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20-letter words containing s, n, a, p, o

  • compensatory damages — sum paid for a loss
  • complaints procedure — a prescribed method of lodging a complaint to an institution
  • complementary angles — either of two angles that added together produce an angle of 90°.
  • complementary colors — any of two colors of the spectrum that, combined in the right intensities, produce white or nearly white light
  • complementary strand — either of the two chains that make up a double helix of DNA, with corresponding positions on the two chains being composed of a pair of complementary bases.
  • connector conspiracy — (business, standard)   The tendency of manufacturers (or, by extension, other designers) to come up with products that don't fit with the old stuff, thereby making you buy either all new stuff or expensive interface devices. The term probably came into prominence with the appearance of the DEC KL-10, none of whose connectors matched anything else. The KL-10 Massbus connector was actually *patented* by DEC, who reputedly refused to licence the design, thus effectively locking out competition for the lucrative Massbus peripherals market. This policy was a source of frustration for the owners of dying, obsolescent disk and tape drives. A related phenomenon is the invention of new screw heads so that only Designated Persons, possessing the magic screwdrivers, can remove covers and make repairs or install options. Older Apple Macintoshes took this one step further, requiring not only a hex wrench but a specialised case-cracking tool to open the box. With the advent of more open-systems computing this term has fallen somewhat into disuse. Compare backward combatability.
  • conservative baptist — a member of a Protestant denomination (Conservative Baptist Association of America) organized in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1948.
  • construction company — a business enterprise concerned with the construction of buildings, bridges, etc
  • consultant physician — a physician who has attained the rank of consultant in a particular speciality
  • contact metamorphism — localized metamorphism resulting from the heat of an igneous intrusion.
  • conventional weapons — weapons which are not nuclear
  • conversation stopper — a comment that is so shocking or boring that people stop talking
  • copulative asyndeton — a staccato effect produced by omitting copulative connectives between two or more items in a group, as in “Friends, Romans, countrymen.”.
  • corresponding angles — a pair of nonadjacent angles, one interior and one exterior, on the same side of a transversal: these paired angles are equal if the lines cut by the transversal are parallel
  • craniosacral therapy — a form of therapy for various disorders in which the therapist manipulates the bones of the skull
  • criminal proceedings — action taken in a court to bring a criminal prosecution against someone
  • cross someone's palm — to give someone money
  • cross someone's path — to meet or thwart someone
  • cycloidal propulsion — propulsion of a vessel by propellers of controllable pitch that steer as well as propel.
  • depreciation expense — A depreciation expense is the amount deducted from gross profit to allow for a reduction in the value of something because of its age or how much it has been used.
  • descriptive notation — a method of denoting the squares on the chessboard in which each player names the files from the pieces that stand on them at the opening and numbers the ranks away from himself
  • desmopressin acetate — a vasopressin analogue, C 46 H 64 N 14 O 12 S 2 , used in the treatment of diabetes insipidus.
  • diammonium phosphate — a white, crystalline, water-soluble compound, (NH 4) 2 HPO 4 , used as fertilizer, in fire extinguishers, etc.
  • diophantine analysis — any of several methods for finding integral solutions for equations with more than one variable whose coefficients are integers.
  • dispersion hardening — the strengthening of an alloy as a result of the presence of fine particles in the lattice
  • displacement tonnage — the number of long tons of water displaced by a vessel, light or load displacement being specified.
  • disproportionateness — The state or quality of being disproportionate or out of proportion.
  • drum and bugle corps — a marching band of drum players and buglers.
  • eastern roman empire — the eastern of the two empires created by the division of the Roman Empire in 395 ad
  • employee association — an organization, other than a trade union, whose members comprise employees of a single employing organization. The aims of the association may be social, recreational, or professional
  • epitaxial transistor — a transistor made by depositing a thin pure layer of semiconductor material (epitaxial layer) onto a crystalline support by epitaxy. The layer acts as one of the electrode regions, usually the collector
  • essential complexity — (programming)   A measure of the "structuredness" of a program.
  • european social fund — one of the four Structural Funds of the European Union which aims to support employment and the economic and social well-being of EU member countries
  • external respiration — exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide across external or respiratory surfaces, as gills or lungs, in multicellular organisms
  • feather in one's cap — one of the horny structures forming the principal covering of birds, consisting typically of a hard, tubular portion attached to the body and tapering into a thinner, stemlike portion bearing a series of slender, barbed processes that interlock to form a flat structure on each side.
  • first point of aries — the vernal equinox.
  • flame-fusion process — Verneuil process.
  • fore-and-aft topsail — gaff topsail (def 1).
  • fore-topgallant mast — the spar or section of a spar forming the topgallant portion of a foremast on a ship.
  • general postal union — former name of Universal Postal Union. Abbreviation: GPU.
  • get one's hackles up — to become tense with anger; bristle
  • glucosamine sulphate — a compound used in some herbal remedies and dietary supplements, esp to strengthen joint cartilage
  • group life insurance — a form of life insurance available to members of a group, typically employees of a company, under a master policy.
  • group representation — representation in a governing body on the basis of interests rather than by geographical location.
  • hang up one's spikes — to retire, as from a professional sport
  • harmonic progression — a series of numbers the reciprocals of which are in arithmetic progression.
  • hate a person's guts — to dislike a person very strongly
  • have had one's chips — to be defeated, condemned to die, killed, etc
  • he's no oil painting — he is not good-looking
  • holy water sprinkler — morning star (def 2).
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