18-letter words containing o, u, t, r, s
- semiprecious stone — See at semiprecious.
- sexual intercourse — genital contact, especially the insertion of the penis into the vagina followed by orgasm; coitus; copulation.
- sexual orientation — one's natural preference in sexual partners; predilection for homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality.
- shift one's ground — to change one's argument or defense
- shop till you drop — If you shop till you drop, you do a large amount of shopping.
- shotgun microphone — a directional microphone with a narrow-angle range of sensitivity.
- shugart associates — (company) The disk drive company, founded by Alan F. Shugart, which developed SCSI. Alan left Shugart Associates in 1974 [did he quit or was he fired?]. Shugart Associates was bought, and eventually shut down by Xerox.
- shugart technology — Seagate Technology
- shunting operation — an operation in which rail coaches are manoeuvred
- simple enumeration — a procedure for arriving at empirical generalizations by haphazard accumulation of positive instances.
- six-finger country — an isolated area considered as being inhabited by people who practise inbreeding
- ski-mountaineering — a combination of the sports of skiing and mountaineering, for example by climbing up a mountain then skiing down it
- small claims court — a special court established to handle small claims or debts, usually without the services of lawyers.
- small-claims court — a special court established to handle small claims or debts, usually without the services of lawyers.
- so much the better — You can say 'so much the better' or 'all the better' to indicate that it is desirable that a particular thing is used, done, or available.
- sodium bicarbonate — a white, crystalline, water-soluble solid, in powder or granules, NaHCO 3 , usually prepared by the reaction of soda ash with carbon dioxide or obtained from the intermediate product of the Solvay process by purification: used chiefly in the manufacture of sodium salts, baking powder, and beverages, as a laboratory reagent, as a fire extinguisher, and in medicine as an antacid.
- sodium tetraborate — borax1 .
- soldier of fortune — a person who independently seeks pleasure, wealth, etc., through adventurous exploits.
- solubility product — the maximum number of undissociated ions, of an electrolyte in a saturated solution, capable at a given temperature of remaining in equilibrium with the undissolved phase of the solution.
- song without words — a song which only consists of a tune or melody and does not have any lyrics
- sound and the fury — a novel (1929) by William Faulkner.
- sound spectrograph — an electronic device for recording a sound spectogram.
- southern cameroons — German Kamerun. a region in W Africa: a German protectorate 1884–1919; divided in 1919 into British and French mandates.
- southern rhodesian — a former name (until 1964) of Zimbabwe (def 1).
- special prosecutor — (formerly) an independent counsel.
- spectrofluorimeter — an instrument in which the spectrum of secondarily emitted fluorescent light is used to identify chemical compounds.
- spectrofluorometer — an instrument in which the spectrum of secondarily emitted fluorescent light is used to identify chemical compounds.
- spur-of-the-moment — occurring or done without advance preparation or deliberation; extemporaneous; unplanned: a spur-of-the-moment decision.
- squinting modifier — a word or phrase that can modify either the words that precede it or those that follow, as frequently in the sentence Studying frequently is tedious.
- stand one's ground — the solid surface of the earth; firm or dry land: to fall to the ground.
- standoff insulator — a type of insulator that supports an electrical conductor at a distance from other elements or surfaces.
- statutory sick pay — the pay an employee is legally entitled to when sick
- stirling's formula — a relation that approximates the value of n factorial (n!), expressed as .
- store launch event — A store launch event is a special event, which publicizes the opening of a new store and at which discounts and free samples may be offered.
- strontium monoxide — a white insoluble solid substance used in making strontium salts and purifying sugar. Formula: SrO
- stroustrup, bjarne — Bjarne Stroustrup
- structural formula — a chemical formula showing the linkage of the atoms in a molecule diagrammatically, as H–O–H.
- structural geology — the branch of geology dealing with the structure and distribution of the rocks that make up the crust of the earth. Also called tectonics. Compare structure (def 7a).
- student councillor — a student who is a member of a council or body representing the interests of students at a school, university or college
- subatomic particle — physics:
- subordinate clause — a clause that modifies the principal clause or some part of it or that serves a noun function in the principal clause, as when she arrived in the sentence I was there when she arrived or that she has arrived in the sentence I doubt that she has arrived.
- sugarloaf mountain — a mountain in SE Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, at the entrance to Guanabara Bay. 1280 feet (390 meters).
- sun-dried tomatoes — tomatoes that have been dried or preserved by exposure to the sun
- super giant slalom — a slalom race in which the course is longer and has more widely spaced gates than in a giant slalom.
- super royal octavo — a book size, 63⁄4 by 101⁄4 inches
- super royal quarto — a book size, 101⁄4 by 131⁄2 inches
- superstring theory — any supersymmetric string theory in which each type of elementary particle is treated as a vibration of a single fundamental string (superstring) at a particular frequency.
- supporting actress — an actress playing a supporting role
- supportive therapy — any treatment, such as the intravenous administration of certain fluids, designed to reinforce or sustain the physiological well-being of a patient
- supraorbital ridge — browridge.