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15-letter words containing s, e, r, p, n

  • serpentine jade — a green variety of serpentine used as a gem: not a true jade.
  • share ownership — the owning of shares in a company
  • shark repellent — any tactic used by a corporation to prevent a takeover by a corporate raider.
  • shopping arcade — a place where a number of shops are connected together under one roof
  • shopping center — a group of stores within a single architectural plan, supplying most of the basic shopping needs, especially in suburban areas.
  • shopping centre — A shopping centre is a specially built area containing a lot of different shops.
  • shoulder weapon — a firearm that is fired while being held in the hands with the butt of the weapon braced against the shoulder.
  • simple fraction — a ratio of two integers.
  • simple interest — interest payable only on the principal; interest that is not compounded.
  • simple interval — an interval of an octave or less.
  • singapore sling — a cocktail of gin, cherry brandy, sugar, and water.
  • sinorespiratory — of, relating to, or affecting the paranasal sinuses and the respiratory tract.
  • slab plastering — coarse plastering, as between the studs in a half-timbered wall.
  • 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.
  • sneezing powder — a powder used to make people sneeze as a practical joke
  • 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 trefoil — alfalfa.
  • spare no effort — do all you can
  • spark generator — an alternating-current power source with a condenser discharging across a spark gap.
  • sparkling water — soda water (def 1).
  • special partner — a partner whose liability for the firm's debts is limited to the amount that partner has invested in the firm.
  • speckle pattern — the visual appearance of a star as viewed through a large telescope, with irregularities caused by the distorting effect of local turbulence in the earth's atmosphere.
  • 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.
  • spelling reform — an attempt to change the spelling of English words to make it conform more closely to pronunciation.
  • 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
  • spinous process — a spinelike process of a bone, especially the dorsal projection from the center of the arch of a vertebra.
  • spiny cocklebur — a cocklebur, Xanthium spinosum, introduced into North America from Europe.
  • 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
  • spirit leveling — leveling according to the indications of a spirit level.
  • spirits of wine — alcohol (def 1).
  • splanchnopleure — the double layer formed by the association of the lower layer of the lateral plate of mesoderm with the underlying entoderm, which develops into the embryonic viscera.
  • sport one's oak — to shut this door as a sign one does not want visitors
  • 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.
  • sports medicine — a field of medicine concerned with the functioning of the human body during physical activity and with the prevention and treatment of athletic injuries.
  • 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-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
  • step-and-repeat — noting or pertaining to a process by which successive photo-offset plates are produced automatically or semiautomatically with great precision: used especially in making plates for multicolor printing.
  • stilpnosiderite — a resinous variety of limonite with a black-brown colour
  • straining piece — (in a queen-post roof) a horizontal beam uniting the tops of the two queen posts, and resisting the thrust of the roof.
  • stress position — an enforced body position, applied esp in the interrogation of detainees, which causes the victim pain by concentrating a large amount of his or her weight on a small number of muscles, joints, etc
  • stretch a point — a sharp or tapering end, as of a dagger.
  • subject pronoun — pronoun in nominative case
  • subprofessional — being below professional standards: subprofessional health care.
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