18-letter words containing r, o, t, s, c
- productivity bonus — an extra payment made to workers for being more productive or yielding more favourable results than normal
- property insurance — insurance coverage for land and housing
- protective custody — detention of a person by the police solely as protection against a possible attack or reprisal by someone.
- proton synchrotron — a synchrotron used for accelerating protons.
- provascular tissue — procambium.
- provision merchant — a person or company in the business of retailing food and other provisions
- pseudo-anarchistic — a person who advocates or believes in anarchy or anarchism.
- pseudotuberculosis — an acute, sometimes fatal disease of rodents, birds, and other animals, including humans, caused by the bacterium Yersinia (Pasteurella) pseudotuberculosis, and characterized by the formation of nodules resembling those that result from tuberculosis.
- psychogalvanometer — a type of galvanometer for detecting and measuring psychogalvanic currents.
- psychotherapeutics — psychotherapy.
- pulmonic airstream — a current of lung air set in motion by the respiratory muscles in the production of speech.
- puss in the corner — a parlor game for children in which one player in the middle of a room tries to occupy any of the positions along the walls that become vacant as other players dash across to exchange places at a signal.
- put the mockers on — stop, thwart
- quality of service — (communications, networking) (QoS) The performance properties of a network service, possibly including throughput, transit delay, priority. Some protocols allow packets or streams to include QoS requirements.
- racial segregation — social policy: separation of races
- radiation sickness — sickness caused by irradiation with x-rays or other nuclear radiation as a result of therapeutic treatment, accidental exposure, or a nuclear bomb explosion and characterized by nausea, vomiting, headache, cramps, diarrhea, loss of hair and teeth, destruction of white blood cells, and prolonged hemorrhage.
- radioactive series — a succession of elements initiated in the radioactive decay of a parent, as thorium or uranium, each of which decays into the next until a stable element, usually lead, is produced.
- rain cats and dogs — water that is condensed from the aqueous vapor in the atmosphere and falls to earth in drops more than 1/50 inch (0.5 mm) in diameter. Compare drizzle (def 6).
- raman spectroscopy — a form of spectroscopy which uses the Raman effect for studying molecules
- real-estate office — the place where a real-estate agent works
- recess appointment — a person appointed to an office by the President of the United States without approval from the Senate because the Senate is in recess
- recursive function — a function defined in terms of the repeated application of a number of simpler functions to their own values, by specifying a base clause and a recursion formula
- reduction division — the first division of meiosis in which the number of chromosomes is reduced to half the original number.
- reduction strategy — (theory) An algorithm for deciding which redex(es) to reduce next. Different strategies have different termination properties in the presence of recursive functions or values. See string reduction, normal order reduction, applicative order reduction, parallel reduction
- reflection density — a measure of the extent to which a surface reflects light or other electromagnetic radiation, equal to the logarithm to base ten of the reciprocal of the reflectance
- registered company — a company which has officially registered its business
- reinforced plastic — plastic with fibrous matter, such as carbon fibre, embedded in it to confer additional strength
- reprocessing plant — a plant where materials are treated in order to make them reusable
- rescind a contract — If an insurer rescinds an insurance contract, it terminates it because facts have been concealed or misrepresented by the proposer.
- residential school — (in Canada) a boarding school maintained by the Canadian government for Indian and Inuit children from sparsely populated settlements
- restoration comedy — English comedy of the period of the Restoration, stressing manners and social satire.
- restriction enzyme — any of a group of enzymes that catalyze the cleavage of DNA molecules at specific sites: used for gene splicing in recombinant DNA technology and for chromosome mapping.
- resurrection plant — a desert plant, Selaginella lepidophylla, occurring from Texas to South America, having stems that curl inward when dry.
- resuscitation room — an intensive care unit
- rolling resistance — The rolling resistance of a wheel or ball is its resistance to movement caused by friction between it and the surface it is rolling on.
- rotary clothesline — an apparatus of radiating spokes that support lines on which clothes are hung to dry
- rubbish collection — the collection of domestic refuse for disposal
- school certificate — (in England and Wales between 1917 and 1951 and currently in New Zealand) a certificate awarded to school pupils who pass a public examination: the equivalent of GCSE
- school of motoring — a centre where people pay for lessons to learn to drive
- science dictionary — a specialized dictionary covering terms in the life, earth, and physical sciences, such as the online Science Dictionary on Dictionary.com. A science dictionary includes many technical terms with precise, specialized meanings—terms not normally found in general dictionaries—making it an invaluable resource for students and professionals in scientific fields.
- scientific officer — a police officer who carries out forensic examinations
- scissors-and-paste — designating or of a piece of writing that has been assembled from a variety of sources rather than by original research, often in a hasty or uninspired way
- scottish deerhound — one of a Scottish breed of large, tall hunting dogs having a medium-length, wiry, gray or reddish-fawn coat, originally developed for hunting and bringing down deer, and known as the royal dog of Scotland.
- scottish secretary — the Secretary of State for Scotland, head of the Scotland Office, a UK government department with responsibility for some Scottish affairs
- scratch one's head — If you say that someone is scratching their head, you mean that they are thinking hard and trying to solve a problem or puzzle.
- scruff of the neck — If someone takes you by the scruff of the neck, they take hold of the back of your neck or collar suddenly and roughly.
- search-and-destroy — designed to find and destroy by bombing etc
- second triumvirate — the coalition and joint rule of the Roman Empire by Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian, begun in 43 bc
- secondary industry — manufacturing, services, etc.
- secretary of state — the head and chief administrator of the U.S. Department of State. Compare foreign minister.