19-letter words containing v
- ride roughshod over — shod with horseshoes having projecting nails or points.
- roosevelt corollary — a corollary (1904) to the Monroe Doctrine, asserting that the U.S. might intervene in the affairs of an American republic threatened with seizure or intervention by a European country.
- rural free delivery — former name for rural delivery service. Abbreviation: R.F.D.
- sacrifice operative — a euphemistic term for a suicide bomber
- saint vitus's dance — chorea (def 2).
- salvage archaeology — the collection of archaeological data and materials from a site in danger of imminent destruction, as from new construction or flooding.
- san fernando valley — valley in SW Calif., partly in NW Los Angeles: c. 260 sq mi (673 sq km)
- san salvador island — an island in the central Bahamas: the first land in the New World seen by Christopher Columbus (1492). Area: 156 sq km (60 sq miles)
- saturation coverage — news coverage (of an event, etc) that is very thorough in order not to miss any details
- save someone's neck — to help someone else escape from such a situation
- savings certificate — a certificate of deposit for a specific sum of money in a savings account, especially a deposit for a fixed term at a specified interest rate.
- segmentation cavity — blastocoel.
- selective attention — mental focus on sth in particular
- self-levelling foot — (on furniture, washing-machines, etc) a foot that adjusts to let the item in question stand in a steady position
- sell down the river — a natural stream of water of fairly large size flowing in a definite course or channel or series of diverging and converging channels.
- semipalmated plover — a New World plover, Charadrius semipalmatus, having a black ring around the chest and semipalmate feet, inhabiting beaches and salt marshes.
- sensitometric curve — characteristic curve.
- sensory deprivation — the experimental or natural reduction of environmental stimuli, as by physical isolation or loss of eyesight, often leading to cognitive, perceptual, or behavioral changes, as disorientation, delusions, or panic.
- separation negative — Photography. a black-and-white negative of one of the additive primary colors used to form a color image.
- seven hills of rome — the hills on which the ancient city of Rome was built: the Palatine, Capitoline, Quirinal, Caelian, Aventine, Esquiline, and Viminal
- seventh commandment — “Thou shalt not commit adultery”: seventh of the Ten Commandments.
- shovelnose sturgeon — a small sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus platorhynchus, of the Mississippi River, having a broad, flat snout.
- shucking and jiving — misleading or deceptive talk or behavior, as to give a false impression.
- simple closed curve — a curve that is closed and that has no loops or points missing; a curve for which there exists a homeomorphism mapping it to a circle.
- small advertisement — a short, simply designed advertisement in a newspaper or magazine, usually set entirely in a small size of type
- solid of revolution — a three-dimensional figure formed by revolving a plane area about a given axis.
- soviet central asia — the region of the former Soviet Union now occupied by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan
- soviet of the union — the legislature of the former Soviet Union and its successor states, consisting of an upper house (Soviet of the Union or Council of the Union) whose delegates are elected on the basis of population, and a lower house (Soviet of Nationalities or Council of Nationalities) whose delegates are elected to represent the various nationalities.
- special air service — a regiment in the British Army specializing in clandestine operations
- speculative fiction — a broad literary genre encompassing any fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements
- speeding conviction — a conviction for breaking the speed limit while driving a vehicle
- st. kitts and nevis — country in the Leeward Islands of the West Indies, consisting of two islands (St. Kitts & Nevis): formerly a British colony, it became an independent state (1983) & a member of the Commonwealth: c. 101 sq mi (262 sq km); pop. 41,000; cap. Basseterre
- stanford university — (education) A University in the city of Palo Alto, California, noted for work in computing, especially artificial intelligence. See SAIL.
- stanislavski method — method (def 5).
- starve the bardies! — an exclamation of surprise or protest
- stochastic variable — a random variable.
- stratford-upon-avon — town in S Warwickshire, England, on the Avon: birthplace & burial place of Shakespeare: pop. of county district (called Stratford-on-Avon) 106,000
- subjective idealism — a doctrine that the world has no existence independent of sensations or ideas.
- subtractive process — a process of color photography in which the colors are formed by combination of cyan, yellow, and magenta lights.
- supernatural virtue — one of the three graces: faith, hope, or charity, infused into the human intellect and will by a special grace of God.
- supreme de volaille — suprême (def 2).
- take evasive action — If you take evasive action, you deliberately move away from someone or something in order to avoid meeting them or being hit by them.
- take five, take ten — If someone tells you to take five or to take ten, they are telling you to have a five- or ten-minute break from what you are doing.
- take it or leave it — If you say to someone 'take it or leave it', you are telling them that they can accept something or not accept it, but that you are not prepared to discuss any other alternatives.
- take the initiative — If you take the initiative in a situation, you are the first person to act, and are therefore able to control the situation.
- tamper-evident seal — A tamper-evident seal is a sealing device designed to reveal if the opening of a container has been interfered with.
- tangential-velocity — the component of the linear motion of a star with respect to the sun, measured along a line perpendicular to its line of sight and expressed in miles or kilometers per second.
- the bitter/very end — If you do something to the bitter end or to the very end, you continue to do it for as long as you can, although it may be very unpleasant or dangerous.
- the evergreen state — Washington State
- the executive suite — the offices of the top managers