23-letter words containing u, a

sidewalk superintendent — a bystander who watches the building, demolition, repair, or other work being done at a construction site.
slum clearance campaign — a campaign to rehouse those people who live in a slum area, and to prepare the area for demolition and rebuilding
smithsonian institution — an institution in Washington, D.C., founded 1846 with a grant left by James Smithson, for the increase and diffusion of knowledge: U.S. national museum and repository.
social education centre — a daycentre, run by a local authority, for people with learning disabilities and sometimes also for people who have physical disabilities or are mentally ill
social insurance number — a nine-digit number used by the federal government to identify a citizen
social security payment — a payment of social security made to an individual
sodium tripolyphosphate — a white powder, Na 5 P 3 O 1 0 , used as a water softener, sequestering agent, and food additive.
speak the same language — to communicate with understanding because of common background, values, etc
squamous cell carcinoma — a carcinoma that arises from squamous epithelium in the skin and sometimes in the mucous membranes.
st. pierre and miquelon — two small groups of islands off the S coast of Newfoundland: an overseas territory of France; important base for fishing. 3 sq. mi. (240 sq. km). Capital: St. Pierre.
stand up and be counted — express opinion
state-trading countries — countries whose export and import trading is government controlled
statutory maternity pay — the maternity pay a woman is legally entitled to
steal someone's thunder — to strike, drive, inflict, give forth, etc., with loud noise or violent action.
stimulus generalization — generalization (def 4a).
stimulus-generalization — the act or process of generalizing.
strategic business unit — an autonomous division or section with its own mission within a larger organization
stream of consciousness — unpunctuated prose
stream-of-consciousness — of, relating to, or characterized by a manner of writing in which a character's thoughts or perceptions are presented as occurring in random form, without regard for logical sequences, syntactic structure, distinctions between various levels of reality, or the like: a stream-of-consciousness novel; a stream-of-consciousness technique.
structural anthropology — a school of anthropology founded by Claude Lévi-Strauss and based loosely on the principles of structural linguistics.
structural unemployment — unemployment caused by basic changes in the overall economy, as in demographics, technology, or industrial organization.
sub specie aeternitatis — from the standpoint of eternity; from a universal perspective
supplementary insurance — Supplementary insurance is insurance coverage that is purchased in addition to an insurance policy to provide additional benefits or coverage.
suprasegmental phonemes — phonemes or features of speech, as pitch, stress, and juncture, that may extend over and modify series of segmental phonemes
survival of the fittest — (not in technical use) natural selection.
sustainable agriculture — any of a number of environmentally friendly farming methods that preserve an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources.
sustainable development — supporting economy via renewable resources
swine vesicular disease — a viral disease of swine characterized by vesicular lesions on the feet, legs, snout, and tongue
system control language — (language) (SCL) The command language for the VME/B operating system on the ICL2900. SCL was block structured and supported strings, lists of strings ("superstrings"), integer, Boolean, and array types. You could trigger a block whenever a condition on a variable value occured. It supported macros and default arguments. Commands were treated like procedure calls.
take sth in your stride — In British English, if you take a problem or difficulty in your stride, you deal with it calmly and easily. The American expression is take something in stride.
tangible user interface — (interface) An attempt to give physical form to digital information, making bits directly manipulable and perceptible by people. Tangible Interfaces will make bits accessible through augmented physical surfaces (e.g. walls, desktops, ceilings, windows), graspable objects (e.g. building blocks, models, instruments) and ambient media (e.g. light, sound, airflow, water-flow, kinetic sculpture) within physical environments.
terminal user interface — Textual User Interface
thank one's lucky stars — any of the heavenly bodies, except the moon, appearing as fixed luminous points in the sky at night.
the chamber of deputies — the lower legislative assembly in some parliaments
the numbers game/racket — If you refer to the numbers game, the numbers racket, or the numbers, you are referring to an illegal lottery or illegal betting.
thompson submachine gun — a portable, .45-caliber, automatic weapon designed to be fired from the shoulder or hip.
thousand and one nights — a collection of Eastern folk tales derived in part from Indian and Persian sources and dating from the 10th century a.d.
throw down the gauntlet — a medieval glove, as of mail or plate, worn by a knight in armor to protect the hand.
to add insult to injury — You say to add insult to injury when mentioning an action or fact that makes an unfair or unacceptable situation even worse.
to be at your wit's end — If you say that you are at your wits' end, you are emphasizing that you are so worried and exhausted by problems or difficulties that you do not know what to do next.
to call someone's bluff — If you call someone's bluff, you tell them to do what they have been threatening to do, because you are sure that they will not really do it.
to carry all before you — If a person or team carries all before them, they succeed very easily.
to get/put sb's back up — If someone or something puts your back up or gets your back up, they annoy you.
to have your hands full — If you have your hands full with something, you are very busy because of it.
to jump to a conclusion — If you say that someone jumps to a conclusion, you are critical of them because they decide too quickly that something is true, when they do not know all the facts.
to keep your nose clean — If you keep your nose clean, you behave well and stay out of trouble.
to make your skin crawl — If something makes your skin crawl or makes your flesh crawl, it makes you feel shocked or disgusted.
to outstay your welcome — If you say that someone outstays their welcome or overstays their welcome, you mean that they stay somewhere longer than they are wanted or expected to.
to pay through the nose — If you say that you paid through the nose for something, you are emphasizing that you had to pay what you consider too high a price for it.
to pluck up the courage — If you pluck up the courage to do something that you feel nervous about, you make an effort to be brave enough to do it.

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