12-letter words containing w, s, o
- sewage works — a place where chemicals are used to clean sewage so that it can then be allowed to go into rivers, etc or used to make manure
- shadow bands — slow-moving waves of light and dark observed to move across light-coloured surfaces on the earth just before and after totality in a solar eclipse. They are thought to originate from the effects of irregular atmospheric refraction
- shadow dance — a dance in which shadows of the dancers are cast on a screen.
- shadow price — the calculated price of a good or service for which no market price exists
- shadowgraphy — the production of a shadowgraph
- shawl collar — a rolled collar and lapel in one piece that curves from the back of the neck down to the front closure of a single-breasted or double-breasted garment.
- shawl tongue — kiltie (def 3).
- shen congwen — 1902–1988, Chinese author.
- shift worker — a person who does shiftwork
- shittim wood — the wood, probably acacia, of which the ark of the covenant and various parts of the tabernacle were made. Ex. 25, 26.
- shooting war — open conflict between hostile nations involving direct military engagements.
- shop steward — commerce: union rep
- short-winded — short of breath; liable to difficulty in breathing.
- show jumping — sport: horseriding event
- show stopper — Theater. a performer or performance that wins enthusiastic or prolonged applause.
- show the way — guide
- show-stopper — Theater. a performer or performance that wins enthusiastic or prolonged applause.
- show-through — the visibility through paper of what is printed on the other side.
- shower stall — an individual compartment or self-contained unit, having a single shower and accommodating one person.
- showstopping — Theater. a performer or performance that wins enthusiastic or prolonged applause.
- showy orchis — a wild orchid, Orchis spectabilis, of eastern North America, having a spike of showy flowers, each with purple, pink, or white sepals and petals united into a galea and a white lip.
- signal tower — a tower from which railway signals are controlled or displayed
- sink or swim — fail or succeed
- skeleton law — a framework or basic outline of law or rule
- skew polygon — the figure formed by joining four or more points, not all in one plane, by the same number of lines
- sloop of war — (formerly) a sailing or steam naval vessel having cannons on only one deck.
- slow neutron — a neutron with low kinetic energy, especially one slowed by the moderator in a nuclear reactor.
- slow-burning — (of combustible material) burning relatively slowly
- slow-release — sustained-release.
- small wonder — (I am) hardly surprised (that)
- smart growth — People such as architects and environmentalists use smart growth to refer to the construction of new buildings and roads within a town or city so that they are close to people's workplaces and mass transit systems and so that open spaces are not built on.
- snow bunting — a bunting, Plectrophenax nivalis, of the northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere having white plumage.
- snow crystal — a crystal of ice sufficiently heavy to fall from the atmosphere.
- snow leopard — a long-haired, leopardlike feline, Panthera (Uncia) uncia, of mountain ranges of central Asia, having a relatively small head and a thick, creamy-gray coat with rosette spots: an endangered species.
- snow pudding — a pudding, prepared by folding egg whites into a lemon gelatin mixture.
- snow scooter — a small open powered vehicle mounted on skis for travelling on snow
- snow thrower — snow blower.
- snow-covered — Snow-covered places and things are covered over with snow.
- snowboarding — a board for gliding on snow, resembling a wide ski, to which both feet are secured and that one rides in an upright position.
- snowed under — If you say that you are snowed under, you are emphasizing that you have a lot of work or other things to deal with.
- snowmobilist — a person who drives a snowmobile, a snowmobiler
- snowshoe cat — a breed of cat with soft short hair, blue eyes, an inverted V-shaped marking on the face, and white feet
- snowy mespil — a N American tree, Amelanchier Lamarckii, that produces small white flowers in spring
- snowy plover — a small plover, Charadrius alexandrinus, mainly of the U.S. and Mexico, having a white breast and sand-colored upper parts.
- software bus — A support environment for heterogeneous distributed processing, such as the ANSA Testbench.
- solway firth — an arm of the Irish Sea between SW Scotland and NW England. 38 miles (61 km) long.
- song sparrow — a small emberizine songbird, Melospiza melodia, common in North America.
- southernwood — a woody-stemmed wormwood, Artemisia abrotanum, of southern Europe, having aromatic, finely dissected leaves.
- southwestern — the point or direction midway between south and west. Abbreviation: SW.
- sparrow hawk — a small, short-winged European hawk, Accipiter nisus, that preys on smaller birds.