17-letter words containing s, p, a, c, e, l
- self-appreciation — gratitude; thankful recognition: They showed their appreciation by giving him a gold watch.
- self-depreciating — self-deprecating.
- self-emancipation — the act of emancipating.
- self-incompatible — not capable of self-pollination.
- self-purification — a natural process of purifying, as the ability of a body of water to rid itself of pollutants.
- semi-biographical — of or relating to a person's life: He's gathering biographical data for his book on Milton.
- seminal principle — a potential, latent within an imperfect object, for attaining full development.
- septicemic plague — an especially dangerous form of plague in which the infecting organisms invade the bloodstream. Compare plague (def 2).
- sexual preference — Someone's sexual preference is the same as their sexual orientation.
- shipping articles — articles of agreement.
- shuttle diplomacy — diplomatic negotiations carried out by a mediator who travels back and forth between the negotiating parties.
- social enterprise — a business organization that works to benefit society as a whole
- sparc xterminal 1 — (computer) Sun's lowest cost networked Unix desktop, it is board-upgradeable to a SPARC 4. It comes with a choice of frame buffers: 8-bit colour, Turbo GX, or Turbo GX plus. This product was expected to replace the SPARCclassic X. UK availability was planned for March 1995.
- spatial frequency — the measure of fine detail in an optical image in terms of cycles per millimetre
- special committee — a committee, as of a legislative body, that is formed to examine and report on a specific bill or issue.
- special constable — a person recruited for temporary or occasional police duties, esp in time of emergency
- special education — education that is modified or particularized for those with singular needs, as disabled or maladjusted people, slow learners, or gifted children.
- special messenger — a postal worker who delivers mail by special delivery
- special privilege — exclusive advantage
- special schooling — the system of educating children with special needs in schools designed to meet their needs
- spectroheliograph — an apparatus for making photographs of the sun with a monochromatic light to show the details of the sun's surface and surroundings as they would appear if the sun emitted only that light.
- spectroscopically — an optical device for producing and observing a spectrum of light or radiation from any source, consisting essentially of a slit through which the radiation passes, a collimating lens, and an Amici prism.
- spectrum analyser — an instrument that splits an input waveform into its frequency components, which are then displayed
- spectrum analysis — the determination of the constitution or condition of bodies and substances by means of the spectra they produce.
- spherical polygon — a closed figure formed by arcs of great circles on a spherical surface.
- sports facilities — places and things for doing sports
- spruce gall aphid — any of various homopterous insects of the family Adelgidae, as Adelges abietis (spruce gall aphid) and Pineus pinifoliae (pine leaf aphid) that feed and form galls on conifers.
- supercolumniation — the placing of one order of columns above another.
- tactile corpuscle — an oval sense organ made of flattened cells and encapsulated nerve endings, occurring in hairless skin, as the tips of the fingers and toes, and functioning as a touch receptor.
- take second place — If one thing takes second place to another, it is considered to be less important and is given less attention than the other thing.
- teaching hospital — a hospital associated with a medical college and offering clinical and other facilities to those in various areas of medical study, as students, interns, and residents.
- technical support — an advising and troubleshooting service provided by a manufacturer, typically a software or hardware developer, to its customers, often online or on the telephone.
- telescopic damper — a device with telescopic parts that reduce vibration in a motor vehicle
- thousandths-place — last in order of a series of a thousand.
- tip the scales at — to weigh (a specified amount)
- topological space — a set with a collection of subsets or open sets satisfying the properties that the union of open sets is an open set, the intersection of two open sets is an open set, and the given set and the empty set are open sets.
- transdermal patch — a small piece of material used to mend a tear or break, to cover a hole, or to strengthen a weak place: patches at the elbows of a sports jacket.
- twelve patriarchs — any of the sons of Jacob ((the twelve patriarchs),) from whom the tribes of Israel were descended.
- uncompassionately — having or showing compassion: a compassionate person; a compassionate letter.
- unpredictableness — not predictable; not to be foreseen or foretold: an unpredictable occurrence.
- unsympathetically — in a manner that is not characterized by feeling or showing sympathy
- vasovagal syncope — a faint brought on by excessive activity of the vagus nerve, causing the heart to slow and the blood pressure to fall. It can be caused by fear, choking, or stomach cramps and has no lasting effects
- vice-presidential — relating to a person who ranks immediately below the chief executive or head of state of a republic
- wage-price spiral — a situation in which wage and price increases drive each other upward and cause inflation
- walleye surfperch — a common black and silvery surfperch (Hyperprosopon argenteum) found off the coast of California
- well-accomplished — completed; done; effected: an accomplished fact.