17-letter words containing n, a, o, f
- self-renunciation — renunciation of one's own will, interests, etc.
- self-satisfaction — a usually smug satisfaction with oneself, one's achievements, etc.
- semi-professional — actively engaged in some field or sport for pay but on a part-time basis: semiprofessional baseball players.
- sense of occasion — If there is a sense of occasion when a planned event takes place, people feel that something special and important is happening.
- set one's cap for — a close-fitting covering for the head, usually of soft supple material and having no visor or brim.
- significant other — Sociology. a person, as a parent or peer, who has great influence on one's behavior and self-esteem.
- sinus of valsalva — any of the pouches of the aorta and the pulmonary artery opposite the flaps of the semilunar valves into which blood returning to the heart flows, closing the valves.
- software engineer — a person who writes computer programs
- sound effects man — a man who produces sounds artificially or reproduces them from a recording, etc, to create a theatrical effect, such as the bringing together of two halves of a hollow coconut shell to simulate a horse's gallop. Such sound effects are used in plays, films, etc
- south farmingdale — a town on central Long Island, in SE New York.
- spaghettification — the theoretical stretching of an object as it encounters extreme differences in gravitational forces, especially those associated with a black hole.
- span of attention — attention span.
- spoonbill catfish — flathead catfish.
- staff association — an association of employees that performs some of the functions of a trade union, such as representing its members in discussions with the management, and may also have other social and professional purposes
- standard function — a subprogram provided by a translator that carries out a task, for example the computation of a mathematical function, such as sine, square root, etc
- stannous fluoride — a white, crystalline powder, SnF 2 , slightly soluble in water: used as a source of fluorine in the prevention of dental caries, especially as a toothpaste additive.
- statutory offense — a wrong punishable under a statute, rather than at common law.
- stay of execution — If you are given a stay of execution, you are legally allowed to delay obeying an order of a court of law.
- store and forward — to store (information) in a computer for later forward transmission through a telecommunication network
- strait of otranto — a stretch of water between SE Italy and Albania, connecting the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea; of strategic importance during World War I
- stratford-on-avon — a town in SW Warwickshire, in central England, on the Avon River: birthplace and burial place of Shakespeare.
- sufficient reason — the principle that nothing happens by pure chance, but that an explanation must always be available
- surface condenser — a device condensing steam or vapor by passing it over a cool surface.
- sustentation fund — a fund, esp in the Church of Scotland, to augment the support of ministers
- take advantage of — any state, circumstance, opportunity, or means specially favorable to success, interest, or any desired end: the advantage of a good education.
- take no notice of — pay no attention to, disregard
- take upon oneself — to take the responsibility for; accept as a charge
- teaching software — computer software for use in providing online education
- technical offence — an action which is prohibited by law, but for which no blame can be attached to the person who commits it
- terminal platform — (in the oil industry) an offshore platform from which oil or gas is pumped ashore through a pipeline
- tetrafluoroethene — a dense colourless gas that is polymerized to make polytetrafluorethene (PTFE). Formula: F2C:CF2
- the age of reason — the 18th century in W Europe
- the carboniferous — the Carboniferous period or rock system
- the confederation — the original 13 states of the United States of America constituted under the Articles of Confederation and superseded by the more formal union established in 1789
- the fall (of man) — Adam's sin of yielding to temptation in eating the forbidden fruit, and his subsequent loss of grace
- the life and soul — a person regarded as the main source of merriment and liveliness
- the morning after — the aftereffects of excess, esp a hangover
- the rann of kutch — an extensive salt waste in W central India, and S Pakistan: consists of the Great Rann in the north and the Little Rann in the southeast; seasonal alternation between marsh and desert; some saltworks. In 1968 an international tribunal awarded about 10 per cent of the border area to Pakistan. Area: 23 000 sq km (9000 sq miles)
- thermal diffusion — the separation of constituents, often isotopes, of a fluid under the influence of a temperature gradient.
- thuringian forest — a forested mountain region in central Germany: a resort area.
- to fan the flames — If someone or something fans the flames of a situation or feeling, usually a bad one, they make it more intense or extreme in some way.
- to say nothing of — You use to say nothing of when you mention an additional thing which gives even more strength to the point you are making.
- traffic diversion — a special route arranged for traffic to follow when the normal route cannot be used
- traffic policeman — a policeman controlling traffic, esp while stationed at an intersection, or enforcing traffic regulations
- traffic violation — driving offence
- transfer function — The transfer function of a circuit is the ratio of the response to the input.
- transferable vote — a vote that is transferred to a second candidate indicated by the voter if the first is eliminated from the ballot
- transformationist — transformist.
- transignification — (in the Eucharist) a change in the significance of the bread and wine to symbolize the body and blood of Christ.
- trapdoor function — a function defined from data by means of a mathematical procedure in such a way that it is easy to obtain the function when the data are known, but when the procedure and data are not known it becomes very difficult to determine the original data: used in cryptography, where the data are the characters of the plain text, or message, and the trapdoor function is the cryptogram.