15-letter words containing s, e, r, p
- express oneself — to communicate one's thoughts or ideas
- expression mark — one of a set of musical directions, usually in Italian, indicating how a piece or passage is to be performed
- expression tree — (mathematics, grammar) The syntax tree of an expression.
- expressionistic — Expressionist.
- expulsion order — a legal document ordering someone's expulsion
- extemporisation — Alternative spelling of extemporization.
- external spline — any one of a series of narrow keys formed longitudinally around the circumference of a shaft that fit into corresponding grooves (internal splines) in a mating part: used to prevent movement between two parts, esp in transmitting torque
- facile princeps — an obvious leader
- fairy footsteps — heavy footsteps
- false pregnancy — physiological signs of pregnancy without conception; pseudocyesis.
- false pretences — fraud, deception
- false pretenses — If you do something under false pretenses, you do it when people do not know the truth about you and your intentions.
- fencepost error — 1. (Rarely "lamp-post error") A problem with the discrete equivalent of a boundary condition, often exhibited in programs by iterative loops. From the following problem: "If you build a fence 100 feet long with posts 10 feet apart, how many posts do you need?" (Either 9 or 11 is a better answer than the obvious 10). For example, suppose you have a long list or array of items, and want to process items m through n; how many items are there? The obvious answer is n - m, but that is off by one; the right answer is n - m + 1. The "obvious" formula exhibits a fencepost error. See also zeroth and note that not all off-by-one errors are fencepost errors. The game of Musical Chairs involves a catastrophic off-by-one error where N people try to sit in N - 1 chairs, but it's not a fencepost error. Fencepost errors come from counting things rather than the spaces between them, or vice versa, or by neglecting to consider whether one should count one or both ends of a row. 2. (Rare) An error induced by unexpected regularities in input values, which can (for instance) completely thwart a theoretically efficient binary tree or hash coding implementation. The error here involves the difference between expected and worst case behaviours of an algorithm.
- file descriptor — (programming, operating system) An integer that identifies an open file within a process. This number is obtained as a result of opening a file. Operations which read, write, or close a file would take the file descriptor as an input parameter. In many operating system implementations, file descriptors are small integers which index a table of open files. In Unix, file descriptors 0, 1 and 2 correspond to the standard input, standard output and standard error files respectively. See file descriptor leak.
- fillister plane — an adjustable plane for cutting rabbets, grooves, etc
- finders keepers — whoever finds something has the right to keep it
- finger spelling — a method of communicating with or among deaf people in which different shapes made with the fingers represent different letters of the alphabet
- first principle — any axiom, law, or abstraction assumed and regarded as representing the highest possible degree of generalization.
- first responder — a person who is certified to provide medical care in emergencies before more highly trained medical personnel arrive on the scene: a firefighter trained as a first responder.
- fissiparousness — The quality of being fissiparous.
- fluorophosphate — a salt or ester of a fluorophosphoric acid.
- food processing — transforming raw materials into food
- fool's paradise — a state of enjoyment based on false beliefs or hopes; a state of illusory happiness.
- for pity's sake — You can say for pity's sake to add emphasis to what you are saying, especially when you are annoyed or upset.
- for the present — being, existing, or occurring at this time or now; current: increasing respect for the present ruler of the small country.
- for their pains — You say that something was all you got for your pains when you are mentioning the disappointing result of situation into which you put a lot of work or effort.
- forensic expert — an expert in applying scientific, technical or medical knowledge to the purposes of law
- former prophets — a subdivision of the books constituting the second main part of the Hebrew Bible, Joshua, Judges, I-II Samuel, and I-II Kings
- four-poster bed — bed: post at each corner
- fourteen points — a statement of the war aims of the Allies, made by President Wilson on January 8, 1918.
- fourteen-points — a statement of the war aims of the Allies, made by President Wilson on January 8, 1918.
- fragrance strip — a folded, usually sealed strip on a page or card, impregnated with fragrance that is released when pulled or torn open: The magazine is full of fragrance strips in the advertisements.
- franz joseph ii — 1906–1989, prince of Liechtenstein 1938–89.
- free atmosphere — the part of the atmosphere that lies above the frictional influence of the earth's surface.
- free enterprise — an economic and political doctrine holding that a capitalist economy can regulate itself in a freely competitive market through the relationship of supply and demand with a minimum of governmental intervention and regulation.
- free soil party — a former U.S. political party (1848–56) that opposed the extension of slavery in the Territories not yet admitted to statehood.
- french-speaking — able to speak French
- fresnel biprism — biprism.
- front-page news — a story printed on the first page of a newspaper
- fusospirochetal — Relating to fusospirochetes.
- fusospirochetes — Plural form of fusospirochete.
- gender politics — debate about the roles and relations of men and women
- gender-specific — for, characteristic of, or limited to either males or females: Left-handedness is not gender-specific.
- general paresis — a syphilitic brain disorder characterized by chronic inflammation and degeneration of cerebral tissue resulting in mental and physical deterioration.
- general-purpose — useful in many ways; not limited in use or function: a good general-purpose dictionary.
- geodemographics — the study and grouping of the people in a geographical area according to socioeconomic criteria, esp for market research
- geomorphogenist — one who studies, or is an expert in, geomorphogeny
- geomorphologist — A geologist whose speciality is geomorphology.
- geostrophically — By means of, or in terms of, geostrophy.
- german shepherd — one of a breed of large shepherd dogs having a coat ranging in color from gray to brindled, black-and-tan, or black, used especially in police work and as a guide for the blind.