15-letter words containing a, i, r, p, s
- overemphasizing — Present participle of overemphasize.
- overspeculation — the contemplation or consideration of some subject: to engage in speculation on humanity's ultimate destiny.
- ovoviviparously — in an ovoviviparous manner
- paid-in surplus — surplus paid in by purchasers of stock certificates sold at a premium.
- painter's colic — Pathology. lead poisoning causing intense intestinal pain.
- pairs champions — competitors in or winners of a pairs championship
- pan-americanism — the idea or advocacy of a political alliance or union of all the countries of North, Central, and South America.
- panoramic sight — an artillery sight that can be rotated horizontally in a full circle.
- pantopragmatics — universal intervention in the affairs of others
- panzer division — an armored division of the German army, especially in World War II, consisting chiefly of tanks and organized for making rapid attacks.
- paracel islands — a group of uninhabited islets and reefs in the N South China Sea, the subject of territorial claims by China and Vietnam
- paradise flower — a prickly vine, Solanum wendlandii, of the nightshade family, native to Costa Rica, having branched clusters of showy lilac-blue flowers.
- paradise valley — a town in SW Arizona.
- paraffin series — methane series
- paralation lisp — Embeds the paralation model in Common LISP. Available from MIT Press, (800)356-0343.
- paralinguistics — the study of paralanguage.
- parallel cousin — a cousin who is the child either of one's mother's sister or of one's father's brother.
- parasiticalness — the condition or characteristic of being parasitic
- parasympathetic — pertaining to that part of the autonomic nervous system consisting of nerves and ganglia that arise from the cranial and sacral regions and function in opposition to the sympathetic system, as in inhibiting heartbeat or contracting the pupil of the eye.
- parish magazine — a magazine containing news and articles of interest to the people of a particular parish church or the local area
- parish register — the register of the christenings, marriages, and burials in a parish.
- parkinson's law — the statement, expressed facetiously as if a law of physics, that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.
- pars intermedia — a small, somewhat cherry-shaped double structure attached by a stalk to the base of the brain and constituting the master endocrine gland affecting all hormonal functions in the body, consisting of an anterior region ((anterior pituitary) or (adenohypophysis)) that develops embryonically from the roof of the mouth and that secretes growth hormone, LH, FSH, ACTH, TSH, and MSH, a posterior region ((posterior pituitary) or (neurohypophysis)) that develops from the back of the forebrain and that secretes the hormones vasopressin and oxytocin, and an intermediate part (pars intermedia) derived from the anterior region but joined to the posterior region, that secretes the hormone MSH in lower vertebrates.
- parthenogenesis — development of an egg without fertilization.
- parti québécois — (in Canada) a political party in Quebec, formed in 1968 and originally advocating the separation of Quebec from the rest of the country
- partial eclipse — astronomy
- particularistic — exclusive attention or devotion to one's own particular interests, party, etc.
- passenger train — railway train that carries people
- passifloraceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Passifloraceae, a tropical and subtropical family of climbing plants including the passionflowers: the flowers have five petals and threadlike parts forming a dense mass (corona) around the central disc
- passport office — an office which issues passports
- past participle — a participle with past, perfect, or passive meaning, as fallen, sung, defeated; perfect participle: used in English and other languages in forming the present perfect, pluperfect, and passive and as an adjective.
- pastoralization — to make pastoral or rural.
- patria potestas — the power vested in the paterfamilias or head of the Roman family with respect to his wife, natural or adopted children, and agnatic descendants: title to family property is vested exclusively in the paterfamilias. Property acquired by a family member becomes family property, and no family member can enter into a transaction in his or her own right.
- pavement artist — sidewalk artist.
- pearly nautilus — nautilus (def 1).
- pedestrian mall — A pedestrian mall is the same as a pedestrian precinct.
- pematangsiantar — a city on NE Sumatra, in Indonesia.
- penal servitude — imprisonment together with hard labor.
- penetrativeness — the quality or condition of being penetrative
- performing arts — dance, drama, music
- perissosyllabic — (of a line of verse) containing more syllables than expected for the metre being used
- personal friend — a person who is a friend, rather than a colleague or acquaintance
- personal injury — injury to an individual
- personalization — to have marked with one's initials, name, or monogram: to personalize stationery.
- personification — the attribution of human nature or character to animals, inanimate objects, or abstract notions, especially as a rhetorical figure.
- peruvian balsam — Peru balsam.
- peter of amiens — c1050–1115, French monk: preacher of the first Crusade 1095–99.
- petit serjeanty — serjeanty in which the tenant renders services of an impersonal nature to the king, as providing him annually with an implement of war, as a lance or bow.
- phosphocreatine — a compound, C 4 H 1 0 O 5 N 3 P, found chiefly in muscle, formed by the enzymatic interaction of an organic phosphate and creatine, the breakdown of which provides energy for muscle contraction.
- phosphoric acid — any of three acids, orthophosphoric acid, H 3 PO 4 , metaphosphoric acid, HPO 3 , or pyrophosphoric acid, H 4 P 2 O 7 , derived from phosphorus pentoxide, P 2 O 5 , and various amounts of water.