15-letter words containing p, r, i, a
- spaghetti strap — a thin, often rounded strip of fabric used in women's clothing, as to form a shoulder strap on a bare-shouldered garment.
- spanish america — the Spanish-speaking countries south of the U.S.: Mexico, Central America (with the exception of Belize), South America (with the exceptions of Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, and Suriname), and most of the West Indies.
- spanish morocco — French Maroc. Spanish Marruecos. a kingdom in NW Africa: formed from a sultanate that was divided into two protectorates (French Morocco and Spanish Morocco) and an international zone. 172,104 sq. mi. (445,749 sq. km). Capital: Rabat. Compare Tangier Zone.
- spanish paprika — a cultivated pepper, Capsicum annuum, grown originally in Spain.
- spanish trefoil — alfalfa.
- sparcstation 10 — (computer) A SPARCStation with a 4-way associative data cache and a five-way associative instruction cache. The 10/31, 10/41 and 10/51 also have a secondary cache not present on earlier SPARCStations.
- sparcstation 20 — (computer) A SPARCStation based on the HyperSPARC processor. The 20 is compatible with the earlier SPARCstation 10. It has a clock rate of 100MHz and delivers a SPECfp92 of 127.6. The SPARCstation 20 Model 71 and 712MP uses the 75MHz SuperSPARC processors that give a 35% and 14% boost to SPECint92 and SPECfp92 respectively compared to the 61/612MP.
- sparkling water — soda water (def 1).
- spawning ground — a place where fish deposit their eggs for fertilization
- special feature — an article differing from the normal format and focusing on a particular topic
- special library — a library maintained by an organization, as a business, association, or government agency, to collect materials and provide information of special relevance to the work of the organization.
- special partner — a partner whose liability for the firm's debts is limited to the amount that partner has invested in the firm.
- specific charge — the ratio of the charge on a particle to the mass of the particle.
- spectral series — a series of lines in the spectrum of light emitted by excited atoms of an element, each line being related to the others in the series by a simple numerical equation and identified with a particular energy level of an atom of the element.
- spectrochemical — of, relating to, or utilizing the techniques of spectrochemistry.
- speech training — training designed to improve spoken skills, such as voice projection
- speed indicator — an instrument for counting the number of revolutions of a gasoline engine.
- spermatoblastic — relating to a spermatoblast
- spermatogenesis — the origin and development of spermatozoa.
- sphaerosiderite — a type of siderite
- spherical angle — an angle formed by arcs of great circles of a sphere.
- spheroidization — the conversion of grains into spheroids
- spinach-rhubarb — an Ethiopian plant, Rumex abyssinicus, of the buckwheat family, having leaves that are sometimes used as spinach and leafstalks sometimes used as rhubarb.
- spiral notebook — a notebook held together by a coil of wire passed through small holes punched at the back edge of the covers and individual pages
- spirits of salt — a solution of hydrochloric acid in water
- spirochaetaemia — the presence of spirochaetes in the blood
- sporting chance — an even or fair opportunity for a favorable outcome in an enterprise, as winning in a game of chance or in any kind of contest: They gave the less experienced players a sporting chance by handicapping the experts.
- spratly islands — a widely-scattered group of uninhabited islets and reefs in the S South China Sea, the subject of territorial claims wholly or in part by six neighbouring nations
- spread sampling — the selection of a corpus for statistical analysis by selecting a number of short passages at random throughout the work and considering their aggregation
- spread-eagleism — boastfulness or bombast, especially in the display of patriotic or nationalistic pride in the U.S.; flag-waving.
- spring mattress — a mattress containing an arrangement of spiral springs
- spring training — a program of physical exercise, practice, and exhibition games followed by a baseball team in the late winter and early spring, before the start of the regular season.
- spring-cleaning — a complete cleaning of a place, as a home, done traditionally in the spring of the year.
- sprinkler dance — a celebratory dance in which participants extend one arm and shake it to imitate the action of a rotating water sprinkler
- stamping ground — a habitual or favorite haunt.
- starting pistol — a pistol used to give the signal to start a race
- static pressure — the pressure exerted by a fluid that is not moving or flowing.
- steak au poivre — pepper steak (def 2).
- stereotypically — in a stereotypical manner
- stirrup leather — the strap that holds the stirrup of a saddle.
- straining piece — (in a queen-post roof) a horizontal beam uniting the tops of the two queen posts, and resisting the thrust of the roof.
- strephosymbolia — a condition of perceiving objects as their mirror image and, specifically, having difficulty in distinguishing letters in words
- streptobacillus — any of various bacilli that form in chains.
- stretch a point — a sharp or tapering end, as of a dagger.
- strike pay dirt — to achieve one's objective
- studio portrait — a photograph of a person taken in a studio
- sub-corporation — an association of individuals, created by law or under authority of law, having a continuous existence independent of the existences of its members, and powers and liabilities distinct from those of its members. See also municipal corporation, public corporation.
- sublapsarianism — infralapsarianism.
- subperiosteally — the normal investment of bone, consisting of a dense, fibrous outer layer, to which muscles attach, and a more delicate, inner layer capable of forming bone.
- subprofessional — being below professional standards: subprofessional health care.