17-letter words containing s, a, o
- saint elmo's fire — corona discharge.
- saint john's wort — any of various plants or shrubs of the genus Hypericum, having yellow flowers and transparently dotted leaves.
- saint-simonianism — the socialist system advocated by the Comte de Saint-Simon
- salt negotiations — international diplomatic discussions carried out in connection with SALT
- salt of the earth — an individual or group considered as representative of the best or noblest elements of society.
- samurai tradition — the body of customs, thought, practices, etc belonging to the samurai warrior caste of Japan
- san francisco bay — a bay in W California: the harbor of San Francisco; connected with the Pacific by the Golden Gate strait. 50 miles (80 km) long; 3–12 miles (5–19 km) wide.
- san pedro channel — a strait between the mainland of SW California and Santa Catalina Island. About 20 miles (32 km) wide.
- sanctimoniousness — making a hypocritical show of religious devotion, piety, righteousness, etc.: They resented his sanctimonious comments on immorality in America.
- sanctions-busting — the deliberate disregarding of sanctions that are in force against a state, organization, etc
- sanctum sanctorum — the holy of holies of the Biblical tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem.
- sandringham house — a residence of the royal family, in Sandringham, a village in E England, in Norfolk near the E shore of the Wash
- sandro botticelli — Sandro [san-droh,, sahn-;; Italian sahn-draw] /ˈsæn droʊ,, ˈsɑn-;; Italian ˈsɑn drɔ/ (Show IPA), (Alessandro di Mariano dei Filipepi) 1444?–1510, Italian painter.
- sandwich compound — any of a class of organometallic compounds whose molecules have a metal atom or ion bound between two plane parallel organic rings
- sanitation worker — a person employed to collect, haul away, and dispose of garbage.
- santa rosa island — an island off the coast of California, in the Santa Barbara (Channel Islands) of California. 17 miles (27 km) long.
- satellite station — a radio or television station that receives programs from another station and rebroadcasts at a different wavelength.
- saturation diving — a method of prolonged diving, using an underwater habitat to allow divers to remain in the high-pressure environment of the ocean depths long enough for their body tissues to become saturated with the inert components of the pressurized gas mixture that they breathe: when this condition is reached, the amount of time required for decompression remains the same, whether the dive lasts a day, a week, or a month.
- save one's breath — the air inhaled and exhaled in respiration.
- save shoe leather — to avoid wearing out shoes, as by taking a bus rather than walking
- sawatch mountains — range of the Rocky Mountains, in central Colo.: highest peak, Elbert
- sawed-off shotgun — rifle with a short barrel
- saxe-coburg-gotha — a member of the present British royal family, from the establishment of the house in 1901 until 1917 when the family name was changed to Windsor.
- scan-in, scan-out — scan design
- scarlet firethorn — a Eurasian evergreen, thorny shrub, Pyracantha coccinea, of the rose family, having white, hairy flower clusters and bright red berries.
- scattered showers — showers that are scattered across an area, or that occur at intervals throughout the day
- school attendance — a measure of the number of children who attend school and the amount of time they are present
- school playground — school's outdoor recreation area
- scrophulariaceous — belonging to the Scrophulariaceae, the figwort family of plants.
- sea grant college — a college or university doing research on marine resources under the U.S. National Sea Grant College and Program Act of 1966.
- sea-island cotton — a long-staple cotton, Gossypium barbadense, raised originally in the Sea Islands and now grown chiefly in the West Indies.
- seat-of-the-pants — using or based on experience, instinct, or guesswork: a seat-of-the-pants management style.
- second balkan war — Balkan War (def 2).
- second derivative — the derivative of the derivative of a function: Acceleration is the second derivative of distance with respect to time.
- second generation — being the second generation of a family to be born in a particular country: the oldest son of second-generation Americans.
- second lieutenant — an Army, Air Force, or Marine officer of the lowest commissioned rank. Compare ensign (def 4).
- second-generation — being the second generation of a family to be born in a particular country: the oldest son of second-generation Americans.
- second-hand smoke — from sb else's cigarette
- second-in-command — A second-in-command is someone who is next in rank to the leader of a group, and who has authority to give orders when the leader is not there.
- secondary battery — storage battery.
- secondary boycott — a boycott by union members against their employer in order to induce the employer to bring pressure on another company involved in a labor dispute with the union.
- secondary contact — communication or relationship between people characterized by impersonal and detached interest on the part of those involved.
- secondary glazing — insulation by means of a second pane of glass, or a sheet of plastic: a simple form of double glazing
- secondary process — the conscious mental activity and logical thinking controlled by the ego and influenced by environmental demands.
- secondary product — a product that is not the main product of an industry; a by-product
- secondary quality — one of the qualities attributed by the mind to an object perceived, such as color, temperature, or taste.
- secondary rainbow — a faint rainbow formed by light rays that undergo two internal reflections in drops of rain, appearing above the primary rainbow and having its colors in the opposite order.
- secondary sealing — Secondary sealing is a system of wiper seals used in floating roof tanks.
- secondary winding — A secondary winding is the winding of a transformer that receives its energy by electromagnetic induction from the primary winding.
- self-acknowledged — widely recognized; generally accepted: an acknowledged authority on Chinese art.