease of voltage
- stock list department — (in an American stock exchange) the department dealing with monitoring compliance with its listing requirements and rules
- stokes-adams syndrome — unconsciousness accompanying atrioventricular heart block, sometimes characterized by weakness, irregular pulse, and intermittent convulsive or nonconvulsive seizures.
- strategic air command — a U.S. Air Force command charged with intercontinental air strikes, especially nuclear attacks.
- subliminal perception — perception of or reaction to a stimulus that occurs without awareness or consciousness
- supplementary benefit — (formerly) an extra amount of money that is paid to someone by the government, in addition to their normal income. Replaced by income support in 1988
- swim against the tide — to resist prevailing opinion
- sympathetic vibration — a vibration induced by resonance.
- symphonie fantastique — a programmatic symphony (1830–31) in five movements by Hector Berlioz.
- system management bus — (hardware, protocol) (SMBus, SMB) A simple two-wire bus used for communication with low-bandwidth devices on a motherboard, especially power related chips such as a laptop's rechargeable battery subsystem (see Smart Battery Data). Other devices might include temperature sensors and lid switches. A device can provide manufacturer information, indicate its model/part number, save its state for a suspend event, report different types of errors, accept control parameters, and return status. The SMB is generally not user configurable or accessible. The bus carries clock, data, and instructions and is based on Philip's I2C serial bus protocol. Support for SMBus devices is provided on Windows 2000. Windows 98 does not support such devices. The PIIX4 chipset provides SMBus functionality. Vendors using SMBus would be required to pay royalties.
- systeme international — Système International d'Unités
- take someone prisoner — to capture and hold someone as a prisoner, esp as a prisoner of war
- take under advisement — to consider carefully
- take/come into effect — If a law or policy takes effect or comes into effect at a particular time, it officially begins to apply or be valid from that time. If it remains in effect, it still applies or is still valid.
- tape operating system — (operating system) (TOS) An IBM operating system for System 360, used in the early days around 1965 to support the IBM 360 model 30 et al. TOS was a predecessor to IBM's Disk Operating System. TOS died out really early as disks such as the 2311 and 2314 became common with the IBM 360 whereas thet had been a real luxury on the IBM 7090.
- teleological argument — the argument purporting to prove the existence of God from empirical facts, the premise being that the universe shows evidence of order and hence design
- temperature inversion — inversion (def 12).
- tetrabromofluorescein — eosin (def 1).
- the (norman) conquest — the conquering of England by the Normans under William the Conqueror in 1066
- the assessment method — a way of providing evidence that students' knowledge and learning match the aims of a course
- the comrades marathon — an annual long-distance race run every year on the 16th of June from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, a distance of approximately 90 kilometres (56 miles)
- the executive mansion — the White House
- the man in the street — If you talk about the man in the street or the man or woman in the street, you mean ordinary people in general.
- the moral high ground — If you say that someone has taken the moral high ground, you mean that they consider that their policies and actions are morally superior to the policies and actions of their rivals.
- the women's land army — a unit of women recruited to do agricultural work in the United Kingdom during World War I and World War II
- therapeutic community — a group-based form of therapy for mental disorders, sometimes residential
- thermal decomposition — Thermal decomposition is the process in which a chemical species breaks down when its temperature is increased.
- thermal power station — a power station in which heat is converted into electricity
- throw someone a curve — a continuously bending line, without angles.
- time and motion study — the systematic investigation and analysis of the motions and the time required to perform a specific operation or task with a view to seeking more efficient methods of production as well as setting time standards.
- to bend someone's ear — If you say that someone is bending your ear about something, you mean that they keep talking to you about it because they think it is important; used especially when you are irritated by this.
- to box someone's ears — If someone boxes a child's ears, they hit them on the side of their head as a punishment.