17-letter words containing s, p, i, r, l
- self-perpetuating — continuing oneself in office, rank, etc., beyond the normal limit.
- self-presentation — an act of presenting.
- self-preservation — preservation of oneself from harm or destruction.
- self-priming pump — A self-priming pump is a pump that will clear its passages of air and start pumping.
- self-purification — a natural process of purifying, as the ability of a body of water to rid itself of pollutants.
- self-reproduction — the act or process of reproducing.
- semi-biographical — of or relating to a person's life: He's gathering biographical data for his book on Milton.
- semi-experimental — pertaining to, derived from, or founded on experiment: an experimental science.
- semi-permeability — permeable only to certain small molecules: a semipermeable membrane.
- semi-professional — actively engaged in some field or sport for pay but on a part-time basis: semiprofessional baseball players.
- seminal principle — a potential, latent within an imperfect object, for attaining full development.
- sensory paralysis — impairment or loss of sensation in a part or area of the body
- separating funnel — a large funnel having a tap in its output tube, used to separate immiscible liquids
- sexual dimorphism — the condition in which the males and females in a species are morphologically different, as with many birds.
- shipping articles — articles of agreement.
- silk-screen print — a type of print made with a stencil and a fine mesh screen. Ink is applied to and forced through the small holes in the screen leaving the covered area free from ink
- simple microscope — a microscope having a single lens.
- single-name paper — commercial paper bearing only the signature of the maker.
- slap on the wrist — a sharp blow or smack, especially with the open hand or with something flat.
- sleep deprivation — a condition in which you have not had enough sleep
- sleeper terrorist — a terrorist who is not currently active but assumes a guise in order to be in position, unsuspected, for future terrorist activities
- sleeping problems — difficulties in getting to sleep or in staying asleep
- sleeping quarters — the rooms where people sleep in a large building or complex or on a boat etc
- slip-joint pliers — pliers having a sliding joint, permitting the span of the jaws to be adjusted.
- social enterprise — a business organization that works to benefit society as a whole
- sodium-vapor lamp — an electric lamp in which sodium vapor is activated by current passing between two electrodes, producing a yellow, glareless light: used on streets and highways.
- spanish civil war — the civil war in Spain 1936–39.
- 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.
- spastic paralysis — a condition in which the muscles affected are marked by tonic spasm and increased tendon reflexes.
- spatial frequency — the measure of fine detail in an optical image in terms of cycles per millimetre
- special messenger — a postal worker who delivers mail by special delivery
- special privilege — exclusive advantage
- 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.
- 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 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.
- spiral bevel gear — a bevel gear having curved teeth tending to converge on the axis of rotation.
- spiritual bouquet — the spiritual presentation of a good work to another person.
- spiritual healing — faith healing
- split keyboarding — the act or practice of editing data from one terminal on another terminal
- split personality — multiple personality.
- sports facilities — places and things for doing sports
- spot-illustration — a rounded mark or stain made by foreign matter, as mud, blood, paint, ink, etc.; a blot or speck.
- springfield rifle — a single-shot, breechloading .45-caliber rifle used by the U.S. Army from 1867 to 1893.
- 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.
- stereolithography — a process for creating three-dimensional objects using a computer-controlled laser to build up the required structure, layer by layer, from a liquid photopolymer that solidifies.
- stratified sample — a sample that is not drawn at random from the whole population, but separately from a number of disjoint strata of the population in order to ensure a more representative sample
- strike-slip fault — a geological fault on which the movement is along the strike of the fault