12-letter words containing a, m, p, e
- pneumatology — Theology. doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit. the belief in intermediary spirits between humans and God.
- pneumococcal — a bacterium, Diplococcus pneumoniae, causing lobar pneumonia and associated with certain other diseases, as pericarditis and meningitis.
- pneumography — the process of recording the movements of the thorax in respiration.
- pneumothorax — the presence of air or gas in the pleural cavity.
- poète maudit — a poet who receives insufficient recognition in his or her own time
- pole compass — (formerly) a ship's compass elevated on a wooden pole to isolate it as much as possible from local magnetism.
- policymakers — a person responsible for making policy, especially in government.
- polycythemia — an abnormal increase in the number and concentration of circulating red blood corpuscles
- pompeian red — a dull, grayish red.
- portal frame — a frame, usually of steel, consisting of two uprights and a cross beam at the top: the simplest structural unit in a framed building or a doorway
- porto amelia — former name of Pemba (def 2).
- postal meter — a postal franking machine
- postimperial — of, relating to, or designating the period after an empire
- postmedieval — occurring or existing after the Middle Ages, of or related to the period after the Middle Ages
- postmeridian — of or relating to the afternoon.
- power hammer — a type of mechanical hammer operated by compressed air and used by blacksmiths, metalworkers, and manufacturers
- power vacuum — a situation when a government has no identifiable central authority
- power-stream — to stream and watch (multiple videos, episodes of a TV show, etc.) in one sitting or over a short period of time.
- praseodymium — a rare-earth, metallic, trivalent element, named from its green salts. Symbol: Pr; atomic weight: 140.91; atomic number: 59; specific gravity: 6.77 at 20°C.
- pre-assembly — an assembling or coming together of a number of persons, usually for a particular purpose: The principal will speak to all the students at Friday's assembly.
- pre-estimate — to form an approximate judgment or opinion regarding the worth, amount, size, weight, etc., of; calculate approximately: to estimate the cost of a college education.
- pre-marriage — (broadly) any of the diverse forms of interpersonal union established in various parts of the world to form a familial bond that is recognized legally, religiously, or socially, granting the participating partners mutual conjugal rights and responsibilities and including, for example, opposite-sex marriage, same-sex marriage, plural marriage, and arranged marriage: Anthropologists say that some type of marriage has been found in every known human society since ancient times. See Word Story at the current entry.
- preadmission — (in a reciprocating engine) admission of steam or the like to the head of the cylinder near the end of the stroke, as to cushion the force of the stroke or to allow full pressure at the beginning of the return stroke.
- preallotment — an allotment given in advance.
- preamplifier — a device in the amplifier circuit of a radio or phonograph that increases the strength of a weak signal for detection and further amplification.
- preassembled — assembled prior to purchase
- predominance — the state, condition, or quality of being predominant: the predominance of the rich over the poor.
- preeclampsia — Pathology. a form of toxemia of pregnancy, characterized by hypertension, fluid retention, and albuminuria, sometimes progressing to eclampsia.
- preformation — previous formation.
- preformative — a prefixture in Semitic languages
- preformatted — the shape and size of a book as determined by the number of times the original sheet has been folded to form the leaves. Compare duodecimo, folio (def 2), octavo, quarto.
- preformulate — to describe an active pharmaceutical ingredient chemically
- premalignant — occurring before a state of malignancy
- premaritally — in a premarital manner
- premarketing — before the development of a market
- premaxillary — one of a pair of bones of the upper jaw of vertebrates, situated in front of and between the maxillary bones.
- premedicated — to treat with medicine or medicaments.
- premeditated — done deliberately; planned in advance: a premeditated murder.
- premenstrual — of or relating to menstruation or to the menses.
- premigration — occurring before migration
- premium deal — a commercial transaction in which a special incentive or bonus is offered
- premium loan — a loan made by a life-insurance company in order that a policyholder may pay the due premium, the cash value on the policy serving as security.
- premium-rate — (relating to telephone calls) charged at a higher than standard rate
- prenominally — before a noun
- present arms — a position of salute in the manual of arms in which the rifle is held in both hands vertically in front of the body, with the muzzle upward and the trigger side forward.
- pretreatment — to treat in advance or as part of a preliminary treatment: to pretreat wood before staining it.
- primal scene — a child's first real or imagined observation of parental sexual intercourse.
- primary beam — a beam of particles of one kind selected from the group of particles produced when a beam of particles from an accelerator (primary beam) strikes a target.
- primary care — medical care by a physician, or other health-care professional, who is the patient's first contact with the health-care system and who may recommend a specialist if necessary.
- primary cell — a cell designed to produce electric current through an electrochemical reaction that is not efficiently reversible, so that the cell when discharged cannot be efficiently recharged by an electric current.