17-letter words containing s, p, e, c, h, l
- pocket battleship — a small heavily armed and armored warship serving as a battleship because of limitations imposed by treaty.
- polioencephalitis — a disease characterized by inflammation of the gray matter of the brain.
- polystyrene chips — small pieces of polystyrene used for insulating or packing
- pseudepigraphical — certain writings (other than the canonical books and the Apocrypha) professing to be Biblical in character.
- pseudo-historical — of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events: historical records; historical research.
- psychoeducational — designating or of psychological methods, as intelligence tests, used in evaluating learning ability
- purple shore crab — any of numerous crabs that live along the shoreline between the tidemarks, as Hemigrapsus nudus (purple shore crab) of the Pacific coast of North America.
- pythagorean scale — the major scale as derived acoustically by Pythagoras from the perfect fifth.
- san pedro channel — a strait between the mainland of SW California and Santa Catalina Island. About 20 miles (32 km) wide.
- schmidt telescope — a wide-angle reflecting telescope used primarily for astronomical photography, in which spherical aberration and coma are reduced to a minimum by means of a spherical mirror with a corrector plate near its focus.
- schwedler's maple — a variety of the Norway maple, Acer platanoides schwedleri, producing red leaves that subsequently turn green.
- scrape the barrel — to be forced to use one's last and weakest resource
- scrophulariaceous — belonging to the Scrophulariaceae, the figwort family of plants.
- semi-biographical — of or relating to a person's life: He's gathering biographical data for his book on Milton.
- shipping articles — articles of agreement.
- shuttle diplomacy — diplomatic negotiations carried out by a mediator who travels back and forth between the negotiating parties.
- 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.
- spectrohelioscope — a spectroheliograph.
- speech difficulty — a problem encountered in speaking
- spherical polygon — a closed figure formed by arcs of great circles on a spherical surface.
- spore mother cell — a cell from which a spore is produced
- 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.
- stenothermophilic — growing best within a narrow temperature range.
- 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.
- telephone service — a company or public utility that provides a telephone-operating service
- the plot thickens — People sometimes say 'the plot thickens' when a situation or series of events is getting more and more complicated and mysterious.
- thousandths-place — last in order of a series of a thousand.
- tip the scales at — to weigh (a specified amount)
- 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.
- unsympathetically — in a manner that is not characterized by feeling or showing sympathy
- walleye surfperch — a common black and silvery surfperch (Hyperprosopon argenteum) found off the coast of California
- well-accomplished — completed; done; effected: an accomplished fact.