0%

15-letter words containing u, n, s, c

  • snafu principle — /sna'foo prin'si-pl/ [WWII Army acronym for "Situation Normal: All Fucked Up"] "True communication is possible only between equals, because inferiors are more consistently rewarded for telling their superiors pleasant lies than for telling the truth." - a central tenet of Discordianism, often invoked by hackers to explain why authoritarian hierarchies screw up so reliably and systematically. The effect of the SNAFU principle is a progressive disconnection of decision-makers from reality. This lightly adapted version of a fable dating back to the early 1960s illustrates the phenomenon perfectly: In the beginning was the plan, and then the specification; And the plan was without form, and the specification was void. And darkness was on the faces of the implementors thereof; And they spake unto their leader, saying: "It is a crock of shit, and smells as of a sewer." And the leader took pity on them, and spoke to the project leader: "It is a crock of excrement, and none may abide the odor thereof." And the project leader spake unto his section head, saying: "It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide it." The section head then hurried to his department manager, and informed him thus: "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength." The department manager carried these words to his general manager, and spoke unto him saying: "It containeth that which aideth the growth of plants, and it is very strong." And so it was that the general manager rejoiced and delivered the good news unto the Vice President. "It promoteth growth, and it is very powerful." The Vice President rushed to the President's side, and joyously exclaimed: "This powerful new software product will promote the growth of the company!" And the President looked upon the product, and saw that it was very good. After the subsequent disaster, the suits protect themselves by saying "I was misinformed!", and the implementors are demoted or fired.
  • so much/so many — You use so much and so many when you are saying that there is a definite limit to something but you are not saying what this limit is.
  • soft-focus lens — a lens designed to produce an image that is uniformly very slightly out of focus: typically used for portrait work
  • sonnet sequence — a group of sonnets composed by one poet and having a unifying theme or subject.
  • sound recordist — recordist.
  • sounding rocket — a rocket equipped with instruments for making meteorological observations in the upper atmosphere.
  • source document — a document that has been or will be transcribed to a word processor or to the memory bank of a computer
  • source language — the language in which a text appears that is to be translated into another language. Compare target language (def 1).
  • south caucasian — a family of languages including Georgian, Mingrelian, and others that are spoken on the south slopes of the Caucasus and adjacent areas.
  • south china sea — a part of the W Pacific, bounded by SE China, Vietnam, the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and the Philippines.
  • southern gothic — a literary genre depicting life in the southern US and featuring grotesque themes and imagery
  • spanish customs — irregular practices among a group of workers to gain increased financial allowances, reduced working hours, etc
  • special student — a student who is not seeking a degree but enrols in a course, esp to gain academic credits
  • spinach-rhubarb — an Ethiopian plant, Rumex abyssinicus, of the buckwheat family, having leaves that are sometimes used as spinach and leafstalks sometimes used as rhubarb.
  • spinous process — a spinelike process of a bone, especially the dorsal projection from the center of the arch of a vertebra.
  • spiny cocklebur — a cocklebur, Xanthium spinosum, introduced into North America from Europe.
  • splanchnopleure — the double layer formed by the association of the lower layer of the lateral plate of mesoderm with the underlying entoderm, which develops into the embryonic viscera.
  • stand-up comedy — telling jokes to an audience
  • standard clause — a clause which is inserted as standard into certain types of contracts or agreements
  • stannic sulfide — a yellowish or brownish, water-insoluble powder, SnS 2 , usually used suspended in lacquer or varnish for gilding and bronzing metals, wood, paper, etc.; mosaic gold.
  • state education — education provided by the state; education which is not private
  • steering column — the shaft that connects the steering wheel to the steering gear assembly of an automotive vehicle.
  • storm insurance — insurance cover against damage caused by windstorms
  • structural gene — cistron.
  • structural iron — iron shaped for use in construction.
  • student council — a representative body composed chiefly of students chosen by their classmates to organize social and extracurricular activities and to participate in the government of a school or college.
  • student teacher — a student who is studying to be a teacher and who, as part of the training, observes classroom instruction or does closely supervised teaching in an elementary or secondary school.
  • studio audience — spectators on a TV set
  • stumbling block — an obstacle or hindrance to progress, belief, or understanding.
  • sub-corporation — an association of individuals, created by law or under authority of law, having a continuous existence independent of the existences of its members, and powers and liabilities distinct from those of its members. See also municipal corporation, public corporation.
  • sub-machine gun — a lightweight automatic or semiautomatic gun, fired from the shoulder or hip.
  • subcivilization — a division of a civilization
  • subclavian vein — either of a pair of veins, one on each side of the body, that return blood from the arms to the heart.
  • subcommissioner — a member of a subcommission
  • subconjunctival — the mucous membrane that lines the exposed portion of the eyeball and inner surface of the eyelids.
  • subcontraoctave — the octave below the contraoctave, which is three octaves below the middle C octave on a standard keyboard
  • subduction zone — an act or instance of subducting; subtraction or withdrawal.
  • subintellection — an implication that is more or less understood
  • subintelligence — below average intelligence
  • subject heading — a title or heading of a category, esp in a bibliography or index
  • subject pronoun — pronoun in nominative case
  • subject-raising — a rule that moves the subject of a complement clause into the clause in which it is embedded, as in the derivation of He is likely to be late from It is likely that he will be late
  • subsidiary coin — a coin, especially one made of silver, having a value less than that of the monetary unit.
  • substance abuse — long-term, pathological use of alcohol or drugs, characterized by daily intoxication, inability to reduce consumption, and impairment in social or occupational functioning; broadly, alcohol or drug addiction.
  • subtrochanteric — Anatomy. either of two knobs at the top of the femur, the greater on the outside and the lesser on the inside, serving for the attachment of muscles between the thigh and pelvis.
  • subvocalization — the act or process of producing subvocal speech
  • succedent house — any of the four houses that fall between the angular and cadent houses: the second, fifth, eighth, and eleventh houses, which correspond, respectively, to possessions and values, love and creation, shared possessions and resources, and friends and social concerns.
  • successlessness — lack of success; the quality or condition of being unsuccessful
  • succinylcholine — a drug, C14H30N2O4, used primarily as a muscle relaxant, produced by the esterization of succinic acid with choline
  • suck it and see — to try something to find out what it is, what it is like, or how it works
Was this page helpful?
Yes No
Thank you for your feedback! Tell your friends about this page
Tell us why?