17-letter words containing o, s, i
- ringer's solution — an aqueous solution of the chlorides of sodium, potassium, and calcium in the same concentrations as normal body fluids, used chiefly in the laboratory for sustaining tissue.
- rio grande do sul — a state in S Brazil. 107,923 sq. mi. (279,520 sq. km). Capital: Pôrto Alegre.
- road construction — the building of roads
- rocket propulsion — propulsion of an object by thrust developed by a rocket.
- roman catholicism — the faith, practice, and system of government of the Roman Catholic Church.
- roseate spoonbill — a tropical New World spoonbill, Ajaia ajaja, having rose-colored plumage and a bare head.
- rotation of crops — a system of rotating in a fixed order the kinds of crops, as grain or grass, grown in the same field, to maintain soil fertility
- roving commission — authority or power given in a general area, without precisely defined terms of reference
- royal institution — a British society founded in 1799 for the dissemination of scientific knowledge
- rush-hour traffic — the large number of vehicles that move along roads, travelling to or from work at the beginning and end of the working day
- russian wolfhound — borzoi.
- rybinsk reservoir — a vast water reservoir in W central Russia on the River Volga and its tributaries Sheksna and Mologa, formed by Rybinsk Hydroelectric Station dam
- sable island pony — a variety of wild pony found on Sable Island, Nova Scotia
- sacrifice paddock — a grassed area allowed to be grazed completely, to be cultivated and resown later
- sacrificial anode — Chemistry. an anode that is attached to a metal object subject to electrolysis and is decomposed instead of the object.
- safety inspection — an inspection of a place carried out to ensure that it is safe and not dangerous
- safety precaution — a precaution that is taken in order to ensure that something is safe and not dangerous
- saint bonaventure — Saint ("the Seraphic Doctor") 1221–74, Italian scholastic theologian.
- saint christopher — Saint, died a.d. c250, Christian martyr.
- saint croix river — Also called Santa Cruz. a U.S. island in the N Lesser Antilles: the largest of the Virgin Islands. 82 sq. mi. (212 sq. km).
- saint elmo's fire — corona discharge.
- saint john's wort — any of various plants or shrubs of the genus Hypericum, having yellow flowers and transparently dotted leaves.
- saint-simonianism — the socialist system advocated by the Comte de Saint-Simon
- salt negotiations — international diplomatic discussions carried out in connection with SALT
- samurai tradition — the body of customs, thought, practices, etc belonging to the samurai warrior caste of Japan
- san francisco bay — a bay in W California: the harbor of San Francisco; connected with the Pacific by the Golden Gate strait. 50 miles (80 km) long; 3–12 miles (5–19 km) wide.
- sanctimoniousness — making a hypocritical show of religious devotion, piety, righteousness, etc.: They resented his sanctimonious comments on immorality in America.
- sanctions-busting — the deliberate disregarding of sanctions that are in force against a state, organization, etc
- sandringham house — a residence of the royal family, in Sandringham, a village in E England, in Norfolk near the E shore of the Wash
- sandro botticelli — Sandro [san-droh,, sahn-;; Italian sahn-draw] /ˈsæn droʊ,, ˈsɑn-;; Italian ˈsɑn drɔ/ (Show IPA), (Alessandro di Mariano dei Filipepi) 1444?–1510, Italian painter.
- sandwich compound — any of a class of organometallic compounds whose molecules have a metal atom or ion bound between two plane parallel organic rings
- sanitation worker — a person employed to collect, haul away, and dispose of garbage.
- santa rosa island — an island off the coast of California, in the Santa Barbara (Channel Islands) of California. 17 miles (27 km) long.
- satellite station — a radio or television station that receives programs from another station and rebroadcasts at a different wavelength.
- saturation diving — a method of prolonged diving, using an underwater habitat to allow divers to remain in the high-pressure environment of the ocean depths long enough for their body tissues to become saturated with the inert components of the pressurized gas mixture that they breathe: when this condition is reached, the amount of time required for decompression remains the same, whether the dive lasts a day, a week, or a month.
- sawatch mountains — range of the Rocky Mountains, in central Colo.: highest peak, Elbert
- scan-in, scan-out — scan design
- scarlet firethorn — a Eurasian evergreen, thorny shrub, Pyracantha coccinea, of the rose family, having white, hairy flower clusters and bright red berries.
- scheme repository — A collection of free Scheme programs.
- schizophrenogenic — causative of schizophrenia.
- schmidt telescope — a wide-angle reflecting telescope used primarily for astronomical photography, in which spherical aberration and coma are reduced to a minimum by means of a spherical mirror with a corrector plate near its focus.
- scientific method — a method of research in which a problem is identified, relevant data are gathered, a hypothesis is formulated from these data, and the hypothesis is empirically tested.
- scientific theory — a coherent group of propositions formulated to explain a group of facts or phenomena in the natural world and repeatedly confirmed through experiment or observation: the scientific theory of evolution.
- scrophulariaceous — belonging to the Scrophulariaceae, the figwort family of plants.
- sea-island cotton — a long-staple cotton, Gossypium barbadense, raised originally in the Sea Islands and now grown chiefly in the West Indies.
- second derivative — the derivative of the derivative of a function: Acceleration is the second derivative of distance with respect to time.
- second generation — being the second generation of a family to be born in a particular country: the oldest son of second-generation Americans.
- second lieutenant — an Army, Air Force, or Marine officer of the lowest commissioned rank. Compare ensign (def 4).
- second-generation — being the second generation of a family to be born in a particular country: the oldest son of second-generation Americans.
- second-in-command — A second-in-command is someone who is next in rank to the leader of a group, and who has authority to give orders when the leader is not there.