22-letter words containing a, c, d, e
- picture of dorian gray — a novel (1891) by Oscar Wilde.
- pizza delivery service — a service whereby a pizza restaurant delivers pizzas to customers who order by telephone
- play one's cards right — a usually rectangular piece of stiff paper, thin pasteboard, or plastic for various uses, as to write information on or printed as a means of identifying the holder: a 3″ × 5″ file card; a membership card.
- post office department — former name of United States Postal Service.
- potassium ferricyanide — a bright-red, crystalline, water-soluble, poisonous solid, K 3 Fe(CN) 6 , used chiefly in the manufacture of pigments, as Prussian blue, and of paper, especially blueprint paper.
- potassium ferrocyanide — a lemon-yellow, crystalline, water-soluble solid, K 4 Fe(CN) 6 ⋅3H 2 O, used chiefly in casehardening alloys having an iron base and in dyeing wool and silk.
- prawn-sandwich brigade — sports fans who are perceived to lack passion and commitment, and who it is supposed attend matches in order to eat food and buy merchandise rather than cheer on their team
- prince edward islander — a native or inhabitant of Prince Edward Island
- prince of wales island — the largest island in the Alexander Archipelago, in SE Alaska. 1500 sq. mi. (3990 sq. km).
- principal ideal domain — a commutative integral domain with multiplicative identity in which every ideal is principal.
- procurement department — the department of (a company, organization, etc) responsible for purchasing and buying
- productivity agreement — an agreement whereby the employees of an organization agree to changes which are intended to improve productivity in return for an increase in pay or other benefits
- programmed instruction — a progressively monitored, step-by-step teaching method, employing small units of information or learning material and frequent testing, whereby the student must complete or pass one stage before moving on to the next.
- public domain software — public domain
- public limited company — A public limited company is the same as a public company. The abbreviation plc is used after such companies' names.
- punctuated equilibrium — theory of, Biology. a hypothesis holding that the evolution of species proceeds in a characteristic pattern of relative stability for long periods of time interspersed with much shorter periods during which many species become extinct and new species emerge. Also called punctuationalism. Compare gradualism (def 3).
- pure food and drug act — a law passed in 1906 to remove harmful and misrepresented foods and drugs from the market and regulate the manufacture and sale of drugs and food involved in interstate trade.
- quarter inch cartridge — (storage) /kwik/ (QIC) a type of magnetic tape and tape drive. Development standards for QIC make it possible for tapes written on one QIC drive to be read on another. QIC drives are made to work with different lengths of tape. The model number of the drive consists of QIC followed by a number which indicates the drives tape capacity in megabytes (MB).
- rabbit-eared bandicoot — any of several bandicoots of the genus Macrotis, especially M. lagotis, of the Australian region, having leathery, rabbitlike ears and a long, pointed snout: an endangered species.
- radio direction finder — a navigational aid establishing a fix by means of the bearings of two known radio stations. Abbreviation: RDF.
- range of accommodation — the range of distance over which an object can be accurately focused on the retina by accommodation of the eye.
- rapid deployment force — a U.S. military organization consisting of one Marine division and four Army divisions, established in 1979 to respond quickly to any distant threat to national interests.
- read someone a lecture — to scold or reprimand someone
- received pronunciation — the pronunciation of British English considered to have the widest geographical distribution and the fewest regional peculiarities, originally the pronunciation of educated speakers in southern England and traditionally that used in the public schools and at Oxford and Cambridge universities, adopted by many speakers elsewhere in England and widely used in broadcasting. Abbreviation: RP.
- rectangular coordinate — Usually, rectangular coordinates. either of two Cartesian coordinates in which the axes meet at right angles.
- reliable data protocol — (protocol) (RDP) A protocol designed to provide a reliable data transport service for packet-based applications such as remote loading and debugging. RDP is intended to be simple to implement but still be efficient in environments where there may be long transmission delays and loss or non-sequential delivery of message segments. RDP is defined in RFC 908.
- remote database access — (database, standard) (RDBA) A standard permitting the exchange of information between different DBMS systems.
- reproductive isolation — the conditions, as physiological or behavioral differences or geographical barriers, that prevent potentially interbreeding populations from cross-fertilization.
- residents' association — A residents' association is an organization of people who live in a particular area. Residents' associations have meetings and take action to make the area more pleasant to live in.
- respond to a complaint — If you respond to a complaint, you answer a customer who expressed their dissatisfaction with something.
- retrograde ejaculation — ejaculation of semen backward toward the bladder instead of forward through the urethra.
- reverse discrimination — the unfair treatment of members of majority groups resulting from preferential policies, as in college admissions or employment, intended to remedy earlier discrimination against minorities.
- revolutionary calendar — the calendar of the French First Republic, adopted in 1793 and abandoned in 1805, consisting of 12 months, each of 30 days, and 5 intercalary days added at the end of the year (6 every fourth year). The months, beginning at the autumnal equinox, are Vendémiaire, Brumaire, Frimaire, Nivôse, Pluviôse, Ventôse, Germinal, Floréal, Prairial, Messidor, Thermidor, and Fructidor.
- round-table discussion — a discussion held at a meeting of parties or people on equal terms
- rural delivery service — mail delivery operated primarily to deliver and collect mail in rural communities with no other convenient postal facilities.
- saddleback caterpillar — a moth larva, Sibine stimulea, of the southeastern U.S, having a brown and green, saddlelike marking on its back and poisonous spines.
- sail close to the wind — air in natural motion, as that moving horizontally at any velocity along the earth's surface: A gentle wind blew through the valley. High winds were forecast.
- santa cruz de tenerife — a seaport on NE Tenerife island, in the W Canary Islands.
- santiago de compostela — a city in and the capital of Chile, in the central part.
- satellite broadcasting — the transmission of television or radio programmes from an artificial satellite at a power suitable for direct reception in the home
- saturday night special — a cheap, small-caliber handgun that is easily obtainable and concealable.
- saturday-night special — a cheap, small-caliber handgun that is easily obtainable and concealable.
- save the children fund — a development agency which raises money for deprived children around the world
- scandinavian peninsula — large peninsula in N Europe, consisting of Norway & Sweden
- school medical officer — a doctor who is based in a school and is responsible for the health of schoolchildren
- scissors-and-paste job — if you describe a piece of work as a scissors and paste job, you mean that it has been mechanically compiled, as if by simply cutting and pasting different parts to make a new whole
- second consonant shift — the consonant shift by which High German became differentiated from other Germanic languages.
- second vatican council — the twenty-first Roman Catholic ecumenical council (1962–65) convened by Pope John XXIII. Its 16 documents redefined the nature of the church, gave bishops greater influence in church affairs, and increased lay participation in liturgy.
- second-hand bookseller — a person who has a second-hand bookshop
- secondary articulation — coarticulation (def 2).