17-letter words containing r, u, n, s, o
- self-purification — a natural process of purifying, as the ability of a body of water to rid itself of pollutants.
- self-renunciation — renunciation of one's own will, interests, etc.
- self-reproduction — the act or process of reproducing.
- self-rising flour — Self-rising flour is flour that makes cakes rise when they are cooked because it has chemicals added to it.
- selkirk mountains — a mountain range in SW Canada, in SE British Columbia. Highest peak: Mount Sir Sandford, 3533 m (11 590 ft)
- sensitivity group — a group of persons participating in sensitivity training.
- sexual generation — the gametophyte generation in the alternation of generations in plants that produces a zygote from male and female gametes.
- sheltered housing — accommodation designed esp for the elderly or infirm consisting of a group of individual premises, often with some shared facilities and a caretaker
- shetland pullover — a thick woollen sweater made from Shetland wool
- shirt-tail cousin — a distant cousin
- show in (or out) — to usher into (or out of) a given place
- sign in (or out) — to sign a register on arrival (or departure)
- silent revolution — a social or political revolution that takes place with little warning and without great fuss or unrest
- situational irony — irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected.
- sixty-fourth note — a note having one sixty-fourth of the time value of a whole note; hemidemisemiquaver.
- skin of our teeth — a play (1942) by Thornton Wilder.
- smoothing circuit — a circuit used to remove ripple from the output of a direct current power supply
- socratic elenchus — the drawing out of the consequences of a position in order to show them to be contrary to some accepted position
- sodium propionate — a transparent, crystalline, water-soluble powder, C 3 H 5 NaO 2 , used in foodstuffs to prevent mold growth, and in medicine as a fungicide.
- 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 farmingdale — a town on central Long Island, in SE New York.
- south frigid zone — the part of the earth's surface between the Antarctic Circle and the South Pole.
- south lanarkshire — a council area of S Scotland, comprising the S part of the historical county of Lanarkshire: included within Strathclyde Region from 1975 to 1996: has uplands in the S and part of the Glasgow conurbation in the N: mainly agricultural. Administrative centre: Hamilton. Pop: 303 010 (2003 est). Area: 1771 sq km (684 sq miles)
- southampton water — an inlet of the English Channel in S England
- southern rhodesia — a former name (until 1964) of Zimbabwe (def 1).
- southern sporades — a group of Greek islands in the Aegean, including the Dodecanese, lying off the SW coast of Turkey
- southern studfish — See under studfish.
- southern triangle — the constellation Triangulum Australe.
- sperrin mountains — a mountain range in NW Northern Ireland
- spot-illustration — a rounded mark or stain made by foreign matter, as mud, blood, paint, ink, etc.; a blot or speck.
- 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
- squash vine borer — the larva of a clearwing moth, Melittia satyriniformis, that bores into the stems of squash and related plants.
- stand your ground — relating to or denoting a legal principle or law that eliminates the duty to retreat by allowing, as a first response, self-defense by deadly force: We’re proud to represent Florida, the first stand your ground state.
- standard function — a subprogram provided by a translator that carries out a task, for example the computation of a mathematical function, such as sine, square root, etc
- stannous chloride — a white, crystalline, water-soluble solid, SnCl 2 ⋅2H 2 O, used chiefly as a reducing and tinning agent, and as a mordant in dyeing with cochineal.
- stannous fluoride — a white, crystalline powder, SnF 2 , slightly soluble in water: used as a source of fluorine in the prevention of dental caries, especially as a toothpaste additive.
- statutory meeting — company shareholders' discussion
- statutory offense — a wrong punishable under a statute, rather than at common law.
- stellar evolution — the sequence of changes that occurs in a star as it ages
- stir one's stumps — to move or become active
- storm in a teacup — a violent fuss or disturbance over a trivial matter
- stretch limousine — a limousine that has been lengthened to provide extra seating accommodation and more legroom
- stretching course — (in brickwork) a course of stretchers.
- strut one's stuff — to walk with a vain, pompous bearing, as with head erect and chest thrown out, as if expecting to impress observers.
- subclavian groove — either of two grooves in the first rib, one for the main artery (subclavian artery) and the other for the main vein (subclavian vein) of the arm
- subordinated debt — a debt that an unsecured creditor can only claim, in the event of a liquidation, after the claims of secured creditors have been paid
- subscription rate — the price charged for a subscription
- sufficient reason — the principle that nothing happens by pure chance, but that an explanation must always be available
- sulfonyl chloride — a colorless liquid, SO 2 Cl 2 , having a very pungent odor and corrosive to the skin and mucous membranes: used as a chlorinating or sulfonating agent.
- sun-2 workstation — (computer) A Unix workstation produced by Sun Microsystems, Inc., based on the Motorola 68000. Followed by the Sun-3 Workstation.