17-letter words containing o, s, m, l
- parts per million — the number of units (of a substance) present in a million units of another substance
- pashmina politics — the adoption of political policies immediately after they have gone out of fashion
- pastoral symphony — the Symphony No. 6 in F major (1807–08) by Ludwig van Beethoven.
- personal computer — a compact computer that uses a microprocessor and is designed for individual use, as by a person in an office or at home or school, for such applications as word processing, data management, financial analysis, or computer games. Abbreviation: PC.
- personnel manager — head of Human Resources department
- peterloo massacre — an incident at St Peter's Fields, Manchester, in 1819 in which a radical meeting was broken up by a cavalry charge, resulting in about 500 injuries and 11 deaths
- phlebotomus fever — sandfly fever.
- photoluminescence — luminescence induced by the absorption of infrared radiation, visible light, or ultraviolet radiation.
- plains of abraham — a high plain adjoining the city of Quebec, Canada: battlefield where the English under Wolfe defeated the French under Montcalm in 1759.
- plateau's problem — the problem in the calculus of variations of finding the surface with the least area bounded by a given closed curve in space.
- ploughman's lunch — a light lunch consisting of bread and cheese, and sometimes pickled onions.
- postmillennialism — the doctrine or belief that the second coming of Christ will follow the millennium.
- poststructuralism — a variation of structuralism, often seen as a critique, emphasizing plurality of meaning and instability of concepts that structuralism uses to define society, language, etc.
- potassium oxalate — a colorless, crystalline, water-soluble, poisonous solid, K 2 C 2 O 4 ⋅H 2 O, used chiefly as a bleaching agent and in medical tests as an anticoagulant.
- potassium sulfate — a crystalline, water-soluble solid, K 2 SO 4 , used chiefly in the manufacture of fertilizers, alums, and mineral water, and as a reagent in analytical chemistry.
- poulter's measure — a metrical pattern using couplets having the first line in iambic hexameter, or 12 syllables, and the second in iambic heptameter, or 14 syllables.
- presentationalism — a style of production in which the audience is addressed directly with songs, skits, exposition, etc., and no attempt is made at realism.
- professional army — an army of trained soldiers
- pseudo-moralistic — a person who teaches or inculcates morality.
- radioluminescence — luminescence induced by nuclear radiation.
- recoil escapement — anchor escapement.
- recursion formula — a formula for determining the next term of a sequence from one or more of the preceding terms.
- reformed spelling — a revised orthography intended to simplify the spelling of English words, especially to eliminate unpronounced letters, as by substituting thru for through, tho for though, slo for slow, etc.
- roman catholicism — the faith, practice, and system of government of the Roman Catholic Church.
- saint elmo's fire — corona discharge.
- 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.
- self-commendation — the act of commending; recommendation; praise: commendation for a job well done.
- self-condemnation — the act of condemning.
- self-confirmation — the act of confirming.
- self-emancipation — the act of emancipating.
- self-incompatible — not capable of self-pollination.
- selkirk mountains — a mountain range in SW Canada, in SE British Columbia. Highest peak: Mount Sir Sandford, 3533 m (11 590 ft)
- semi-biographical — of or relating to a person's life: He's gathering biographical data for his book on Milton.
- semi-monopolistic — a person who has a monopoly.
- semi-professional — actively engaged in some field or sport for pay but on a part-time basis: semiprofessional baseball players.
- semimicroanalysis — any analytical method in which the weight of the sample is between 10 and 100 milligrams.
- senatus consultum — a decree of the senate of ancient Rome.
- settlement houses — the act or state of settling or the state of being settled.
- settlement option — any of the options, other than immediate payment in a lump sum, by which the policyholder or beneficiary may choose to have the benefits of a policy paid.
- settlement worker — a person who works with underprivileged people in a settlement house.
- sexual dimorphism — the condition in which the males and females in a species are morphologically different, as with many birds.
- shuttle diplomacy — diplomatic negotiations carried out by a mediator who travels back and forth between the negotiating parties.
- simple microscope — a microscope having a single lens.
- sleeping problems — difficulties in getting to sleep or in staying asleep
- smarandache logic — neutrosophic logic
- smoke-filled room — a place, as a hotel room, for conducting secret negotiations, effecting compromises, devising strategy, etc.
- smokeless tobacco — snuff1 (def 9).
- social democratic — A social democratic party is a political party whose principles are based on social democracy.
- social settlement — settlement (def 14).
- socialist realism — a state-approved artistic or literary style in some socialist countries, as the U.S.S.R., that characteristically celebrates an idealized vision of the life and industriousness of the workers.