18-letter words containing n, o, s, c
- on your conscience — If you have something on your conscience, you feel guilty because you know you have done something wrong.
- optical soundtrack — the final soundtrack on a motion picture, which appears as a band of black and white serrations along a strip of film to the left of the composite print. Light is shined through the serrations and is converted to audible sound.
- organic solidarity — social cohesiveness that is based on division of labor and interdependence and is characteristic of complex, industrial societies.
- oriental cat's-eye — a chatoyant variety of chrysoberyl, used as a gem.
- oriental scops owl — any of a group of small owls having ear tufts and a whistling call, especially Otus scops (Old World scops owl) and O. sunia (Oriental scops owl)
- orientation course — induction into sth
- orthotungstic acid — an oxyacid acid of tungsten. Formula: H2WO4
- oscillating engine — a steam engine having piston rods connected directly to the crankshaft and cylinders oscillating on trunnions.
- osteogenic sarcoma — osteosarcoma
- osteoradionecrosis — bone tissue death induced by radiation.
- over-conscientious — governed by conscience; controlled by or done according to one's inner sense of what is right; principled: She's a conscientious judge, who does not let personal prejudices influence her decisions.
- overprotectiveness — unduly protective.
- overspecialization — excessive specialization, as in a field of study.
- oxalosuccinic acid — an organic acid, C 6 H 6 O 7 , that is an intermediate formed by the dehydrogenation of isocitric acid in fat and carbohydrate metabolism.
- pacinian corpuscle — (sometimes lowercase) a microscopic, onionlike body consisting of layers of connective tissue wrapped around a nerve ending, located in the deep layers of skin, tendons, etc., and functioning as a sensory receptor of pressure and vibration.
- packet switch node — (PSN) A dedicated computer whose purpose is to accept, route and forward packets in a packet-switched network.
- pairs championship — an event in a sport such as tennis or darts open to pairs of competitors
- parallel resonance — the resonance that results when circuit elements are connected with their inductance and capacitance in parallel, so that the impedance of the combination rises to a maximum at the resonant frequency
- pay one's respects — a particular, detail, or point (usually preceded by in): to differ in some respect.
- pectoral sandpiper — an American sandpiper, Calidris melanotos, the male of which, when courting, inflates its chest conspicuously.
- percussion flaking — a method of forming a flint tool by striking flakes from a stone core with another stone or a piece of bone or wood.
- percussion section — orchestra, group: drums, etc.
- percussion welding — a form of resistance welding in which the required pressure is provided by a hammerlike blow.
- perfect continuous — perfect progressive.
- performance artist — an artist that is involved in a theatrical presentation that incorporates various art forms, such as dance, sculpture, music, etc
- pernicious anaemia — Pernicious anaemia is a very severe blood disease.
- personal allowance — the amount of money you are allowed to earn each year without paying tax
- personal insurance — insurance on personal risk, such as car insurance, health insurance or loss of earnings insurance
- pescadores-islands — (used with a plural verb) Penghu.
- peters' projection — a form of modified world map projection that attempts to reflect accurately the relative surface areas of landmasses, an approach which gives greater prominence (than do standard representations) to equatorial countries
- phanerocrystalline — (of a rock) having the principal constituents in the form of crystals visible to the naked eye.
- phantasmagorically — having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination.
- photodecomposition — the breaking down of molecules by radiant energy.
- physical education — systematic instruction in sports, exercises, and hygiene given as part of a school or college program.
- physical inventory — To carry out a physical inventory is to count all the stock on hand.
- piecewise function — a function whose definition changes depending on the value of the independent variable
- pitch-and-run shot — chip shot.
- play cat and mouse — Also called cat and rat. a children's game in which players in a circle keep a player from moving into or out of the circle and permit a second player to move into or out of the circle to escape the pursuing first player.
- play second fiddle — be considered less important
- policeman's helmet — a Himalayan balsaminaceous plant, Impatiens glandulifera, with large purplish-pink flowers, introduced into Britain
- political prisoner — sb imprisoned for political dissidence
- political question — a question regarded by the courts as being a matter to be determined by another department of government rather than of law and therefore one with which they will not deal, as the recognition of a foreign state.
- polystyrene cement — a purpose-made adhesive for fixing rigid polystyrene
- pragmatic sanction — any one of various imperial decrees with the effect of fundamental law.
- precedence lossage — /pre's*-dens los'*j/ A misunderstanding of operator precedence resulting in unintended grouping of arithmetic or logical operators when coding an expression. Used especially of mistakes in C code due to the nonintuitively low precedence of "&", "|", "^", "<<" and ">>". For example, the following C expression, intended to test the least significant bit of x, x & 1 == 0 is parsed as x & (1 == 0) which is always zero (false). Some lazy programmers ignore precedence and parenthesise everything. Lisp fans enjoy pointing out that this can't happen in *their* favourite language, which eschews precedence entirely, requiring one to use explicit parentheses everywhere.
- precious moonstone — moonstone (def 1).
- present continuous — a verb form consisting of an auxiliary be in the present tense followed by a present participle and used especially to indicate that a present action or event is in progress, being repeated, or of a temporary nature or to express the future.
- price on sb's head — If there is a price on someone 's head, an amount of money has been offered for the capture or killing of that person.
- prince of darkness — Satan.
- prison rustic work — rustication having a deeply pitted surface.