16-letter words containing s, a, n, o, d
- shoulder harness — the part of a seat belt that goes over the shoulder and diagonally across the chest.
- situation comedy — a comedy drama, especially a television series made up of discrete episodes about the same group of characters, as members of a family.
- slang dictionary — a specialized dictionary covering the words, phrases, and idioms that reflect the least formal speech of a language. These terms are often metaphorical and playful, and are likely to be evanescent as the spoken language changes from one generation to another. Much slang belongs to specific groups, as the jargon of a particular class, profession, or age group. Some is vulgar. Some slang terms have staying power as slang, but others make a transition into common informal speech, and then into the standard language. An online slang dictionary, such as the Dictionary.com Slang Dictionary, provides immediate information about the meaning and history of a queried term and its appropriateness or lack of appropriateness in a range of social and professional circumstances.
- social darwinism — a 19th-century theory, inspired by Darwinism, by which the social order is accounted as the product of natural selection of those persons best suited to existing living conditions and in accord with which a position of laissez-faire is advocated.
- sodium carbonate — Also called soda ash. an anhydrous, grayish-white, odorless, water-soluble powder, Na 2 CO 3 , usually obtained by the Solvay process and containing about 1 percent of impurities consisting of sulfates, chlorides, and bicarbonates of sodium: used in the manufacture of glass, ceramics, soaps, paper, petroleum products, sodium salts, as a cleanser, for bleaching, and in water treatment.
- sodium pentothal — the sodium salt of thiopental sodium.
- soft in the head — stupid or foolish
- solid propellant — a rocket propellant in solid form, usually containing a mixture or combination of fuel and oxidizer.
- sonata da camera — an instrumental musical form, common in the Baroque period, usually consisting of a series of dances.
- sonata da chiesa — an instrumental musical form, common in the Baroque period, that usually consists of four movements alternating between slow and fast.
- sounding balloon — a balloon carrying instruments aloft to make atmospheric measurements, especially a radiosonde balloon.
- sounding machine — any of various machines for taking and recording soundings.
- south plainfield — a city in N New Jersey.
- southern uplands — a hilly region extending across S Scotland: includes the Lowther, Moorfoot, and Lammermuir hills
- speak one's mind — give one's frank opinion
- spear-head spoon — diamond-point spoon.
- spotted redshank — a sandpiper, Tringa erythropus, which is a large wader with red legs
- spreading factor — a substance, as hyaluronidase, that promotes the diffusion of a material through body tissues
- st. john's-bread — carob (def 2).
- stage production — a play or show which is performed on stage
- stagedoor johnny — a man who often goes to a theater or waits at a stage door to court an actress.
- stand to someone — to be useful to someone
- standing ovation — rising to applaud
- standoff missile — a missile capable of striking a distant target after launch by an aircraft outside the range of missile defences
- stannic chloride — a colorless fuming and caustic liquid, SnCl 4 , soluble in water and alcohol, that converts with water to a crystalline solid: used for electrically conductive and electroluminescent coatings and in ceramics.
- state-controlled — controlled by the government
- stopped diapason — a full, rich outpouring of melodious sound.
- storm and stress — Sturm und Drang.
- strawberry blond — reddish blond.
- strongyloidiasis — an intestinal disease caused by infection with the nematode worm Strongyloides stercoralis
- studentification — the renting of particular accommodation exclusively to students
- studio apartment — an apartment consisting of one main room, a kitchen or kitchenette, and a bathroom. Compare efficiency apartment.
- subordinationism — the doctrine that the first person of the Holy Trinity is superior to the second, and the second superior to the third.
- sulfocarbanilide — thiocarbanilide.
- summation method — a method for associating a sum with a divergent series.
- sun-dried tomato — tomato dried in the sun
- superfecundation — the fertilization of two or more ova discharged at the same ovulation by successive acts of sexual intercourse.
- surround theater — a theater, concert hall, or the like, in which seats are arranged around or on all four sides of a central stage.
- swamp buttonwood — the buttonbush.
- swedenborgianism — of or relating to Emanuel Swedenborg, his religious doctrines, or the body of followers adhering to these doctrines and constituting the Church of the New Jerusalem, or New Church.
- sweet almond oil — almond oil (def 1).
- synchronous dram — Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
- tandem computers — (company) A US computer manufacturer. Quarterly sales $544M, profits $49M (Aug 1994).
- tell one's beads — a small, usually round object of glass, wood, stone, or the like with a hole through it, often strung with others of its kind in necklaces, rosaries, etc.
- ten commandments — Bible: instructions given to Moses
- tension headache — a headache caused by muscle tension resulting from stress or overwork
- the roaring days — the period of the Australian goldrushes
- the south island — the largest island of New Zealand, separated from the North Island by the Cook Strait. Pop: 1 048 200 (2013 est). Area: 153 947 sq km (59 439 sq miles)
- thioarsenic acid — any of three hypothetical acids, H3AsS4, HAsS3, and H4As2S7, known only in the forms of their salts
- thousand islands — a group of about 1500 islands between the US and Canada, in the upper St Lawrence River: administratively divided between the two countries