17-letter words containing n, o, p, s
- bradford spinning — a wool-spinning method in which the fibers are oiled prior to combing and subsequently spun into worsted yarn.
- brocot escapement — a type of anchor escapement.
- business envelope — an envelope into which standard-size (81⁄2″ × 11″) letterhead stationery can be put with only two folds
- by return of post — by the next mail in the opposite direction
- call-and-response — a form of interaction between a speaker and one or more listeners, in which every utterance of the speaker elicits a verbal or non-verbal response from the listener or listeners
- canine parvovirus — a highly contagious viral disease of dogs characterized by vomiting, haemorrhagic diarrhoea, depression, and, in severe cases, death
- cape barren goose — a greyish Australian goose, Cereopsis novaehollandiae, having a black bill with a greenish cere
- carbon disulphide — a colourless slightly soluble volatile flammable poisonous liquid commonly having a disagreeable odour due to the presence of impurities: used as an organic solvent and in the manufacture of rayon and carbon tetrachloride. Formula: CS2
- carolina allspice — any of a genus (Calycanthus) of hardy shrubs (family Calycanthaceae) of a dicotyledonous order (Laurales) of plants, bearing reddish-brown, sweet-smelling flowers
- cartesian product — the set of all ordered pairs of members of two given sets. The product A × B is the set of all pairs <a, b> where a is a member of A and b is a member of B
- castor and pollux — the twin sons of Leda: Pollux was fathered by Zeus, Castor by the mortal Tyndareus. After Castor's death, Pollux spent half his days with his half-brother in Hades and half with the gods in Olympus
- catastrophization — The act or process of catastrophizing.
- chelsea pensioner — an old ex-soldier resident in the Chelsea Royal Hospital
- chest compression — Chest compression is the act of applying pressure to someone's chest in order to help blood flow through the heart in an emergency situation.
- chord progression — movement from chord to chord
- clipperton island — an uninhabited atoll in the E Pacific SW of Mexico, under French administration. Area: 6 sq km (2.3 sq miles)
- close corporation — a small private limited company
- close parenthesis — right parenthesis
- close punctuation — punctuation in which many commas, full stops, etc, are used
- closed-captioning — (of a television program, film, or video) distributed with synchronized transcription of speech and written descriptions of other relevant audio elements, as for the hearing-impaired, that are visible only when the option to display them is selected. Abbreviation: CC.
- club subscription — an amount of money that someone pays regularly in order to belong to a club
- collodion process — wet plate process.
- colour separation — the division of a coloured original into cyan, magenta, yellow, and black so that plates may be made for print reproduction. Separation may be achieved by electronic scanning or by photographic techniques using filters to isolate each colour
- colour supplement — A colour supplement is a colour magazine which is one of the sections of a newspaper, especially at weekends.
- come to handgrips — to engage in hand-to-hand fighting
- companionableness — The state or quality of being companionable.
- company secretary — A company secretary is a person whose job within a company is to keep the legal affairs, accounts, and administration in order.
- compartmentalised — Simple past tense and past participle of compartmentalise.
- compartmentalizes — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of compartmentalize.
- compass deviation — deviation (def 4).
- compassionateness — The state or quality of being compassionate.
- compensated grade — a grade that has been reduced along a curve to offset the additional resistance due to the curve.
- complement clause — a subordinate clause that functions as the subject, direct object, or prepositional object of a verb, as that you like it in I'm surprised that you like it.
- complementariness — forming a complement; completing.
- complementarities — Plural form of complementarity.
- complimentariness — The state or quality of being complimentary.
- composite volcano — a large, steep volcano built up of alternating layers of lava and ash or cinders.
- composite-volcano — a large, steep volcano built up of alternating layers of lava and ash or cinders.
- composting toilet — a human waste disposal system that utilizes a waterless or low-flush toilet in conjunction with a tank in which aerobic bacteria break down the waste.
- compound interest — Compound interest is interest that is calculated both on an original sum of money and on interest which has previously been added to the sum. Compare simple interest.
- compound sentence — a sentence containing at least two coordinate clauses
- comprehensibility — capable of being comprehended or understood; intelligible.
- comprehensiveness — of large scope; covering or involving much; inclusive: a comprehensive study of world affairs.
- compression ratio — the ratio of the volume enclosed by the cylinder of an internal-combustion engine at the beginning of the compression stroke to the volume enclosed at the end of it
- conceptualisation — The act of conceptualising, or something conceptualised.
- concurrent pascal — (language) An extension of a Pascal subset, Sequential Pascal, developed by Brinch Hansen in 1972-75. Concurrent Pascal was the first language to support monitors. It provided access to hardware devices through monitor calls and also supported processes and classes.
- conscript fathers — august legislators, esp Roman senators
- consolation prize — A consolation prize is a small prize which is given to a person who fails to win a competition.
- conspiracy theory — A conspiracy theory is a belief that a group of people are secretly trying to harm someone or achieve something. You usually use this term to suggest that you think this is unlikely.
- conspiratorialist — a person who believes in or supports a conspiracy theory.