16-letter words containing n, o, s, c
- restriction play — a limited number of opening moves that are predetermined by their chance selection from an accepted list.
- restriction site — the place on a DNA molecule where a restriction enzyme acts.
- retrocessionaire — a reinsurance company that accepts or takes a retrocession.
- richmond heights — a city in E Missouri, near St. Louis.
- risus sardonicus — fixed contraction of the facial muscles resulting in a peculiar distorted grin, caused esp by tetanus
- rocket scientist — a specialist in rocketry.
- royal commission — (in Britain) a body set up by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister to gather information about the operation of existing laws or to investigate any social, educational, or other matter. The commission has prescribed terms of reference and reports to the government on how any change might be achieved
- saccharification — to convert (starch) into sugar.
- safety-conscious — conscious of being safe and preventing danger
- sales commission — Sales commission is the percentage of the value of a sale that a sales associate or sales representative may earn.
- sales conference — meeting of salespeople
- sangre de cristo — a mountain range in S Colorado and N New Mexico: a part of the Rocky Mountains. Highest peak, Blanca Peak, 14,390 feet (4385 meters).
- santiago de cuba — a region in Ecuador, E of the Andes: the border long disputed by Peru.
- save one's bacon — the back and sides of the hog, salted and dried or smoked, usually sliced thin and fried for food.
- savonarola chair — a chair of the Renaissance having a number of transverse pairs of curved legs, crossing beneath the seat and rising to support the arms and back.
- scandinavian lox — a kind of brine-cured salmon, having either a salt cure (Scandinavian lox) or a sugar cure (Nova Scotia lox) often eaten with cream cheese on a bagel.
- scheme of things — Someone's scheme of things is the way in which they think that things in their life should be organized.
- schlieren method — a method for detecting regions of differing densities in a clear fluid by photographing a beam of light passed obliquely through it.
- schneider trophy — a trophy for air racing between seaplanes of any nation, first presented by Jacques Schneider (1879–1928) in 1913; won outright by Britain in 1931
- school inspector — an official whose job is to inspect schools and to report on their quality and conditions
- school librarian — a librarian who works in or is in charge of a school library
- schouten islands — a group of islands belonging to Papua New Guinea, in the Pacific Oceans, off the N coast of New Guinea.
- sclerenchymatous — supporting or protective tissue composed of thickened, dry, and hardened cells.
- score points off — to gain an advantage at someone else's expense
- scribbling block — scratch pad.
- scrovegni chapel — Arena Chapel.
- sebaceous glands — any of the cutaneous glands that secrete oily matter for lubricating hair and skin.
- second adventist — Adventist (def 1).
- second amendment — an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, guaranteeing the right to keep and bear arms as necessary to maintain a state militia.
- second childhood — senility; dotage.
- second intention — See under intention (def 5b).
- second messenger — any of various intracellular chemical substances, as cyclic AMP, that transmit and amplify the messages delivered by a first messenger to specific receptors on the cell surface.
- second world war — World War II.
- second-story man — a burglar who enters through an upstairs window.
- secondary accent — a stress accent weaker than primary accent but stronger than lack of stress.
- secondary cancer — a cancerous growth in some part of the body away from the site of the original tumour
- secondary colour — a colour formed by mixing two primary colours
- secondary growth — an increase in the thickness of the shoots and roots of a vascular plant as a result of the formation of new cells in the cambium.
- secondary market — the market that exists for an issue after large blocks of shares have been publicly distributed.
- secondary modern — Secondary moderns were schools which existed until recently in Britain for children aged between about eleven and sixteen, where more attention was paid to practical skills and less to academic study than in a grammar school.
- secondary phloem — phloem derived from the cambium during secondary growth.
- secondary school — a high school or a school of corresponding grade, ranking between a primary school and a college or university.
- secondary source — next after the first in order, place, time, etc.
- secondary stress — Engineering. a stress induced by the elastic deformation of a structure under a temporary load.
- secondary tissue — tissue derived from cambium.
- secondhand smoke — smoke from a cigarette, cigar, or pipe that is involuntarily inhaled, especially by nonsmokers.
- security council — the division of the United Nations charged with maintaining international peace, composed of five permanent members (U.S., Russian Federation, France, United Kingdom, and the People's Republic of China) and ten temporary members, each serving for two years.
- sedimentary rock — rock formed from compacted minerals
- self-complacency — pleased with oneself; self-satisfied; smug.
- self-confinement — the act of confining.