17-letter words containing p, a, s, m, e
- semi-permeability — permeable only to certain small molecules: a semipermeable membrane.
- semi-professional — actively engaged in some field or sport for pay but on a part-time basis: semiprofessional baseball players.
- seminal principle — a potential, latent within an imperfect object, for attaining full development.
- semisophisticated — somewhat sophisticated.
- september weather — weather characteristic of the month of September, esp in being unpredictable as summer is ending and autumn is beginning
- septicemic plague — an especially dangerous form of plague in which the infecting organisms invade the bloodstream. Compare plague (def 2).
- 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.
- sidewall sampling — Sidewall sampling is the process of taking a sample from the wall of the borehole.
- single-name paper — commercial paper bearing only the signature of the maker.
- sliding vane pump — A sliding vane pump is a pump in which the vanes (=flat parts) are the main sealing element between the suction and discharge areas.
- sodium propionate — a transparent, crystalline, water-soluble powder, C 3 H 5 NaO 2 , used in foodstuffs to prevent mold growth, and in medicine as a fungicide.
- sodium pyroborate — borax1 .
- software platform — a major piece of software, as an operating system, an operating environment, or a database, under which various smaller application programs can be designed to run.
- sound spectrogram — a graphic representation, produced by a sound spectrograph, of the frequency, intensity, duration, and variation with time of the resonance of a sound or series of sounds.
- south sea company — a British joint stock company that traded in South America in the 18th century. The South Sea Company took over the national debt in return for a monopoly of trade with the South Seas, causing feverish speculation in their stocks, and a financial crash in 1720 (the South Sea Bubble)
- southampton water — an inlet of the English Channel in S England
- sparc xterminal 1 — (computer) Sun's lowest cost networked Unix desktop, it is board-upgradeable to a SPARC 4. It comes with a choice of frame buffers: 8-bit colour, Turbo GX, or Turbo GX plus. This product was expected to replace the SPARCclassic X. UK availability was planned for March 1995.
- spark transmitter — a transmitting set that generates electromagnetic waves by the oscillatory discharge from a capacitor through an inductor and a spark gap.
- special committee — a committee, as of a legislative body, that is formed to examine and report on a specific bill or issue.
- special messenger — a postal worker who delivers mail by special delivery
- spectroradiometer — an instrument for determining the radiant-energy distribution in a spectrum, combining the functions of a spectroscope with those of a radiometer.
- spectrum analyser — an instrument that splits an input waveform into its frequency components, which are then displayed
- spectrum analysis — the determination of the constitution or condition of bodies and substances by means of the spectra they produce.
- sperrin mountains — a mountain range in NW Northern Ireland
- spinal meningitis — infection of spinal membrane
- spiny-headed worm — any of a small group of endoparasites of the phylum Acanthocephala, as larvae parasitic in insects and crustaceans and as adults in various vertebrates.
- spongy parenchyma — the lower layer of the ground tissue of a leaf, characteristically containing irregularly shaped cells with relatively few chloroplasts and large intercellular spaces.
- spot announcement — a brief radio or television announcement, usually an advertisement, made by an individual station during or after a network program.
- spring cankerworm — the striped, green caterpillar of any of several geometrid moths: a foliage pest of various fruit and shade trees, as Paleacrita vernata (spring cankerworm) and Alsophila pometaria (fall cankerworm)
- stand-up comedian — performer: tells jokes
- steamboat springs — a town in NW Colorado: ski resort.
- steamship company — a company which has a fleet of steamships
- storm in a teacup — a violent fuss or disturbance over a trivial matter
- stratified sample — a sample that is not drawn at random from the whole population, but separately from a number of disjoint strata of the population in order to ensure a more representative sample
- sunday supplement — a special section incorporated in the Sunday editions of many newspapers, often containing features on books, celebrities, home entertainment, gardening, and the like.
- super-nationalism — an extreme or fanatical loyalty or devotion to a nation.
- superaerodynamics — the branch of aerodynamics that deals with gases at very low densities.
- superalimentation — nourishment; nutrition.
- supercolumniation — the placing of one order of columns above another.
- supermassive star — Astronomy. a star with a mass more than fifty times the mass of the sun.
- supernova remnant — an expanding shell of gas, with accompanying strong radio and x-ray emissions, produced by a supernova.
- supply and demand — economy: basic market theory
- supply management — business purchasing
- support mechanism — any formal system or method of providing support or assistance
- supreme commander — the military officer commanding all allied forces in a theater of war.
- supreme sacrifice — the sacrifice of one's own life: Many made the supreme sacrifice during the war.
- swash plate motor — a collar or face plate on a shaft that is inclined at an oblique angle to the axis of rotation and converts reciprocating motion to rotation
- sympathetic magic — magic predicated on the belief that one thing or event can affect another at a distance as a consequence of a sympathetic connection between them.
- telephone message — a message that is transmitted by telephone