12-letter words containing o, p, a, c
- schopenhauer — Arthur [ahr-too r] /ˈɑr tʊər/ (Show IPA), 1788–1860, German philosopher.
- scolopaceous — (of birds or other animals) like a snipe, a shore bird with a straight beak
- scopes trial — John Thomas, 1901–70, U.S. high-school teacher whose teaching of the Darwinian theory of evolution became a cause célèbre (Scopes Trial or Monkey Trial) in 1925.
- scopophiliac — the obtaining of sexual pleasure by looking at nude bodies, erotic photographs, etc.
- scoptophilia — the obtaining of sexual pleasure by looking at nude bodies, erotic photographs, etc.
- scouring pad — a small pad, as of steel wool or plastic mesh, used for scouring pots, pans, etc.
- scrapbooking — hobby: collaging
- scraperboard — scratchboard.
- scratchproof — resistant to scratches.
- scrophularia — a member of a genus of flowering plants which have a square stem and are known as figworts
- scsi adaptor — (hardware) (Or "host adaptor") A device that communicates between a computer and its SCSI peripherals. The SCSI adaptor is usually assigned SCSI ID 7. It is often a separate card that is connected to the computer's bus (e.g. PCI, ISA, PCMCIA) though increasinly, SCSI adaptors are built in to the motherboard. Apart from being cheaper, busses like PCI are too slow to keep up with the newer SCSI standards like Ultra SCSI and Ultra-Wide SCSI. There are several varieties of SCSI (and their connectors) and an adaptor will not support them all. The performance of SCSI devices is limited by the speed of the SCSI adaptor and its connection to the computer. An adaptor that plugs into a parallel port is unlikely to be as fast as one incorporated into a motherboard. Fast adaptors use DMA or bus mastering. Some SCSI adaptors include a BIOS to allow PCs to boot from a SCSI hard disk, if their own BIOS supports it. Note that it is not a "SCSI controller" - it does not control the devices, and "SCSI interface" is redundant - the "I" of "SCSI" stands for "interface".
- sea scorpion — scorpionfish.
- season creep — the gradual changing in the length of the seasons, as demonstrated by earlier flowering of plants, etc, thought by many to be caused by climate change
- semitropical — subtropical.
- shadow price — the calculated price of a good or service for which no market price exists
- shamrock-pea — a trailing plant, Parochetus communis, of the legume family, native to Asia and east Africa, having shamrocklike leaves with a brown crescent at the base and pea-shaped, pink and blue flowers.
- sharecropper — a tenant farmer who pays as rent a share of the crop.
- signal corps — a branch of the army responsible for military communications, meteorological studies, and related work.
- slash pocket — a pocket set into a garment, especially below the waistline, to which easy access is provided by an exterior, vertical or diagonal slit.
- sociographic — the branch of sociology that uses statistical data to describe social phenomena.
- sophisticate — a sophisticated person.
- sophomorical — characteristic of a sophomore
- soprano clef — a sign locating middle C on the bottom line of the staff.
- spaciousness — containing much space, as a house, room, or vehicle; amply large.
- sparcstation — (computer) A family of workstations from Sun Microsystems based on the SPARC architecture. Models include the SPARCStation 1, 1+, SLC, SPARCStation ELC, IPX, SPARCStation 5, SPARCStation 10 and SPARCStation 20.
- spasmophilic — of or noting spasmophilia.
- spatter cone — a low, steep-sided volcanic cone built up of droplets or blobs of lava erupted from a fissure or vent.
- special sort — a character, such as an accented letter, that is not a usual member of any font
- speciational — relating to speciation
- spectatorial — a person who looks on or watches; onlooker; observer.
- spectrograph — a spectroscope for photographing or producing a representation of a spectrum.
- speech organ — any part of the body, as the tongue, velum, diaphragm, or lungs, that participates, actively or passively, voluntarily or involuntarily, in the production of the sounds of speech.
- spermatocele — a swelling of the testicle
- spermatocide — spermicide.
- spermatocyte — a male germ cell (primary spermatocyte) that gives rise by meiosis to a pair of haploid cells (secondary spermatocytes) that give rise in turn to spermatids.
- sphacelation — the process of mortification
- spiflication — rough treatment
- spinal block — spinal anesthesia.
- spirochaetal — resulting from spirochaetes
- sporadically — (of similar things or occurrences) appearing or happening at irregular intervals in time; occasional: sporadic renewals of enthusiasm.
- sport jacket — A sport jacket is the same as a sport coat.
- sportscaster — A sportscaster is a radio or television broadcaster who describes or comments on sporting events.
- spotted cavy — paca.
- stage pocket — one of several metal boxes placed backstage in the floor (floor pocket) or wall of a theater and containing jacks for electric cables used in lighting units.
- stapedectomy — a microsurgical procedure to relieve deafness by replacing the stapes of the ear with a prosthetic device.
- state police — a police force under state authority rather than under the authority of a city or county in the state.
- stegocarpous — (of a moss) belonging to the division Stegocarpi, having an operculate capsule
- stenographic — the art of writing in shorthand.
- stereoptican — a projector usually consisting of two complete lanterns arranged so that one picture appears to dissolve while the next is forming.
- stipulaceous — of, relating to, having, resembling, or living on stipules