16-letter words containing s, y, r, o
- pocket secretary — a long, narrow walletlike case, usually of leather and containing pockets for credit and business cards, paper money, etc., and sometimes a notepad and pencil.
- polyphonic prose — prose characterized by the use of poetic devices, as alliteration, assonance, rhyme, etc., and especially by an emphasis on rhythm not strictly metered.
- poor boy sweater — a snug-fitting, pullover sweater with ribbing on both the body and sleeves, worn by girls and women.
- postcode lottery — a situation in which the standard of medical care, education, etc, received by the public varies from area to area, depending on the funding policies of various health boards, local authorities, etc
- poverty-stricken — suffering from poverty; extremely poor: poverty-stricken refugees.
- primary consumer — (in the food chain) an animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore.
- prison psychosis — a state of mental confusion, transitory or permanent, brought on by incarceration or by the anticipation of imprisonment.
- proboscis monkey — a reddish, arboreal monkey, Nasalis larvatus, of Borneo, the male of which has a long, flexible nose: an endangered species.
- process industry — business of treating raw materials
- process theology — a form of theology that emphasizes the close relation of human beings, nature, and God.
- proficiency test — an exam which test how proficient or skilled someone is in a particular activity, field of study, language, etc
- progress payment — an instalment of a larger payment made to a contractor for work carried out up to a specified stage of the job
- proteus syndrome — a condition caused by malfunction in cell growth, in which bone and flesh tissue overgrow in localized areas of the body
- pseudoparenchyma — (in certain fungi and red algae) a compact mass of tissue, made up of interwoven hyphae or filaments, that superficially resembles plant tissue.
- psychogeriatrics — the psychology of old age.
- pyloric stenosis — an abnormal narrowing of the valve at the outlet from the stomach, preventing normal passage of food into the small intestine.
- quasi-compulsory — required; mandatory; obligatory: compulsory education.
- quasi-stationary — a person or thing that is stationary.
- radioimmunoassay — a test procedure that integrates immunologic and radiolabeling techniques to measure minute quantities of a substance, as a protein, hormone, or drug, in a given sample of body fluid or tissue.
- radiosymmetrical — radially symmetrical.
- raise an eyebrow — If something causes you to raise an eyebrow or to raise your eyebrows, it causes you to feel surprised or disapproving.
- recursion theory — (theory) The study of problems that, in principle, cannot be solved by either computers or humans.
- reserve buoyancy — the difference between the volume of a hull below the designed waterline and the volume of the hull below the lowest opening incapable of being made watertight.
- restriction play — a limited number of opening moves that are predetermined by their chance selection from an accepted list.
- reverse snobbery — a person overly proud of being one of or sympathetic to the common people, and who denigrates or shuns those of superior ability, education, social standing, etc.
- rhabdomyosarcoma — a malignant tumor made up of striated muscle tissue.
- rhinopharyngitis — inflammation of the mucous membranes of the nose and pharynx.
- royal commission — (in Britain) a body set up by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister to gather information about the operation of existing laws or to investigate any social, educational, or other matter. The commission has prescribed terms of reference and reports to the government on how any change might be achieved
- sandstone quarry — a quarry from which sand is extracted
- save as you earn — (in Britain) a savings scheme which offers a tax-free bonus and allows employees to buy shares in the company they work for at a fixed price
- scarborough lily — a plant, Vallota speciosa, of the amaryllis family, native to southern Africa, having clusters of funnel-shaped, scarlet flowers.
- schneider trophy — a trophy for air racing between seaplanes of any nation, first presented by Jacques Schneider (1879–1928) in 1913; won outright by Britain in 1931
- sclerenchymatous — supporting or protective tissue composed of thickened, dry, and hardened cells.
- second-story man — a burglar who enters through an upstairs window.
- secondary accent — a stress accent weaker than primary accent but stronger than lack of stress.
- secondary cancer — a cancerous growth in some part of the body away from the site of the original tumour
- secondary colour — a colour formed by mixing two primary colours
- secondary growth — an increase in the thickness of the shoots and roots of a vascular plant as a result of the formation of new cells in the cambium.
- secondary market — the market that exists for an issue after large blocks of shares have been publicly distributed.
- secondary modern — Secondary moderns were schools which existed until recently in Britain for children aged between about eleven and sixteen, where more attention was paid to practical skills and less to academic study than in a grammar school.
- secondary phloem — phloem derived from the cambium during secondary growth.
- secondary school — a high school or a school of corresponding grade, ranking between a primary school and a college or university.
- secondary source — next after the first in order, place, time, etc.
- secondary stress — Engineering. a stress induced by the elastic deformation of a structure under a temporary load.
- secondary tissue — tissue derived from cambium.
- security council — the division of the United Nations charged with maintaining international peace, composed of five permanent members (U.S., Russian Federation, France, United Kingdom, and the People's Republic of China) and ten temporary members, each serving for two years.
- security officer — civilian, policeman or soldier who is responsible for security in a town or country
- sedimentary rock — rock formed from compacted minerals
- selective memory — an ability to remember some facts while apparently forgetting others, especially when they are inconvenient
- selenomorphology — the study of the lunar surface and landscape