16-letter words containing v, i, s, c
- over-speculation — the contemplation or consideration of some subject: to engage in speculation on humanity's ultimate destiny.
- overcautiousness — the quality or state of being too cautious, wary, or careful
- overcompensating — Present participle of overcompensate.
- overcompensation — a pronounced striving to neutralize and conceal a strong but unacceptable character trait by substituting for it an opposite trait.
- overenthusiastic — full of or characterized by enthusiasm; ardent: He seems very enthusiastic about his role in the play.
- oversubscription — to subscribe for more of than is available, expected, or required: The charity drive was oversubscribed by several thousand dollars.
- ovshinsky effect — an effect that turns special types of glassy, thin films into semiconductors upon application of low voltage.
- pavillon chinois — crescent (def 6).
- pelagic division — the biogeographic realm or zone that comprises the open seas and oceans, including water of all depths.
- phytosuccivorous — feeding on sap, as certain sucking insects.
- pincers movement — a military maneuver in which both flanks of an enemy force are attacked with the aim of attaining complete encirclement.
- plutarch's lives — (Parallel Lives) a collection (a.d. 105–15) by Plutarch of short biographies of the leading political figures of ancient Greece and Rome.
- poverty-stricken — suffering from poverty; extremely poor: poverty-stricken refugees.
- pre-conversation — informal interchange of thoughts, information, etc., by spoken words; oral communication between persons; talk; colloquy.
- protective slope — a slope given to a yard or the like to drain surface water away from a building.
- queen's evidence — evidence for the crown given by an accused person against his or her alleged accomplices.
- reckless driving — a serious traffic offence whereby the driver of a vehicle disregards the rules of the road, driving very dangerously, causing accidents or other damage
- relativistically — of or relating to relativity or relativism.
- reserve capacity — the capacity of a battery, measured in minutes, to keep a vehicle operating if the charging system fails.
- resistance level — a point at which the rise in price of a specific stock is arrested due to more substantial selling than buying.
- river carpsucker — a carpsucker, Carpiodes carpio, found in silty rivers of the central U.S. south to Mexico.
- sabbatical leave — a year or shorter period of absence for study, rest, or travel, given at intervals (orig. every seven years) as to some college teachers and now to people in other fields, at full or partial salary
- same-day service — (humour, operating system) An ironic term used to describe long response time, particularly with respect to MS-DOS system calls (which ought to require only a tiny fraction of a second to execute). Such response time is a major incentive for programmers to write programs that are not well-behaved. See also PC-ism.
- savonarola chair — a chair of the Renaissance having a number of transverse pairs of curved legs, crossing beneath the seat and rising to support the arms and back.
- scandinavian lox — a kind of brine-cured salmon, having either a salt cure (Scandinavian lox) or a sugar cure (Nova Scotia lox) often eaten with cream cheese on a bagel.
- scrovegni chapel — Arena Chapel.
- second adventist — Adventist (def 1).
- security vetting — the process of investigating somebody to establish their trustworthiness
- 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
- self-cultivation — the act or art of cultivating.
- self-deliverance — suicide.
- self-descriptive — having the quality of describing; characterized by description: a descriptive passage in an essay.
- self-destructive — harmful, injurious, or destructive to oneself: His constant arguing with the boss shows he's a self-destructive person.
- self-vindicating — to clear, as from an accusation, imputation, suspicion, or the like: to vindicate someone's honor.
- self-vindication — the act of vindicating.
- self-vulcanizing — to treat (rubber) with sulfur and heat, thereby imparting strength, greater elasticity, durability, etc.
- semiconservative — disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
- senior executive — someone in a senior position in a business, who makes decisions and puts them into action
- service contract — law: between employer and employee
- service elevator — an elevator for the use of servants and delivery people and for carrying large items.
- service engineer — someone who maintains and repairs equipment
- service entrance — an entrance for the use of servants, delivery people, or the like.
- service families — families which have a member serving in the armed forces
- service industry — business providing a service
- service provider — company: provides internet
- severance motion — an application made to a judge or court for the division into separate parts of a joint estate, contract, etc
- sevruga (caviar) — caviar prepared from the small, grayish or black roe of a sturgeon chiefly from the Caspian Sea
- shortfin corvina — See under corvina.
- sicilian vespers — a general massacre of the French in Sicily by the local population, begun at the sound of the vesper bell on Easter Monday, 1282.