16-letter words containing s, a, n, o, d
- odds are against — If you say that the odds are against something or someone, you mean that they are unlikely to succeed.
- on a world scale — in a way that involves the whole world
- on her beam-ends — (of a vessel) heeled over through an angle of 90°
- on the beam-ends — tipping so far to the side as to be in danger of capsizing
- on the safe side — as a precaution
- one and the same — When two or more people or things are thought to be separate and you say that they are one and the same, you mean that they are in fact one single person or thing.
- one's salad days — If you refer to your salad days, you are referring to a period of your life when you were young and inexperienced.
- orange men's day — July 12, an annual celebration in Northern Ireland and certain cities having a large Irish section, especially Liverpool, to mark both the victory of William III over James II at the Battle of the Boyne, July 1, 1690, and the Battle of Augbrim, July 12, 1690.
- orthodoxy sunday — a solemn festival held on the first Sunday of Lent (Orthodoxy Sunday) commemorating the restoration of the use of icons in the church (a.d. 842) and the triumph over all heresies.
- ostend manifesto — a declaration (1854) issued from Ostend, Belgium, by the U.S. ministers to England, France, and Spain, stating that the U.S. would be justified in seizing Cuba if Spain did not sell it to the U.S.
- panel discussion — a formal discussion before an audience for which the topic, speakers, etc., have been selected in advance.
- parts of lindsey — an area in E England constituting a former administrative division of Lincolnshire
- passage to india — a novel (1924) by E. M. Forster.
- pelagic division — the biogeographic realm or zone that comprises the open seas and oceans, including water of all depths.
- pentothal sodium — thiopental sodium
- personal details — details about a person such as their name and address
- pharmacodynamics — the branch of pharmacology dealing with the course of action, effect, and breakdown of drugs within the body.
- phase modulation — radio transmission in which the carrier wave is modulated by changing its phase to transmit the amplitude and pitch of the signal.
- piece d'occasion — something prepared or used for a special occasion.
- play one's cards — to carry out one's plans; take action (esp in the phrase play one's cards right)
- poisoned chalice — If you refer to a job or an opportunity as a poisoned chalice, you mean that it seems to be very attractive but you believe it will lead to failure.
- polycondensation — formation of a polymer by chemical condensation with the elimination of a small molecule, such as water.
- ponderosa (pine) — a yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa) of W North America, valued for its timber
- portuguese india — a former Portuguese overseas territory on the W coast of India, consisting of the districts of Gôa, Daman, and Diu: annexed by India December 1961. Capital: Gôa.
- predispositional — the fact or condition of being predisposed: a predisposition to think optimistically.
- prescription pad — a pad of prescriptions used by doctors, etc
- prestidigitation — sleight of hand; legerdemain.
- pribilof islands — a group of islands in the Bering Sea, off SW Alaska, belonging to the US: the breeding ground of the northern fur seal. Area: about 168 sq km (65 sq miles)
- pseudo-isidorian — of or relating to the collection of documents of the 9th century a.d. that consist chiefly of the Decretals, attributed to Isidore, archbishop of Seville, a.d. 600–36, and that were rejected as spurious in the 15th century.
- pseudocopulation — pollination of plants, esp orchids, by male insects while attempting to mate with flowers that resemble the female insect
- pseudoparenchyma — (in certain fungi and red algae) a compact mass of tissue, made up of interwoven hyphae or filaments, that superficially resembles plant tissue.
- pulse modulation — a type of modulation in which a train of pulses is used as the carrier wave, one or more of its parameters, such as amplitude, being modulated or modified in order to carry information
- radiation levels — the levels of the emission or transfer of radiant energy or the levels of the particles emitted in the transfer of radiant energy, esp the particles and gamma rays emitted in nuclear decay
- radio evangelist — a Christian minister who devotes time to preaching on the radio
- radioimmunoassay — a test procedure that integrates immunologic and radiolabeling techniques to measure minute quantities of a substance, as a protein, hormone, or drug, in a given sample of body fluid or tissue.
- radiotransparent — transparent to radiation; invisible in x-ray photographs and under fluoroscopy (opposed to radiopaque).
- radius of action — the maximum distance that a ship, aircraft, or land vehicle can travel from its base and return without refuelling
- railroad station — railway station, train stop
- reasonable doubt — law: grounds for believing sb is innocent
- rectus abdominis — a long flat muscle that extends along the whole length of both sides of the abdomen. It flexes the vertebral column, particularly the lumbar portion; it also tenses the anterior abdominal wall and assists in compressing the abdominal contents
- redistributional — a distribution performed again or anew.
- released version — release
- reservation desk — a desk in a hotel, office, etc, where an employee takes bookings for rooms, tickets, etc
- residential home — a home with social-work supervision for people who need more than just housing accommodation, such as esp the elderly, and also children in care or mentally handicapped adults
- rhode island red — one of an American breed of chickens having dark reddish-brown feathers and producing brown eggs.
- rigid designator — an expression that identifies the same individual in every possible world: for example, "Shakespeare" is a rigid designator since it is possible that Shakespeare might not have been a playwright but not that he might not have been Shakespeare
- risus sardonicus — fixed contraction of the facial muscles resulting in a peculiar distorted grin, caused esp by tetanus
- roosevelt island — Formerly Welfare Island, Blackwells Island. an island in the East River, New York City: residential community. 1½ miles (2½ km) long.
- roskind grammars — (tool) Yacc-based parsers for C and C++ by Jim Roskind. It does not use the %prec and %assoc YACC features so conflicts are never hidden. The C grammar has only one shift-reduce conflict, the C++ grammar has a few more. With byacc it can produce graphical parse trees automatically. The C grammar conforms to ANSI C and the C++ grammar supports cfront 2.0 constructs.
- run rings around — a typically circular band of metal or other durable material, especially one of gold or other precious metal, often set with gems, for wearing on the finger as an ornament, a token of betrothal or marriage, etc.