16-letter words containing t, e, s, c
- scarlet eggplant — a hairy, prickly plant, Solanum integrifolium, of the nightshade family, native to Africa, grown for its furrowed, nearly round, scarlet or yellow ornamental fruit.
- scavenger beetle — any beetle of the mostly aquatic family Hydrophilidae, having clubbed antennae and long palps, and usually feeding on decaying vegetation
- scheduled castes — (in India) the official name given to the lower castes that are now protected by the government and offered special concessions.
- scheme of things — Someone's scheme of things is the way in which they think that things in their life should be organized.
- schiff's reagent — a solution of rosaniline and sulfurous acid in water, used to test for the presence of aldehydes.
- schlieren method — a method for detecting regions of differing densities in a clear fluid by photographing a beam of light passed obliquely through it.
- schmaltz herring — herring caught just before spawning, when it has much fat
- 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
- school committee — (in New Zealand) a parent group selected to support a primary school
- school inspector — an official whose job is to inspect schools and to report on their quality and conditions
- schoolteacherish — showing characteristics thought to be typical of a schoolteacher, as strictness and primness.
- schouten islands — a group of islands belonging to Papua New Guinea, in the Pacific Oceans, off the N coast of New Guinea.
- schweizerdeutsch — Schwyzertütsch.
- sclerenchymatous — supporting or protective tissue composed of thickened, dry, and hardened cells.
- score points off — to gain an advantage at someone else's expense
- scotch blackface — one of a Scottish breed of mountain sheep having a black face and growing long, coarse wool.
- scottish borders — a council area in SE Scotland, on the English border: created in 1996, it has the same boundaries as the former Borders Region: it is mainly hilly, with agriculture (esp sheep farming) the chief economic activity. Administrative centre: Newtown St Boswells. Pop: 108 280 (2003 est). Area: 4734 sq km (1827 sq miles)
- scottish terrier — one of a Scottish breed of small terriers having short legs and a wiry, steel-gray, brindled, black, sandy, or wheaten coat.
- scratch hardness — resistance of a material, as a stone or metal, to scratching by one of several other materials, the known hardnesses of which are assembled into a standard scale, as the Mohs' scale of minerals.
- scratch together — to assemble with difficulty
- sculpture garden — a garden that showcases sculptures in landscaped surroundings
- seating capacity — the number of people a place can seat
- second adventist — Adventist (def 1).
- second amendment — an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, guaranteeing the right to keep and bear arms as necessary to maintain a state militia.
- second intention — See under intention (def 5b).
- 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 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 stress — Engineering. a stress induced by the elastic deformation of a structure under a temporary load.
- secondary tissue — tissue derived from cambium.
- secured creditor — a creditor who has a secured loan
- security analyst — a person who specializes in evaluating information regarding stocks and bonds.
- security blanket — a blanket or other familiar item carried especially by a young child to provide reassurance and a feeling of psychological security.
- 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 manager — The security manager of a store is the person responsible for organizing all security in the store and to whom security guards report.
- security measure — a precaution taken against terrorism, espionage or other danger
- security officer — civilian, policeman or soldier who is responsible for security in a town or country
- security vetting — the process of investigating somebody to establish their trustworthiness
- sedimentary rock — rock formed from compacted minerals
- select committee — a committee, as of a legislative body, that is formed to examine and report on a specific bill or issue.
- selective memory — an ability to remember some facts while apparently forgetting others, especially when they are inconvenient
- selective strike — a partial strike against a particular area of a business or against one employer or a small number of employers in a collective bargaining situation
- seleucia trachea — an ancient city in SE Asia Minor, on the River Calycadnus (modern Goksu Nehri): captured by the Turks in the 13th century; site of present-day Silifke (Turkey)
- self-advancement — an act of moving forward.
- self-confinement — the act of confining.
- self-constituted — constituted as such by oneself or itself
- self-consumption — the act of consuming, as by use, decay, or destruction.
- self-containment — the state of being self-contained.
- self-cultivation — the act or art of cultivating.