17-letter words containing p, o, c
- shooting practice — practice in shooting for soldiers or other people who shoot guns
- shopping precinct — pedestrian area with shops
- shortcrust pastry — a basic type of pastry that is made with half the quantity of fat to flour, and has a crisp but crumbly texture
- 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.
- social enterprise — a business organization that works to benefit society as a whole
- social psychology — the psychological study of social behavior, especially of the reciprocal influence of the individual and the group with which the individual interacts.
- 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)
- spaghettification — the theoretical stretching of an object as it encounters extreme differences in gravitational forces, especially those associated with a black hole.
- speak one's piece — a separate or limited portion or quantity of something: a piece of land; a piece of chocolate.
- special committee — a committee, as of a legislative body, that is formed to examine and report on a specific bill or issue.
- special constable — a person recruited for temporary or occasional police duties, esp in time of emergency
- special education — education that is modified or particularized for those with singular needs, as disabled or maladjusted people, slow learners, or gifted children.
- special schooling — the system of educating children with special needs in schools designed to meet their needs
- spectroheliograph — an apparatus for making photographs of the sun with a monochromatic light to show the details of the sun's surface and surroundings as they would appear if the sun emitted only that light.
- spectrohelioscope — a spectroheliograph.
- spectromicroscope — a microscope with an attached spectroscope.
- spectrophotometer — an instrument for making photometric comparisons between parts of spectra.
- spectrophotometry — an instrument for making photometric comparisons between parts of spectra.
- spectroradiometer — an instrument for determining the radiant-energy distribution in a spectrum, combining the functions of a spectroscope with those of a radiometer.
- spectroscopically — an optical device for producing and observing a spectrum of light or radiation from any source, consisting essentially of a slit through which the radiation passes, a collimating lens, and an Amici prism.
- spectrum disorder — any of a group of disorders each having symptoms that occur on a continuum and certain features that are shared along its spectrum but that manifest in markedly different forms and degrees. See also autism spectrum disorder.
- speech correction — the reeducation of speech habits that deviate from accepted speech standards.
- speed restriction — the maximum speed allowed for road vehicles, trains, or other vehicles
- spherical polygon — a closed figure formed by arcs of great circles on a spherical surface.
- spit in the ocean — a variety of poker in which four cards are dealt face down to each player and one card, forming the fifth for all hands, is dealt face up in the center of the table, the exposed card and others of its denomination being wild cards.
- 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.
- spoonbill catfish — flathead catfish.
- spore mother cell — a cell from which a spore is produced
- sports facilities — places and things for doing sports
- 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
- steamship company — a company which has a fleet of steamships
- stenothermophilic — growing best within a narrow temperature range.
- stereospecificity — (of a reaction) producing a simple stereoisomer.
- storm in a teacup — a violent fuss or disturbance over a trivial matter
- subscription rate — the price charged for a subscription
- suction lipectomy — the removal of fatty tissue by making a small incision in the skin, loosening the fat layer, and withdrawing it by suction.
- superaerodynamics — the branch of aerodynamics that deals with gases at very low densities.
- supercolumniation — the placing of one order of columns above another.
- superconductivity — the phenomenon of almost perfect conductivity shown by certain substances at temperatures approaching absolute zero. The recent discovery of materials that are superconductive at temperatures hundreds of degrees above absolute zero raises the possibility of revolutionary developments in the production and transmission of electrical energy.
- support mechanism — any formal system or method of providing support or assistance
- suppressor t cell — a T cell capable of inhibiting the activity of B cells and other T cells.
- supreme commander — the military officer commanding all allied forces in a theater of war.
- synchronous speed — the speed at which an alternating-current machine must operate to generate electromotive force at a given frequency.
- synthetic phonics — a method of teaching people to read by training them to pronounce sounds associated with particular letters in isolation and then blend them together
- tactile corpuscle — an oval sense organ made of flattened cells and encapsulated nerve endings, occurring in hairless skin, as the tips of the fingers and toes, and functioning as a touch receptor.
- take exception to — object to sth