20-letter words containing n, y, s
- royal leamington spa — a city in Warwickshire, central England: health resort.
- saint anthony's fire — any of certain skin conditions that are of an inflammatory or gangrenous nature, as erysipelas, hospital gangrene, or ergotism.
- saint mary magdalene — a woman of Magdala (ˈmæɡdələ ) in Galilee whom Jesus cured of evil spirits (Luke 8:2) and who is often identified with the sinful woman of Luke 7:36–50. In Christian tradition she is usually taken to have been a prostitute. Feast day: July 22
- sanitary engineering — a branch of civil engineering dealing with matters affecting public health, as water supply or sewage disposal.
- schizoid personality — sb with identity disorder
- security association — (networking) The relationship between two or more entities (typically, a computer, but could be a user on a computer, or software component) which describes how the entities will use security services, such as encryption, to communicate. See RFC 1825.
- see with half an eye — the organ of sight, in vertebrates typically one of a pair of spherical bodies contained in an orbit of the skull and in humans appearing externally as a dense, white, curved membrane, or sclera, surrounding a circular, colored portion, or iris, that is covered by a clear, curved membrane, or cornea, and in the center of which is an opening, or pupil, through which light passes to the retina.
- self-belaying system — (in climbing) equipment used to pay out rope as required and thus enable a climber to self-belay
- sensitivity training — a form of group therapy designed to develop understanding of oneself and others through free, unstructured discussion.
- shaken baby syndrome — a usually fatal condition of abused infants brought on by violent shaking by the arms or shoulders that causes severe internal bleeding, especially around the brain and in the eyes.
- silicon tetrahydride — silane (def 1).
- sing for your supper — If someone has to sing for their supper, they have to do a job before they are allowed to do something they want to do.
- solitary confinement — the confinement of a prisoner in a cell or other place in which he or she is completely isolated from others.
- south orkney islands — an uninhabited group of islands in the S Atlantic, southeast of Cape Horn: formerly a dependency of the Falkland Islands; part of the British Antarctic Territory since 1962 (claims are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty). Area: 621 sq km (240 sq miles)
- spanish oyster plant — a composite plant, Scolymus hispanicus, of southern Europe, having spiny, thistlelike leaf margins, small yellow flowers, and an edible root.
- spectroscopic binary — a binary star having components that are not sufficiently separated to be resolved by a telescope, known to be a binary only bythe variations in wavelength of emitted light that are detected by a spectroscope.
- spontaneous recovery — the reappearance of a response after its extinction has been followed by a period of rest
- spuyten duyvil creek — a channel in New York City at the north end of Manhattan Island, connecting the Hudson and Harlem rivers.
- squatter sovereignty — (used contemptuously by its opponents) popular sovereignty (def 2).
- steak and kidney pie — meat pastry
- stony-iron meteorite — a meteorite of roughly equal proportions of metallic iron and stony matter.
- subscription library — a commercial lending library
- summary jurisdiction — the right a court has to adjudicate immediately upon some matter arising during its proceedings
- sunday-go-to-meeting — most presentable; best: Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes.
- supplementary angles — either of two angles that added together produce an angle of 180°.
- surveillance society — a society where surveillance technology is widely used to monitor people's everyday activities
- symmetric difference — the union of the relative complements of two sets.
- synchronized skating — the art or sport of teams of up to twenty skaters holding onto each other and moving in patterns in time to music
- synchronous rotation — rotation of a satellite in which the period of rotation is equal to the period of orbit around its primary, leaving the same face always pointing toward the primary: The moon is in synchronous rotation about the earth.
- synoptic meteorology — a branch of meteorology analyzing data collected simultaneously over a wide region, for the purpose of weather forecasting.
- synthetic philosophy — the philosophy of Herbert Spencer, intended as a synthesis of all the sciences.
- system international — Système International d'Unités
- systemic circulation — the circulatory system in general.
- systemic linguistics — a school of linguistics of British origin that emphasizes the social functions of language and describes grammar in terms of hierarchically organized structures and of systems of mutually exclusive choices available to the speaker under specified conditions.
- take pity on someone — If you take pity on someone, you feel sorry for them and help them.
- tetrahydrogestrinone — a synthetic anabolic steroid. Formula: C21H28O2
- the canterbury tales — an uncompleted sequence of tales by Chaucer, written for the most part after 1387.
- the garment industry — the manufacturing of items of clothing
- the leisure industry — businesses such as cinemas, restaurants, sports facilities etc
- the naughty nineties — (in Britain) the 1890s, considered to be a period of fun-loving and laxity, esp in sexual morals
- the whole nine yards — everything that is required; the whole thing
- thermodynamic system — a system whose states of equilibrium can be specified by a few macroscopic properties.
- thirty-nine articles — a set of formulas defining the doctrinal position of the Church of England, drawn up in the 16th century, to which the clergy are required to give general consent
- three-dimensionality — having, or seeming to have, the dimension of depth as well as width and height.
- to do your damnedest — If you say that you will do your damnedest to achieve something, you mean that you will try as hard as you can to do it, even though you think that it will take a lot of effort.
- to get your bearings — to find out where one is or to find out what one should do next
- to line your pockets — If you say that someone is lining their own or someone else's pockets, you disapprove of them because they are making money dishonestly or unfairly.
- to pull your punches — If you say that someone does not pull their punches when they are criticizing a person or thing, you mean that they say exactly what they think, even though this might upset or offend people.
- to spread your wings — If you spread your wings, you do something new and rather difficult or move to a new place, because you feel more confident in your abilities than you used to and you want to gain wider experience.
- to stand your ground — If you stand your ground or hold your ground, you continue to support a particular argument or to have a particular opinion when other people are opposing you or trying to make you change your mind.