12-letter words containing s, e, d, a, n
- naked street — a traffic-management strategy pioneered in the Netherlands in which all distinctions between pavements and roads are removed. Each road user is given equal priority, thereby ensuring that motorists have to slow down and drive more carefully
- namib desert — a desert region in SW Africa, extending along the coast from SW Angola to W South Africa. 1200 miles (1930 km) long, 30–100 miles (48–160 km) wide; 50,000 sq. mi. (129,500 sq. km).
- nasal demons — Recognised shorthand on the Usenet group comp.std.c for any unexpected behaviour of a C compiler on encountering an undefined construct. During a discussion on that group in early 1992, a regular remarked "When the compiler encounters [a given undefined construct] it is legal for it to make demons fly out of your nose" (the implication is that the compiler may choose any arbitrarily bizarre way to interpret the code without violating the ANSI C standard). Someone else followed up with a reference to "nasal demons", which quickly became established.
- nationalised — Simple past tense and past participle of nationalise.
- nature study — the study of plants and animals, especially by amateurs.
- neanderthals — Plural form of neanderthal.
- near islands — a group of islands of SW Alaska, the smallest and westernmost of the Aleutian Islands, including Attu.
- near-sighted — seeing distinctly at a short distance only; myopic.
- necessitated — to make necessary or unavoidable: The breakdown of the car necessitated a change in our plans.
- needle-sharp — very sharp
- neofeudalism — A theorized contemporary rebirth of policies of governance, economy and public life reminiscent of those present in many feudal societies.
- nested class — (Java) In Java, a class defined within an enclosing class definition. A static nested class has no direct access to the members of its enclosing class whereas a non-static nested class, known as an "inner class", is associated with an instance of the enclosing class and an instance of the inner class has direct access to the members of its enclosing instance.
- newfashioned — Alternative form of new-fashioned.
- newspaperdom — The realm or sphere of newspaper publishing or journalism.
- noahide laws — the seven laws given to Noah after the Flood, which decree the establishment of a fair system of justice in society, and prohibit idolatry, blasphemy, murder, adultery and incest, robbery, and the eating of flesh taken from a living animal
- non-disabled — physically or mentally impaired, injured, or incapacitated.
- non-residual — pertaining to or constituting a residue or remainder; remaining; leftover.
- nonsteroidal — of or relating to a substance that is not a steroid but has certain similar physiological effects.
- normed space — any vector space on which a norm is defined.
- noticeboards — Plural form of noticeboard.
- nucleocapsid — the nucleic acid core and surrounding capsid of a virus; the basic viral structure.
- nucleosidase — any of the class of enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of nucleosides.
- nucleotidase — a biochemical catalyst that facilitates the process of hydrolyzing or splitting a nucleotide and turning it into a phosphate and a nucleoside
- nurse's aide — a person who assists professional nurses, as in a hospital, by performing such routine tasks as making beds and serving meals.
- nurserymaids — Plural form of nurserymaid.
- obdurateness — The characteristic of being obdurate; stubbornness.
- off-islander — a temporary or seasonal resident of an island; island visitor or tourist.
- oldfashioned — Rare spelling of old-fashioned.
- omnidistance — the distance between an omnirange station and a receiver.
- on the cards — likely
- onion-shaped — bulb-shaped; shaped like an onion
- ordinariness — of no special quality or interest; commonplace; unexceptional: One novel is brilliant, the other is decidedly ordinary; an ordinary person.
- outdatedness — the state of being outdated
- outdistanced — Simple past tense and past participle of outdistance.
- outdistances — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of outdistance.
- outside lane — the lane on a motorway where overtaking of other vehicles is permitted and vehicles can travel fastest
- outspreading — Present participle of outspread.
- overdiagnose — (medicine) To diagnose something more often than it actually occurs.
- oversedation — the calming of mental excitement or abatement of physiological function, especially by the administration of a drug.
- overstrained — exerted, taxed, or used to an excessive extent
- paedodontics — the branch of dentistry that focuses on the care of children's teeth
- paedogenesis — sexual reproduction in an animal that retains its larval features
- pale-skinned — having pale skin
- pamperedness — the state of being pampered
- pandanaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Pandanaceae, an Old World tropical family of monocotyledonous plants including the screw pines
- parascending — parasailing
- parasphenoid — a bone next to the sphenoid bone in the skull of some animals
- pasture land — grassland used for grazing
- personalised — to have marked with one's initials, name, or monogram: to personalize stationery.
- personalized — customized