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20-letter words containing s, o, r, i

  • shear transformation — a map of a coordinate space in which one coordinate is held fixed and the other coordinate or coordinates are shifted.
  • short back and sides — If a man has a short back and sides, his hair is cut very short at the back and sides with slightly thicker, longer hair on the top of the head.
  • shoulder-length hair — hair that reaches a person's shoulders
  • silicon tetrahydride — silane (def 1).
  • sinfonia concertante — a type of concerto for two or more solo instruments accompanied by an orchestra
  • sing for your supper — If someone has to sing for their supper, they have to do a job before they are allowed to do something they want to do.
  • single point mooring — monobuoy.
  • slip through the net — If criminals slip through the net, they avoid being caught by the system or trap that was meant to catch them.
  • small craft advisory — a U.S. National Weather Service advisory of sustained winds, over coastal and inland waters, with speeds of 20–33 knots (23–38 mph, 10–17 m/sec). Regional NWS offices have discretion over the choice of the lower limit.
  • snowflake generation — the generation of people who became adults in the 2010s, viewed as being less resilient and more prone to taking offence than previous generations
  • snows of kilimanjaro — a short story (1936) by Ernest Hemingway.
  • social security card — a card that contains details of a person's social security number
  • sodium fluoroacetate — a white, amorphous, water-soluble, poisonous powder, C 2 H 2 FO 2 Na, used as a rodenticide.
  • sodium meta-arsenite — sodium arsenite.
  • software engineering — the process of writing computer programs
  • solid rocket booster — a solid-propellant strap-on rocket used to accelerate a missile or launch vehicle during liftoff. Abbreviation: SRB.
  • solitary confinement — the confinement of a prisoner in a cell or other place in which he or she is completely isolated from others.
  • sound motion picture — a motion picture with a soundtrack.
  • south american plate — a major tectonic division of the earth's crust, comprising the continent of South America and several ocean basins and bounded on the north by the Caribbean Plate, on the east by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, on the west by a submarine trench that borders the western coast of the continent, and on the south by the Antarctic Plate.
  • south orkney islands — an uninhabited group of islands in the S Atlantic, southeast of Cape Horn: formerly a dependency of the Falkland Islands; part of the British Antarctic Territory since 1962 (claims are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty). Area: 621 sq km (240 sq miles)
  • southern oscillation — a low-latitude fluctuation of atmospheric pressure closely linked with El Niño events, specifically the periods of El Niño warming and La Niña cooling.
  • span of apprehension — the maximum number of objects that can be correctly assessed after a brief presentation
  • spanish oyster plant — a composite plant, Scolymus hispanicus, of southern Europe, having spiny, thistlelike leaf margins, small yellow flowers, and an edible root.
  • special boat service — a unit of the Royal Marines specializing in reconnaissance and sabotage
  • special patrol group — a former police unit tasked with counter terrorism in the Royal Ulster Constabulary
  • special relationship — the exceptionally close political, diplomatic, cultural and historical relations between the United States and the United Kingdom
  • specific performance — (especially in the sale of land) literal compliance with one's contractual promises pursuant to a judicial mandate.
  • spectrophotoelectric — pertaining to the relationship between the wavelength of the incident radiation and the number of electrons released by a photoelectric substance.
  • spectroscopic binary — a binary star having components that are not sufficiently separated to be resolved by a telescope, known to be a binary only bythe variations in wavelength of emitted light that are detected by a spectroscope.
  • spherical aberration — variation in focal length of a lens or mirror from center to edge, due to its spherical shape.
  • spherical coordinate — Usually, spherical coordinates. any of three coordinates used to locate a point in space by the length of its radius vector and the angles this vector makes with two perpendicular polar planes.
  • spiral of archimedes — a curve that is the locus of a point that moves outward with uniform speed along a vector, beginning at the origin, while the vector rotates about the origin with uniform angular velocity. Equation (in polar coordinates): r = aθ.
  • spirit of enterprise — the motivation to set up and succeed in business or commerce
  • spirits of hartshorn — a colorless, pungent, suffocating, aqueous solution of about 28.5 percent ammonia gas: used chiefly as a detergent, for removing stains and extracting certain vegetable coloring agents, and in the manufacture of ammonium salts.
  • spontaneous abortion — miscarriage (def 1).
  • spontaneous-abortion — Also called voluntary abortion. the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy.
  • spotted crane's-bill — the American wild geranium, Geranium maculatum.
  • square cross-section — If a kelly has a square cross-section, it has a surface area with four equal sides, when looked at as if has been sliced through.
  • square of opposition — a diagrammatic representation of the opposition of categorical propositions.
  • squatter sovereignty — (used contemptuously by its opponents) popular sovereignty (def 2).
  • squirrel's-foot fern — ball fern.
  • state highway patrol — a state's road traffic police
  • step into the breach — If you step into the breach, you do a job or task which someone else was supposed to do or has done in the past, because they are suddenly unable to do it.
  • stochastic terrorism — the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted: The lone-wolf attack was apparently influenced by the rhetoric of stochastic terrorism.
  • stockholders' equity — the net assets of a corporation as owned by stockholders in capital stock, capital surplus, and undistributed earnings.
  • stoichiometric ratio — The stoichiometric ratio is the exact ratio between air and flammable gas or vapor at which complete combustion takes place.
  • stony-iron meteorite — a meteorite of roughly equal proportions of metallic iron and stony matter.
  • straight as an arrow — direct, unwavering
  • straight-cut tobacco — tobacco that is cut in such a way that it will lie flat.
  • stress concentration — A stress concentration in a solid is a place where there is a lot of stress, either because a force is applied in a particular area or there is a change in the cross-sectional area.
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