15-letter words containing s, e, c, r, t
- artificialness' — made by human skill; produced by humans (opposed to natural): artificial flowers.
- ascribed status — the social position assigned to a person on the basis of kinship, ethnic group, sex, etc.
- asiatic cholera — cholera (def 1).
- assured tenancy — an agreement between a government-approved body such as a housing association and a tenant for occupation of a newly-built house or flat at an agreed market rent, under which the tenant has security of tenure
- asymmetric bars — a pair of wooden or fibreglass bars placed parallel to each other but set at different heights, for various exercises
- asymmetric time — musical time consisting of an odd number of beats in each bar divided into uneven combinations, such as 3 + 2, 4 + 3, 2 + 3 + 2, etc
- at first glance — If you say that something is true or seems to be true at first glance, you mean that it seems to be true when you first see it or think about it, but that your first impression may be wrong.
- at full stretch — If you are at full stretch, your arm is straight and extended as far as possible, usually because you are trying to reach something that is almost too far away.
- at short notice — Notice is used in expressions such as 'at short notice', 'at a moment's notice' or 'at twenty-four hours' notice', to indicate that something can or must be done within a short period of time.
- at the controls — If someone is at the controls of a machine or other piece of equipment, they are operating it.
- at your service — You can use 'at your service' after your name as a formal way of introducing yourself to someone and saying that you are willing to help them in any way you can.
- atherosclerosis — a degenerative disease of the arteries characterized by patchy thickening of the inner lining of the arterial walls, caused by deposits of fatty material; a form of arteriosclerosis
- atherosclerotic — Of, pertaining to, or afflicted with atherosclerosis.
- athletic sports — sports, esp track and field events, in which athleticism is required
- atmospherically — pertaining to, existing in, or consisting of the atmosphere: atmospheric vapors.
- augustus caesar — Also called Octavian (before 27 b.c.)(Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus; Augustus Caesar) 63 b.c.–a.d. 14, first Roman emperor 27 b.c.–a.d. 14: reformer, patron of arts and literature; heir and successor to Julius Caesar.
- autodestructive — likely to cause one's own destruction
- autofluorescent — Of, pertaining to, or exhibiting autofluorescence.
- autostereoscopy — The display of stereoscopic images without the use of special viewing equipment.
- back plastering — the introduction of partitions of lath and plaster between the inner and outer surfaces of a stud wall in order to improve the insulating properties of the wall.
- backseat driver — If you refer to a passenger in a car as a backseat driver, they annoy you because they constantly give you advice about how to drive.
- backup software — (tool, software) Software for doing a backup, often included as part of the operating system. Backup software should provide ways to specify what files get backed up and to where. It may include its own scheduling function to automate the procedure or, preferably, work with generic scheduling facilities. It may include facilities for managing the backup media (e.g. maintaining an index of tapes) and for restoring files from backups. Examples are Unix's dump command and Windows's ntbackup.
- bacterial ghost — a bacterial cell that is emptied and filled artificially with another substance
- bacteriophagous — Pertaining to the predation and consumption of bacterium.
- basic autocoder — Early system on IBM 7070. Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959).
- bathroom scales — scales typically kept in a bathroom for people to weigh themselves
- belt-and-braces — providing double security, in case one security measure should fail
- berkeley castle — a castle in Gloucestershire: scene of the murder of Edward II in 1327
- beta conversion — (theory) A term from lambda-calculus for beta reduction or beta abstraction.
- biodestructible — biodegradable
- biogeochemistry — the science of biological, chemical, and geological aspects of the environment
- bits per second — (communications, unit) (bps, b/s) The unit in which data rate is measured. For example, a modem's data rate is usually measured in kilobits per second. In 1996, the maximum modem speed for use on the PSTN was 33.6 kbps, rising to 56 kbps in 1997. Note that kilo- (k), mega- (M), etc. in data rates denote powers of 1000, not 1024.
- black september — a Palestinian Terrorist group, responsible for the assassinations of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games at Munich in 1972
- black snakeroot — a tall bugbane, Cimicifuga racemosa, of the buttercup family, of eastern North America, having thin, tapering, toothed or deeply cut leaflets and branched clusters of small, white flowers.
- bloody butchers — a hardy plant, Trillium sessile, common from New York to Georgia and westward, having stalkless, purple or green flowers.
- booster cushion — an extra seat or cushion placed on an existing seat for a child to sit on in a car
- boston massacre — an outbreak (1770) in Boston against British troops, in which a few citizens were killed
- boustrophedonic — of or relating to lines written in opposite directions
- brachistochrone — the curve between two points through which a body moves under the force of gravity in a shorter time than for any other curve; the path of quickest descent
- brackett series — a series of lines in the infrared spectrum of hydrogen.
- branchiostegous — branchiostegal.
- bravais lattice — any of 14 possible space lattices found in crystals
- breach of trust — a violation of duty by a trustee or any other person in a fiduciary position
- breathing space — A breathing space is a short period of time between two activities in which you can recover from the first activity and prepare for the second one.
- bristol channel — an inlet of the Atlantic, between S Wales and SW England, merging into the Severn estuary. Length: about 137 km (85 miles)
- british america — British North America.
- british telecom — the popular name for British Telecommunications Group plc, the dominant fixed line telecommunications and broadband internet provider in the United Kingdom
- brocken specter — an optical phenomenon sometimes occurring at high altitudes when the image of an observer placed between the sun and a cloud is projected on the cloud as a greatly magnified shadow.
- bronchial tubes — the bronchi or their smaller divisions
- brussels carpet — a worsted carpet with a heavy pile formed by uncut loops of wool on a linen warp