17-letter words containing s, e, t, u
- naked singularity — an infinitely dense point mass without a surrounding black hole
- national security — defence of a country
- natural resources — a naturally occurring source of wealth, as land or water.
- natural selection — the process by which forms of life having traits that better enable them to adapt to specific environmental pressures, as predators, changes in climate, or competition for food or mates, will tend to survive and reproduce in greater numbers than others of their kind, thus ensuring the perpetuation of those favorable traits in succeeding generations.
- natural-resources — a naturally occurring source of wealth, as land or water.
- nausea anesthesia — a loss of the sensation of nausea that is normally stimulated by noxious and disgusting substances.
- negative eugenics — the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics)
- neo-malthusianism — a view or doctrine advocating population control, especially by contraception.
- net present value — an assessment of the long-term profitability of a project made by adding together all the revenue it can be expected to achieve over its whole life and deducting all the costs involved, discounting both future costs and revenue at an appropriate rate
- neurofibromatosis — a dominantly inherited genetic disorder characterized by flat brown patches on the skin, neurofibromas of the skin and internal organs, and in some cases skeletal deformity.
- neurophysiologist — the branch of physiology dealing with the functions of the nervous system.
- neuropsychiatrist — A medical doctor specializing in neuropsychiatry; a medical doctor dealing with disorders that have both neurological and psychiatric features.
- neuropsychologist — A neurologist or psychologist whose speciality is neuropsychology.
- neurotransmission — the transmission of a nerve impulse across a synapse.
- neurotransmissive — Relating to neurotransmission.
- neurotransmitters — Plural form of neurotransmitter.
- newspaper cutting — clipping from a news publication
- nikita khrushchev — Nikita S(ergeyevich) [ni-kee-tuh sur-gey-uh-vich;; Russian nyi-kyee-tuh syir-gye-yuh-vyich] /nɪˈki tə sɜrˈgeɪ ə vɪtʃ;; Russian nyɪˈkyi tə syɪrˈgyɛ yə vyɪtʃ/ (Show IPA), 1894–1971, Russian political leader: premier of the U.S.S.R. 1958–64.
- non-reimbursement — to make repayment to for expense or loss incurred: The insurance company reimbursed him for his losses in the fire.
- nonproductiveness — The quality of being nonproductive.
- nonunderstandable — Not understandable.
- northern studfish — See under studfish.
- nuclear chemistry — the branch of chemistry concerned with nuclear reactions
- nuclear scientist — a scientist who studies nuclear physics
- nuclear threshold — the point in war at which a combatant brings nuclear weapons into use
- nursery education — education provided at a school for young children, usually from three to five years old
- nyquist frequency — (DSP) The highest frequency that can be represented in a digital signal of a specified sampling frequency. It is equal to one-half of the sampling rate. See Nyquist Theorem.
- odds-on favourite — a person, team, horse, etc that is regarded as the most likely to win a competition
- on cruise control — If you say that someone is on cruise control in a contest, you mean that they are winning the contest easily and without needing to make a lot of effort.
- on second thought — Often, second thoughts. reservation about a previous action, position, decision, judgment, or the like: He had second thoughts about his decision.
- opening arguments — the statements or arguments provided by lawyers at the beginning of a trial
- organ-pipe cactus — a treelike or columnar cactus, Lemaireocereus marginatus, of Mexico, having a central, erect spine surrounded by spreading spines in clusters of five to eight, and funnel-shaped, brownish-purple flowers.
- osculating circle — circle of curvature.
- out at the elbows — the bend or joint of the human arm between upper arm and forearm.
- out of all reason — unreasonable
- out of one's head — the upper part of the body in humans, joined to the trunk by the neck, containing the brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
- out of one's mind — (in a human or other conscious being) the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc.: the processes of the human mind.
- out on one's feet — dazed or stunned, but still standing
- outside broadcast — An outside broadcast is a radio or television programme that is not recorded or filmed in a studio, but in another building or in the open air.
- over-presumptuous — full of, characterized by, or showing presumption or readiness to presume in conduct or thought, as by saying or doing something without right or permission.
- overconscientious — Excessively conscientious.
- overnight success — sth or sb suddenly popular
- papanicolaou test — Pap test.
- parents anonymous — (in Britain) an association of local voluntary self-help groups offering help through an anonymous telephone service to parents who fear they will injure their children, or who have other problems in managing their children
- pasteur institute — an organization in Paris that was founded in 1887. It does research on micro-organisms and diseases
- pasteur treatment — Pasteur's method of preventing certain diseases, esp. rabies, by increasing the strength of successive inoculations with a specific weakened or attenuated virus
- penalty shoot-out — In football, a penalty shoot-out is a way of deciding the result of a game that has ended in a draw. Players from each team try to score a goal in turn until one player fails to score and their team loses the game.
- percussion bullet — a bullet that is exploded by percussion
- perpetual spinach — a variety of spinach that keeps producing edible leaves
- personal computer — a compact computer that uses a microprocessor and is designed for individual use, as by a person in an office or at home or school, for such applications as word processing, data management, financial analysis, or computer games. Abbreviation: PC.