17-letter words containing p, r, i, e
- spatial frequency — the measure of fine detail in an optical image in terms of cycles per millimetre
- special messenger — a postal worker who delivers mail by special delivery
- special privilege — exclusive advantage
- 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.
- 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 analysis — the determination of the constitution or condition of bodies and substances by means of the spectra they produce.
- 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
- spenserian sonnet — a sonnet employing the rhyme scheme abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee.
- spenserian stanza — the stanza used by Spenser in his Faerie Queene and employed since by other poets, consisting of eight iambic pentameter lines and a final Alexandrine, with a rhyme scheme of ababbcbcc.
- sperrin mountains — a mountain range in NW Northern Ireland
- spherical polygon — a closed figure formed by arcs of great circles on a spherical surface.
- 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.
- spiral bevel gear — a bevel gear having curved teeth tending to converge on the axis of rotation.
- spiritual bouquet — the spiritual presentation of a good work to another person.
- spiritual healing — faith healing
- spiritus frumenti — whiskey.
- split keyboarding — the act or practice of editing data from one terminal on another terminal
- split personality — multiple personality.
- sports facilities — places and things for doing sports
- spotted sandpiper — a North American sandpiper, Actitis macularia, that has brownish-gray upper parts and white underparts, and is spotted with black in the summer.
- 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
- 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)
- springfield rifle — a single-shot, breechloading .45-caliber rifle used by the U.S. Army from 1867 to 1893.
- spruce gall aphid — any of various homopterous insects of the family Adelgidae, as Adelges abietis (spruce gall aphid) and Pineus pinifoliae (pine leaf aphid) that feed and form galls on conifers.
- stars and stripes — US national flag
- steamboat springs — a town in NW Colorado: ski resort.
- stenothermophilic — growing best within a narrow temperature range.
- stereolithography — a process for creating three-dimensional objects using a computer-controlled laser to build up the required structure, layer by layer, from a liquid photopolymer that solidifies.
- stereospecificity — (of a reaction) producing a simple stereoisomer.
- stir one's stumps — to move or become active
- 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
- stray capacitance — undesired capacitance in equipment, occurring between the wiring, between the wiring and the chassis, or between components and the chassis
- strike-slip fault — a geological fault on which the movement is along the strike of the fault
- striped killifish — a killifish, Fundulus majalis, of the Atlantic coast of the U.S., the female of which is marked with black stripes.
- subjective spirit — spirit, insofar as it falls short of the attainments of objective spirit.
- subscription rate — the price charged for a subscription
- super-nationalism — an extreme or fanatical loyalty or devotion to a nation.
- super-terrestrial — pertaining to, consisting of, or representing the earth as distinct from other planets.
- 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.
- 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.
- supermassive star — Astronomy. a star with a mass more than fifty times the mass of the sun.
- superregeneration — regeneration in which a signal is alternately amplified and quenched at a frequency slightly above the audible range to achieve high sensitivity with a single tube.