15-letter words containing y, t, a, l
- sabbatical year — Also called sabbatical leave. (in a school, college, university, etc.) a year, usually every seventh, of release from normal teaching duties granted to a professor, as for study or travel.
- salem secretary — a tall cabinet having a recessed upper part fitted with drawers and shelves and a lower part with doors and a section falling or pulling out to serve as a writing surface.
- salisbury steak — ground beef, sometimes mixed with other foods, shaped like a hamburger patty and broiled or fried, often garnished or served with a sauce.
- saltwater taffy — a taffy sometimes made with seawater but more generally made with salted fresh water.
- saprophytically — any organism that lives on dead organic matter, as certain fungi and bacteria.
- scarlet lychnis — a plant, Lychnis chalcedonica, of the pink family, having scarlet or sometimes white flowers, the arrangement and shape of the petals resembling a Maltese cross.
- secondary metal — metal derived wholly or in part from scrap.
- self-admittedly — admitting to a specific charge or accusation; self-confessed: a self-admitted spy.
- self-analytical — the application of psychoanalytic techniques and theories to an analysis of one's own personality and behavior, especially without the aid of a psychiatrist or other trained person.
- self-regulatory — Self-regulatory systems, organizations, or activities are controlled by the people involved in them, rather than by outside organizations or rules.
- self-revelatory — displaying, exhibiting, or disclosing one's most private feelings, thoughts, etc.: an embarrassingly self-revealing autobiography.
- self-satisfying — effecting satisfaction to oneself.
- semi-analytical — pertaining to or proceeding by analysis (opposed to synthetic).
- semicrystalline — partly or imperfectly crystalline.
- septentrionally — northwards; in the direction of the north
- sexual equality — the same status, rights, and responsibilities for male and female people
- siege mentality — a state of mind whereby one believes that one is being constantly attacked, oppressed, or isolated.
- significatively — serving to signify.
- silent majority — the U.S. citizens who supported President Nixon's policies but who were not politically vocal, outspoken, or active: considered by him to constitute a majority.
- silviculturally — with reference to silviculture
- simple majority — less than half of the total votes cast but more than the minimum required to win, as when there are more than two candidates or choices.
- sleeping beauty — a beautiful princess, the heroine of a popular fairy tale, awakened from a charmed sleep by the kiss of the prince who is her true love.
- slumpflationary — of or relating to slumpflation
- social mobility — mobility (def 2).
- social security — (usually initial capital letters) a program of old-age, unemployment, health, disability, and survivors insurance maintained by the U.S. federal government through compulsory payments by specific employer and employee groups.
- socialist party — a U.S. political party advocating socialism, formed about 1900 chiefly by former members of the Social Democratic Party and the Socialist Labor Party.
- society islands — a group of islands in the S Pacific: administratively part of French Polynesia; consists of the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands; became a French protectorate in 1843 and a colony in 1880. Pop: 214 445 (2002). Area: 1595 sq km (616 sq miles)
- socioculturally — from a sociocultural point of view
- sodium ethylate — a white, hygroscopic powder, C 2 H 5 ONa, that is decomposed by water into sodium hydroxide and alcohol: used chiefly in organic synthesis.
- solipsistically — in a solipsistic manner
- sophisticatedly — (of a person, ideas, tastes, manners, etc.) altered by education, experience, etc., so as to be worldly-wise; not naive: a sophisticated young socialite; the sophisticated eye of an experienced journalist.
- southeastwardly — toward the southeast
- southwestwardly — toward the southwest
- spratly islands — a widely-scattered group of uninhabited islets and reefs in the S South China Sea, the subject of territorial claims wholly or in part by six neighbouring nations
- stalactitically — in a way that relates to, consists of, or is like stalactites
- stalagmitically — in a way that relates to, consists of, or is like stalagmites
- staphylorrhaphy — repair of a cleft palate by means of staphyloplasty and suturing
- starting salary — an employee's initial rate of pay
- stereologically — by way of stereology or in a stereological manner
- stereotypically — in a stereotypical manner
- stokesay castle — a fortified manor house near Craven Arms in Shropshire: built in the 12th century, with a 16th-century gatehouse
- strephosymbolia — a condition of perceiving objects as their mirror image and, specifically, having difficulty in distinguishing letters in words
- subperiosteally — the normal investment of bone, consisting of a dense, fibrous outer layer, to which muscles attach, and a more delicate, inner layer capable of forming bone.
- super-sexuality — sexual character; possession of the structural and functional traits of sex.
- superabundantly — very or too abundantly
- supernaturality — the quality or state of being supernatural; supernaturalism.
- superplasticity — the phenomenon, exhibited by certain metals and alloys usually at high temperatures, of stretching to extreme lengths without breaking
- sustained yield — the continuing supply of a natural resource, as timber, through scheduled harvests to insure replacement by regrowth or reproduction.
- sycophantically — a self-seeking, servile flatterer; fawning parasite.
- syllabification — to form or divide into syllables.