12-letter words containing a, c, t, e, s
- past perfect — pluperfect.
- pastry cream — a creamy custard, often flavoured, used as a filling for éclairs, flans, etc
- percutaneous — administered, removed, or absorbed by way of the skin, as an injection, needle biopsy, or transdermal drug.
- pericarditis — inflammation of the pericardium.
- periostracum — the external, chitinlike covering of the shell of certain mollusks that protects the limy portion from acids.
- periphrastic — circumlocutory; roundabout.
- peristomatic — surrounding a leaf's stoma or stomata
- perspectival — a technique of depicting volumes and spatial relationships on a flat surface. Compare aerial perspective, linear perspective.
- perspicacity — keenness of mental perception and understanding; discernment; penetration.
- pertinacious — holding tenaciously to a purpose, course of action, or opinion; resolute.
- pestological — relating to pestology
- pet scanning — the action or process of using a PET scanner to obtain an image.
- phagocytoses — phagocytize.
- photoelastic — displaying photoelasticity; of or relating to photoelasticity
- phylacteries — Judaism. either of two small, black, leather cubes containing a piece of parchment inscribed with verses 4–9 of Deut. 6, 13–21 of Deut. 11, and 1–16 of Ex. 13: one is attached with straps to the left arm and the other to the forehead during weekday morning prayers by Orthodox and Conservative Jewish men.
- picture sash — a large window sash, as for a picture window.
- pirate coast — an independent federation in E Arabia, formed in 1971, now comprising seven emirates on the S coast (formerly, Pirate Coast or Trucial Coast) of the Persian Gulf, formerly under British protection: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah (joined 1972), and Fujairah. About 32,300 sq. mi. (83,657 sq. km). Capital: Abu Dhabi. Abbreviation: U.A.E.
- plainclothes — Plainclothes police officers wear ordinary clothes instead of a police uniform.
- plaster cast — any piece of sculpture reproduced in plaster of Paris.
- platanaceous — relating to the family Platanaceae
- plattdeutsch — the Low German vernacular dialects spoken in northern Germany.
- play clothes — clothes that are suitable for playing in
- pneumatocyst — the cavity of a pneumatophore.
- poeticalness — the characteristic of being poetical
- police state — a nation in which the police, especially a secret police, summarily suppresses any social, economic, or political act that conflicts with governmental policy.
- politicaster — an ill-suited or disliked politician
- polychaetous — of or relating to the genus Polychaeta
- pontificates — the office or term of office of a pontiff.
- post-nuclear — pertaining to or involving atomic weapons: nuclear war.
- postaccident — occurring after an accident
- postcardlike — (of a scene) resembling a postcard
- postcardware — Shareware that borders on freeware, in that the author requests only that satisfied users send a postcard of their home town or something. (This practice, silly as it might seem, serves to remind users that they are otherwise getting something for nothing, and may also be psychologically related to real estate "sales" in which $1 changes hands just to keep the transaction from being a gift.)
- postfracture — taking place after a fracture
- pre-socratic — of or relating to the philosophers or philosophical systems of the period before the Socratic period.
- problematics — problems or difficulties in a particular situation or subject
- proboscidate — having a proboscis.
- process data — data processing
- proconsulate — the office or term of office of a proconsul.
- promuscidate — shaped like a proboscis
- prosectorial — characteristic of a prosector
- prosecutable — Law. to institute legal proceedings against (a person). to seek to enforce or obtain by legal process. to conduct criminal proceedings in court against.
- psi particle — any of a family of mesons consisting of a charmed quark and a charmed antiquark.
- psittacinite — mottramite.
- psychoactive — of or relating to a substance having a profound or significant effect on mental processes: a psychoactive drug.
- pterocarpous — having winged fruit.
- ptyalectasis — spontaneous or surgical dilatation of a salivary duct.
- purchase tax — a sales tax on nonessential and luxury goods.
- quadrisected — Simple past tense and past participle of quadrisect.
- quarterbacks — Plural form of quarterback.
- quarterdecks — Plural form of quarterdeck.