20-letter words containing t, e, s, a
- southern oscillation — a low-latitude fluctuation of atmospheric pressure closely linked with El Niño events, specifically the periods of El Niño warming and La Niña cooling.
- space-time continuum — Also called space-time continuum. the four-dimensional continuum, having three spatial coordinates and one temporal coordinate, in which all physical quantities may be located.
- spanish oyster plant — a composite plant, Scolymus hispanicus, of southern Europe, having spiny, thistlelike leaf margins, small yellow flowers, and an edible root.
- spanish west african — of or relating to the former Spanish overseas territory of Spanish West Africa (now the overseas provinces of Ifni and Spanish Sahara) or its inhabitants
- spatial technologies — (company) Distributors of the ACIS solid modelling engine.
- special boat service — a unit of the Royal Marines specializing in reconnaissance and sabotage
- special patrol group — a former police unit tasked with counter terrorism in the Royal Ulster Constabulary
- special relationship — the exceptionally close political, diplomatic, cultural and historical relations between the United States and the United Kingdom
- specialist registrar — a hospital doctor senior to a house officer but junior to a consultant, specializing in medicine (medical specialist registrar), surgery (surgical specialist registrar), or some subspeciality of either
- specific conductance — conductivity (def 2).
- specific-conductance — conductivity (def 2).
- spectroscopic binary — a binary star having components that are not sufficiently separated to be resolved by a telescope, known to be a binary only bythe variations in wavelength of emitted light that are detected by a spectroscope.
- spherical aberration — variation in focal length of a lens or mirror from center to edge, due to its spherical shape.
- spherical coordinate — Usually, spherical coordinates. any of three coordinates used to locate a point in space by the length of its radius vector and the angles this vector makes with two perpendicular polar planes.
- splice the mainbrace — to issue and partake of an extra allocation of alcoholic spirits
- spontaneous abortion — miscarriage (def 1).
- spontaneous recovery — the reappearance of a response after its extinction has been followed by a period of rest
- spontaneous-abortion — Also called voluntary abortion. the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy.
- spotted crane's-bill — the American wild geranium, Geranium maculatum.
- square cross-section — If a kelly has a square cross-section, it has a surface area with four equal sides, when looked at as if has been sliced through.
- square of opposition — a diagrammatic representation of the opposition of categorical propositions.
- squatter sovereignty — (used contemptuously by its opponents) popular sovereignty (def 2).
- st. george's channel — a channel between Wales and Ireland, connecting the Irish Sea and the Atlantic. 100 miles (160 km) long; 50–90 miles (81–145 km) wide.
- st. james-assiniboia — a city in SE Manitoba, in S central Canada: suburb of Winnipeg.
- st.-germain-des-pres — an area in Paris, on the Left Bank.
- staff of aesculapius — a representation of a forked staff with an entwining serpent, used as a symbol of the medical profession and as the insignia of the American Medical Association and other medical organizations. Compare caduceus (def 2).
- staff sergeant major — a noncommissioned officer equivalent in rank to a command sergeant major but having no command responsibility.
- stained glass window — a window made of coloured glass, often showing religious pictures and usually seen in churches
- standard book number — International Standard Book Number. Abbreviation: SBN.
- standstill agreement — law: between company and bidder
- star spangled banner — Stars and Stripes.
- star-spangled banner — Stars and Stripes.
- stare sb in the face — If a situation or the answer to a problem is staring you in the face, it is very obvious, although you may not be immediately aware of it.
- state enrolled nurse — a nurse with training and examinations enabling him or her to perform many nursing services
- state highway patrol — a state's road traffic police
- state representative — a person elected by a state to be a member of the House of Representatives
- states of the church — Papal States
- ste. anne de beaupre — a village in S Quebec, in SE Canada, on the St. Lawrence, NE of Quebec: Roman Catholic shrine.
- steak and kidney pie — meat pastry
- stefan-boltzmann law — the law stating that the total energy radiated from a blackbody is proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature.
- step into the breach — If you step into the breach, you do a job or task which someone else was supposed to do or has done in the past, because they are suddenly unable to do it.
- step up to the plate — to move into batting position
- stochastic terrorism — the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted: The lone-wolf attack was apparently influenced by the rhetoric of stochastic terrorism.
- stoichiometric ratio — The stoichiometric ratio is the exact ratio between air and flammable gas or vapor at which complete combustion takes place.
- stokes-adams disease — unconsciousness accompanying atrioventricular heart block, sometimes characterized by weakness, irregular pulse, and intermittent convulsive or nonconvulsive seizures.
- storage area network — (storage) (SAN) A high-speed subnetwork of shared storage devices. A storage device is a machine that contains nothing but a disk or disks for storing data. A SAN's architecture works in a way that makes all storage devices available to all servers on a LAN or WAN. As more storage devices are added to a SAN, they too will be accessible from any server in the larger network. The server merely acts as a pathway between the end user and the stored data. Because stored data does not reside directly on any of a network's servers, server power is used for business applications, and network capacity is released to the end user.
- strawberry-raspberry — an arching, prickly, Japanese plant, Rubus illecebrosus, of the rose family, having an herbaceous stem, white, fragrant flowers, and large, edible, scarlet fruit.
- stress concentration — A stress concentration in a solid is a place where there is a lot of stress, either because a force is applied in a particular area or there is a change in the cross-sectional area.
- strong nuclear force — an interaction between elementary particles responsible for the forces between nucleons in the nucleus. It operates at distances less than about 10–15 metres, and is about a hundred times more powerful than the electromagnetic interaction
- structural isomerism — Chemistry. the relation of two or more compounds, radicals, or ions that are composed of the same kinds and numbers of atoms but differ from each other in structural arrangement (structural isomerism) as CH 3 OCH 3 and CH 3 CH 2 OH, or in the arrangement of their atoms in space and therefore in one or more properties. Compare optical isomerism, stereoisomerism.