22-letter words containing s, p, o, n
- reproductive isolation — the conditions, as physiological or behavioral differences or geographical barriers, that prevent potentially interbreeding populations from cross-fertilization.
- resettlement programme — a scheme that helps refugees to be settled in another place
- respond to a complaint — If you respond to a complaint, you answer a customer who expressed their dissatisfaction with something.
- revolutions per minute — (unit) (rpm, rarely: rotations per minute) A unit of angular velocity equal to 1/60 of a revolution per second.
- rheumatoid spondylitis — ankylosing spondylitis.
- santiago de compostela — a city in and the capital of Chile, in the central part.
- school crossing patrol — the official name for lollipop man or lady
- scissors-and-paste job — if you describe a piece of work as a scissors and paste job, you mean that it has been mechanically compiled, as if by simply cutting and pasting different parts to make a new whole
- secondary spermatocyte — See under spermatocyte.
- side-impact protection — a device that is intended to protect a car and its passengers in the event of a collision at the side
- silicon graphics, inc. — (company) (SGI) Manufacturer of workstations and software for graphics and image processing. SGI was founded by Dr. James H. Clark, who left some time before May 1994 to head Mosaic Communications Corporation. Quarterly sales $433M, profits $44M (Aug 1994).
- simple harmonic motion — vibratory motion in a system in which the restoring force is proportional to the displacement from equilibrium. Abbreviation: S.H.M., s.h.m.
- sing someone's praises — the act of expressing approval or admiration; commendation; laudation.
- sleeping accommodation — place where people can sleep
- slip something over on — to move, flow, pass, or go smoothly or easily; glide; slide: Water slips off a smooth surface.
- solomon islands pidgin — the variety of Neo-Melanesian spoken in the Solomon Islands and neighbouring islands
- someone's number is up — someone's time to die or suffer punishment has arrived
- south african republic — former name of Transvaal.
- special interest group — (SIG) One of several technical areas, sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery. Well-known SIGs include SIGPLAN (the Special Interest Group on Programming Languages), SIGARCH (the Special Interest Group for Computer Architecture) and SIGGRAPH (the Special Interest Group for Computer Graphics).
- special-interest group — Also called special interest. a body of persons, corporation, or industry that seeks or receives benefits or privileged treatment, especially through legislation.
- speckle interferometry — a photographic technique for clarifying the telescopic images of a star by taking short exposures of the electronic images of the star's speckle pattern and extrapolating properties of the starlight to create a more accurate composite image.
- spectroscopic analysis — the use of spectroscopy in determining the chemical or physical constitution of substances
- speech from the throne — (in Britain and the dominions of the Commonwealth) the speech at the opening of each session of Parliament in which the Government outlines its legislative programme. It is read by the sovereign or his or her representative
- spelling pronunciation — a pronunciation based on spelling, usually a variant of the traditional pronunciation. The spelling pronunciation of waistcoat is [weyst-koht] /ˈweɪstˌkoʊt/ (Show IPA) rather than [wes-kuh t] /ˈwɛs kət/ (Show IPA).
- spherical trigonometry — the branch of trigonometry that deals with spherical triangles.
- spinal accessory nerve — accessory nerve.
- split-dollar insurance — life insurance in which someone helps pay the premiums for another, as when an employer contributes to the premiums of an employee's policy.
- spontaneous combustion — the ignition of a substance or body from the rapid oxidation of its own constituents without heat from any external source.
- spontaneous generation — abiogenesis.
- sports injuries clinic — a medical clinic that specializes in treating sports injuries
- st-pierre and miquelon — group of islands in the Atlantic, south of Newfoundland, constituting a political unit of France: includes the islands of St-Pierre (c. 10 sq mi, 26 sq km) & Miquelon & several islets: 93 sq mi (241 sq km); pop. 6,000
- step on someone's toes — one of the terminal digits of the human foot.
- structured programming — the design and coding of programs by a methodology (top-down) that successively breaks problems into smaller, nested subunits.
- subornation of perjury — the offense of bribing or otherwise persuading another to commit perjury.
- supplementary question — a question asked in Parliament by an MP during Questions to the Prime Minister
- the (great) depression — the period of economic depression which began in 1929 and lasted through most of the 1930s
- the atlantic provinces — certain of the Canadian provinces with coasts facing the Gulf of St Lawrence or the Atlantic: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador
- the caring professions — professions such as nursing and social work that are involved with looking after people who are ill or who need help in coping with their lives
- the houston ship canal — a canal linking Houston to the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway
- the maritime provinces — another name for the Atlantic Provinces of Canada, but often excluding Newfoundland and Labrador
- the medical profession — the occupation of working as a doctor of medicine
- the opposition benches — the area of a parliament where members of the party opposed to the ruling party or government sit
- the-leaning-tower-pisa — a round, marble campanile in Pisa, Italy, begun in 1174 and now 17 feet (5.2 meters) out of the perpendicular in its height of 179 feet (54 meters).
- there is no comparison — If you say there is no comparison between one thing and another, you mean that you think the first thing is much better than the second, or very different from it.
- throw on the scrapheap — to discard or get rid of as useless
- to drop someone a line — If you drop someone a line, you write to them.
- to keep your eyes open — If you keep your eyes open or keep an eye out for someone or something, you watch for them carefully.
- to open the floodgates — If events open the floodgates to something, they make it possible for that thing to happen much more often or much more seriously than before.
- to overplay one's hand — If someone overplays their hand, they act more confidently than they should because they believe that they are in a stronger position than they actually are.
- to play fast and loose — If you say that someone is playing fast and loose, you are expressing disapproval of them for behaving in a deceitful, immoral, or irresponsible way.