20-letter words containing p, o, e, r, i

spanish oyster plant — a composite plant, Scolymus hispanicus, of southern Europe, having spiny, thistlelike leaf margins, small yellow flowers, and an edible root.
special boat service — a unit of the Royal Marines specializing in reconnaissance and sabotage
special patrol group — a former police unit tasked with counter terrorism in the Royal Ulster Constabulary
special relationship — the exceptionally close political, diplomatic, cultural and historical relations between the United States and the United Kingdom
specific performance — (especially in the sale of land) literal compliance with one's contractual promises pursuant to a judicial mandate.
spectrophotoelectric — pertaining to the relationship between the wavelength of the incident radiation and the number of electrons released by a photoelectric substance.
spectroscopic binary — a binary star having components that are not sufficiently separated to be resolved by a telescope, known to be a binary only bythe variations in wavelength of emitted light that are detected by a spectroscope.
spherical aberration — variation in focal length of a lens or mirror from center to edge, due to its spherical shape.
spherical coordinate — Usually, spherical coordinates. any of three coordinates used to locate a point in space by the length of its radius vector and the angles this vector makes with two perpendicular polar planes.
spiral of archimedes — a curve that is the locus of a point that moves outward with uniform speed along a vector, beginning at the origin, while the vector rotates about the origin with uniform angular velocity. Equation (in polar coordinates): r = aθ.
spirit of enterprise — the motivation to set up and succeed in business or commerce
spontaneous abortion — miscarriage (def 1).
spontaneous-abortion — Also called voluntary abortion. the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy.
spotted crane's-bill — the American wild geranium, Geranium maculatum.
square of opposition — a diagrammatic representation of the opposition of categorical propositions.
state highway patrol — a state's road traffic police
step into the breach — If you step into the breach, you do a job or task which someone else was supposed to do or has done in the past, because they are suddenly unable to do it.
string correspondent — stringer (def 6).
subscription edition — an edition of one or more volumes for which a number of prospective purchasers place orders, usually in advance of publication.
superior conjunction — the alignment of an inferior planet and the sun in which the planet is at the far side of the sun from the earth.
supersonic transport — a commercial jet airplane that can fly faster than the speed of sound. Abbreviation: SST.
switchboard operator — a person who operates an installation in a telephone exchange, office, hotel, etc, at which the interconnection of telephone lines is manually controlled
synoptic meteorology — a branch of meteorology analyzing data collected simultaneously over a wide region, for the purpose of weather forecasting.
telephone subscriber — a person who subscribes to a telephone service
teletype corporation — (company) The company which made Teletype teletypewriters. Address: Skokie, Illinois, USA.
television programme — a programme broadcast on television
the legal profession — the profession of law
the price of someone — what someone deserves, esp a fitting punishment
the thinking process — thought; the activity of thinking
therapeutic abortion — abortion performed when a woman's pregnancy endangers her health.
third-party software — software created by programmers or publishers independent of the manufacturer of the hardware for which it is intended.
to bring up the rear — If a person or vehicle is bringing up the rear, they are the last person or vehicle in a moving line of them.
to disturb the peace — If someone is accused of disturbing the peace, they are accused of behaving in a noisy and offensive way in public.
to keep your hand in — If you do something to keep your hand in, you practise a skill or hobby occasionally in order to remain fairly good at it.
to line your pockets — If you say that someone is lining their own or someone else's pockets, you disapprove of them because they are making money dishonestly or unfairly.
to make up your mind — If you make up your mind or make your mind up, you decide which of a number of possible things you will have or do.
to spread your wings — If you spread your wings, you do something new and rather difficult or move to a new place, because you feel more confident in your abilities than you used to and you want to gain wider experience.
toxemia of pregnancy — an abnormal condition of pregnancy characterized by hypertension, fluid retention, edema, and the presence of protein in the urine.
transposition cipher — a cipher that rearranges the letters of the plain text in a different sequence.
trimetric projection — a three-dimensional projection with three different linear scales at arbitrary angles.
triple witching hour — the last hour of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the four Fridays each year when stock options, stock index futures, and options on such futures simultaneously expire: regarded as a time of extreme volatility in trading.
tropical continental — a type of warm, dry air mass originating at low latitudes over land areas
tropical disturbance — a very weak, or incipient, tropical cyclone.
tropospheric scatter — transmission of radio frequency signals that have been scattered from irregularities in the troposphere to locations hundreds of kilometers distant.
turnip-rooted celery — celeriac.
under the impression — If you are under the impression that something is the case, you believe that it is the case, usually when it is not actually the case.
under the microscope — If you say that something is under the microscope, you mean that it is being studied very closely, usually because it is believed that something is wrong with it.
unemployment figures — statistics relating to the number of people who are out of work
uniform crime report — an annual report issued by the FBI that presents data on selected categories of crimes reported to the police. Abbreviation: UCR.
university professor — a professor entitled to teach courses in more than one field or discipline at a university.

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