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18-letter words containing s, t, a, i, c, l

  • optical disk drive — (hardware)   (Or "optical disc drive", "optical storage") A generic term for any device that reads and/or writes optical media, i.e. compact discs, DVDs and/or Blu-ray discs or future media that uses light (from a small laser) to read data off a removable, rotating disk. At least one such drive is commonly installed in most personal computers to allow them to play and/or record audio and video media and load and store data such as program installers. The floppy disk has been replaced by optical media due to its vastly greater capacity, e.g. 50,000 megabytes for a dual-layer blu-ray disc compared with 1.5 megabytes for a floppy (over 30,000 times as much).
  • optical microscope — traditional magnifying instrument
  • optical soundtrack — the final soundtrack on a motion picture, which appears as a band of black and white serrations along a strip of film to the left of the composite print. Light is shined through the serrations and is converted to audible sound.
  • organic solidarity — social cohesiveness that is based on division of labor and interdependence and is characteristic of complex, industrial societies.
  • oriental cat's-eye — a chatoyant variety of chrysoberyl, used as a gem.
  • oriental scops owl — any of a group of small owls having ear tufts and a whistling call, especially Otus scops (Old World scops owl) and O. sunia (Oriental scops owl)
  • oscillating engine — a steam engine having piston rods connected directly to the crankshaft and cylinders oscillating on trunnions.
  • overspecialization — excessive specialization, as in a field of study.
  • pair of spectacles — a score of 0 in each innings of a match
  • paleoclimatologist — the branch of paleogeography dealing with the study of paleoclimates.
  • payload specialist — an astronaut trained to handle highly complex or classified equipment carried aboard a space shuttle and to conduct experiments in space.
  • pectoral sandpiper — an American sandpiper, Calidris melanotos, the male of which, when courting, inflates its chest conspicuously.
  • pennsylvania dutch — the descendants of 17th- and 18th-century settlers in Pennsylvania from southwest Germany and Switzerland.
  • phanerocrystalline — (of a rock) having the principal constituents in the form of crystals visible to the naked eye.
  • phantasmagorically — having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination.
  • photochemical smog — air pollution containing ozone and other reactive chemical compounds formed by the action of sunlight on nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, especially those in automobile exhaust.
  • physical chemistry — the branch of chemistry dealing with the relations between the physical properties of substances and their chemical composition and transformations.
  • physical education — systematic instruction in sports, exercises, and hygiene given as part of a school or college program.
  • physical inventory — To carry out a physical inventory is to count all the stock on hand.
  • physical therapist — sb who performs physiotherapy
  • pilotless aircraft — an aircraft equipped for operation by radio or by robot control, without a human pilot aboard; drone.
  • policeman's helmet — a Himalayan balsaminaceous plant, Impatiens glandulifera, with large purplish-pink flowers, introduced into Britain
  • political prisoner — sb imprisoned for political dissidence
  • political question — a question regarded by the courts as being a matter to be determined by another department of government rather than of law and therefore one with which they will not deal, as the recognition of a foreign state.
  • positively charged — having a positive charge
  • potassium chlorate — a white or colorless, crystalline, water-soluble, poisonous solid, KClO 3 , used chiefly as an oxidizing agent in the manufacture of explosives, fireworks, matches, bleaches, and disinfectants.
  • potassium chloride — a white or colorless, crystalline, water-soluble solid, KCl, used chiefly in the manufacture of fertilizers and mineral water, and as a source of other potassium compounds.
  • predicate calculus — predicate logic
  • present participle — Grammar. a participle form, in English having the suffix -ing, denoting repetition or duration of an activity or event: used as an adjective, as in the growing weeds, and in forming progressive verb forms, as in The weeds are growing.
  • provascular tissue — procambium.
  • pseudo-socialistic — of or relating to socialists or socialism.
  • pseudointellectual — a person exhibiting intellectual pretensions that have no basis in sound scholarship.
  • psychopathological — the science or study of mental disorders.
  • pulmonic airstream — a current of lung air set in motion by the respiratory muscles in the production of speech.
  • quality of service — (communications, networking)   (QoS) The performance properties of a network service, possibly including throughput, transit delay, priority. Some protocols allow packets or streams to include QoS requirements.
  • quarterlife crisis — a crisis that may be experienced in one's twenties, involving anxiety over the direction and quality of one's life
  • quasi-metaphysical — pertaining to or of the nature of metaphysics.
  • racial segregation — social policy: separation of races
  • real-estate office — the place where a real-estate agent works
  • reinforced plastic — plastic with fibrous matter, such as carbon fibre, embedded in it to confer additional strength
  • reprocessing plant — a plant where materials are treated in order to make them reusable
  • residential school — (in Canada) a boarding school maintained by the Canadian government for Indian and Inuit children from sparsely populated settlements
  • resistance plasmid — any of a group of bacterial plasmids carrying genetic information that provide resistance to antibiotic drugs: some resistance plasmids are able to transfer themselves, and hence resistance, during conjugation
  • resistance welding — welding utilizing pressure and heat that is generated in the pieces to be welded by resistance to an electric current.
  • restraining circle — any of three circles on the floor of a basketball court used for jump balls: other players must remain outside the circle during a jump ball
  • restrictive clause — a relative clause that identifies the antecedent and that is usually not set off by commas in English. In The year that just ended was bad for crops, the clause that just ended is a restrictive clause.
  • resurrection plant — a desert plant, Selaginella lepidophylla, occurring from Texas to South America, having stems that curl inward when dry.
  • rolling resistance — The rolling resistance of a wheel or ball is its resistance to movement caused by friction between it and the surface it is rolling on.
  • rotary clothesline — an apparatus of radiating spokes that support lines on which clothes are hung to dry
  • sacrificial victim — a person who is ritually killed with the intention of propitiating or pleasing a deity
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