17-letter words containing s, n, a, t
- ascend the throne — to become king or queen
- ascertained goods — specific goods
- ashton-under-lyne — a town in NW England, in Tameside unitary authority, Greater Manchester. Pop: 43 236 (2001)
- assateague island — a narrow island in SE Maryland and E Virginia on Chincoteague Bay: annual wild pony roundup. 33 miles (53 km) long.
- assessment centre — a set of selection procedures designed to recruit the best candidate or candidates to fill a job vacancy; it usually takes place over a day or two and is run by specialist staff
- assessment method — a way of assessing something or someone
- asset-backed fund — a fund in which the money is invested in property, shares, etc, rather than being deposited with a bank or building society
- assistant driller — An assistant driller is someone whose job is to help a driller, and work at the drilling controls on the rig floor.
- assistant manager — a person who assists a manager in their work
- assistant referee — An assistant referee is the same as a linesman.
- assistant teacher — a person who assists a teacher in their work or who is not yet fully qualified as a teacher
- association fiber — any of several nerve fibers connecting different areas of the cerebral cortex in the same hemisphere.
- astral projection — the departure of the astral body from the physical body, in order to travel to the astral plane
- astronomical unit — a unit of distance used in astronomy equal to the mean distance between the earth and the sun. 1 astronomical unit is equivalent to 1.495 × 1011 metres or about 9.3 × 107 miles
- astronomical year — year (def 4b).
- at a disadvantage — If you are at a disadvantage, you have a problem or difficulty that many other people do not have, which makes it harder for you to be successful.
- at a snail's pace — If you say that someone does something at a snail's pace, you are emphasizing that they are doing it very slowly, usually when you think it would be better if they did it much more quickly.
- at one fell swoop — to sweep through the air, as a bird or a bat, especially down upon prey.
- at one's disposal — If you have something at your disposal, you are able to use it whenever you want, and for whatever purpose you want. If you say that you are at someone's disposal, you mean that you are willing to help them in any way you can.
- at one's own pace — If you do something at your own pace, you do it at a speed that is comfortable for you.
- at one's own risk — If you tell someone that they are doing something at their own risk, you are warning them that, if they are harmed, it will be their own responsibility.
- at someone's feet — as someone's disciple
- at someone's hand — from
- at swords' points — ready to quarrel or fight
- at the expense of — If you achieve something at the expense of someone, you do it in a way which might cause them some harm or disadvantage.
- attention-seeking — intended to make people take notice
- attorneys-in-fact — a person authorized by power of attorney to act on the authorizer's behalf outside a court of law.
- attraction sphere — centrosphere (sense 1)
- audio description — a facility provided for visually impaired people in which a film, television programme, or play is described through audio technology
- australia antigen — an antigen present in the blood of some persons with one form of hepatitis
- australia current — a branch of the South Equatorial Current flowing SW from around Fiji to the E coast of Australia and then S along the coast.
- australian ballot — an official ballot listing candidates for election to public office and issues, levies, etc., distributed inside the polling place to be marked by the voter in secret: it originated in Australia and is widely used in the U.S.
- australian kelpie — one of an Australian breed of medium-sized sheepherding dogs having a short, harsh, straight coat in a combination of colors that can include black, red, tan, fawn, chocolate, or smoke blue, probably developed by crossbreeding between the border collie and dingo.
- australian salute — a movement of the hand and arm made to brush flies away from one's face
- australopithecine — any of various extinct apelike primates of the genus Australopithecus and related genera, remains of which have been discovered in southern and E Africa. Some species are estimated to be over 4.5 million years old
- authoritativeness — having due authority; having the sanction or weight of authority: an authoritative opinion.
- automated testing — (testing) Software testing assisted with software tools that require no operator input, analysis, or evaluation.
- autonomous syntax — an approach of generative grammar in which the syntactic component of a grammar is viewed as existing or operating independently of the semantic component and abstract syntactic representation is not equivalent to semantic representation.
- autonomous system — (networking, routing) (AS) A collection of routers under a single administrative authority, using a common Interior Gateway Protocol for routing packets.
- autosensitization — autoimmunization.
- aviation industry — a collective term for the companies involved in air transport
- avogadro constant — the number of atoms or molecules in a mole of a substance
- axis of ordinates — y-axis (def 1).
- axis-of-ordinates — y-axis (def 1).
- babe in the woods — a baby or child.
- bachelor's button — any of several plants of a genus (Centaurea) of the composite family, that have scaly, vase-shaped bracts below the white, pink, or blue flowers; esp., the cornflower and knapweed
- bachelor's-button — any of various plants with round flower heads, especially the cornflower.
- back on the rails — If something is back on the rails, it is beginning to be successful again after a period when it almost failed.
- bacteriorhodopsin — a purple protein containing retinal and found in the plasma membrane of certain bacteria (genus Halobacterium): it directly supplies electrochemical energy from sunlight
- balance the books — do accounting