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15-letter words containing s, a, r, i, n

  • snafu principle — /sna'foo prin'si-pl/ [WWII Army acronym for "Situation Normal: All Fucked Up"] "True communication is possible only between equals, because inferiors are more consistently rewarded for telling their superiors pleasant lies than for telling the truth." - a central tenet of Discordianism, often invoked by hackers to explain why authoritarian hierarchies screw up so reliably and systematically. The effect of the SNAFU principle is a progressive disconnection of decision-makers from reality. This lightly adapted version of a fable dating back to the early 1960s illustrates the phenomenon perfectly: In the beginning was the plan, and then the specification; And the plan was without form, and the specification was void. And darkness was on the faces of the implementors thereof; And they spake unto their leader, saying: "It is a crock of shit, and smells as of a sewer." And the leader took pity on them, and spoke to the project leader: "It is a crock of excrement, and none may abide the odor thereof." And the project leader spake unto his section head, saying: "It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide it." The section head then hurried to his department manager, and informed him thus: "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength." The department manager carried these words to his general manager, and spoke unto him saying: "It containeth that which aideth the growth of plants, and it is very strong." And so it was that the general manager rejoiced and delivered the good news unto the Vice President. "It promoteth growth, and it is very powerful." The Vice President rushed to the President's side, and joyously exclaimed: "This powerful new software product will promote the growth of the company!" And the President looked upon the product, and saw that it was very good. After the subsequent disaster, the suits protect themselves by saying "I was misinformed!", and the implementors are demoted or fired.
  • snapping turtle — either of two large, edible, freshwater turtles of the family Chelydridae, of North and Central America, having a large head and powerful hooked jaws, especially the common snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina.
  • social contract — the voluntary agreement among individuals by which, according to any of various theories, as of Hobbes, Locke, or Rousseau, organized society is brought into being and invested with the right to secure mutual protection and welfare or to regulate the relations among its members.
  • social drinking — the practice of drinking alcohol occasionally and usually only in social situations
  • social-drinking — a person who drinks alcoholic beverages usually in the company of others and is in control of his or her drinking.
  • sodium arsenite — a white or grayish-white, water-soluble, poisonous powder, NaAsO 2 , used chiefly in arsenical soaps for hides, as an insecticide, and as a weed-killer.
  • solar radiation — energy radiated from the sun in the form of electromagnetic waves, including visible and ultraviolet light and infrared radiation.
  • somerset island — an island in the Arctic Ocean in Nunavut, Canada, NW of Baffin Island. 9594 sq. mi. (24,848 sq. km).
  • southern paiute — See under Paiute (def 2).
  • spanish america — the Spanish-speaking countries south of the U.S.: Mexico, Central America (with the exception of Belize), South America (with the exceptions of Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, and Suriname), and most of the West Indies.
  • spanish morocco — French Maroc. Spanish Marruecos. a kingdom in NW Africa: formed from a sultanate that was divided into two protectorates (French Morocco and Spanish Morocco) and an international zone. 172,104 sq. mi. (445,749 sq. km). Capital: Rabat. Compare Tangier Zone.
  • spanish paprika — a cultivated pepper, Capsicum annuum, grown originally in Spain.
  • spanish trefoil — alfalfa.
  • sparcstation 10 — (computer)   A SPARCStation with a 4-way associative data cache and a five-way associative instruction cache. The 10/31, 10/41 and 10/51 also have a secondary cache not present on earlier SPARCStations.
  • sparcstation 20 — (computer)   A SPARCStation based on the HyperSPARC processor. The 20 is compatible with the earlier SPARCstation 10. It has a clock rate of 100MHz and delivers a SPECfp92 of 127.6. The SPARCstation 20 Model 71 and 712MP uses the 75MHz SuperSPARC processors that give a 35% and 14% boost to SPECint92 and SPECfp92 respectively compared to the 61/612MP.
  • sparkling water — soda water (def 1).
  • spawning ground — a place where fish deposit their eggs for fertilization
  • special partner — a partner whose liability for the firm's debts is limited to the amount that partner has invested in the firm.
  • speech training — training designed to improve spoken skills, such as voice projection
  • speed indicator — an instrument for counting the number of revolutions of a gasoline engine.
  • spermatogenesis — the origin and development of spermatozoa.
  • spherical angle — an angle formed by arcs of great circles of a sphere.
  • spheroidization — the conversion of grains into spheroids
  • spinach-rhubarb — an Ethiopian plant, Rumex abyssinicus, of the buckwheat family, having leaves that are sometimes used as spinach and leafstalks sometimes used as rhubarb.
  • spiral notebook — a notebook held together by a coil of wire passed through small holes punched at the back edge of the covers and individual pages
  • sporting chance — an even or fair opportunity for a favorable outcome in an enterprise, as winning in a game of chance or in any kind of contest: They gave the less experienced players a sporting chance by handicapping the experts.
  • spratly islands — a widely-scattered group of uninhabited islets and reefs in the S South China Sea, the subject of territorial claims wholly or in part by six neighbouring nations
  • spread sampling — the selection of a corpus for statistical analysis by selecting a number of short passages at random throughout the work and considering their aggregation
  • spring mattress — a mattress containing an arrangement of spiral springs
  • spring training — a program of physical exercise, practice, and exhibition games followed by a baseball team in the late winter and early spring, before the start of the regular season.
  • spring-cleaning — a complete cleaning of a place, as a home, done traditionally in the spring of the year.
  • sprinkler dance — a celebratory dance in which participants extend one arm and shake it to imitate the action of a rotating water sprinkler
  • sri-vaishnavism — a Hindu sect advocating theistic devotion as a philosophically and scripturally valid way to achieve salvation.
  • stage direction — an instruction written into the script of a play, indicating stage actions, movements of performers, or production requirements.
  • stain resistant — (of a fabric, carpet, surface, etc) designed or having added chemicals in order to be resistant to being stained or marked
  • stamping ground — a habitual or favorite haunt.
  • standard lining — a system for aligning type so that all fonts of the same point size have a common baseline.
  • standardization — to bring to or make of an established standard size, weight, quality, strength, or the like: to standardize manufactured parts.
  • standing charge — fixed energy costs
  • standing orders — Military. (formerly) a general order always in force in a command and establishing uniform procedures for it; standard operating procedure.
  • star attraction — the main or most popular attraction, as of a tourist destination, etc
  • star connection — a connection used in a polyphase electrical device or system of devices in which the windings each have one end connected to a common junction, the star point, and the other end to a separate terminal
  • start something — to cause a disturbance or trouble
  • starting blocks — the rigid blocks adjustable at an angle and mounted on a track against which a runner's shoes are placed to aid in starting
  • starting handle — a crank used to start the motor of an automobile.
  • starting pistol — a pistol used to give the signal to start a race
  • starting salary — an employee's initial rate of pay
  • starting stalls — a line of stalls in which horses are enclosed at the start of a race and from which they are released by the simultaneous springing open of retaining barriers at the front of each stall
  • starvation diet — insufficient food to stay alive
  • station officer — a person who is in charge of a fire station
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