16-letter words containing a, p, l, y
- physical fitness — good physical condition
- physical science — any of the natural sciences dealing with inanimate matter or with energy, as physics, chemistry, and astronomy.
- physical therapy — the treatment or management of physical disability, malfunction, or pain by exercise, massage, hydrotherapy, etc., without the use of medicines, surgery, or radiation.
- physical-capital — tools, machinery, computers, and other equipment that are needed for the production of goods and services: money spent by business firms on physical capital.
- physiognomically — the face or countenance, especially when considered as an index to the character: a fierce physiognomy.
- planetary nebula — an expanding shell of thin ionized gas that is ejected from and surrounds a hot, dying star of about the same mass as the sun; the gas absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the central star and reemits it as visible light by the process of fluorescence.
- play a lone hand — to operate without assistance
- play off against — If you play people off against each other, you make them compete or argue, so that you gain some advantage.
- play one's cards — to carry out one's plans; take action (esp in the phrase play one's cards right)
- play-action pass — a pass play designed to deceive the defense by appearing to be a running play, in which the quarterback fakes a hand-off to a back before throwing a forward pass.
- player character — a character in a role-playing game or video game who is controlled by the person playing the game. Abbreviation: PC. Compare nonplayer character.
- plymouth company — a company, formed in England in 1606 to establish colonies in America and that founded a colony in Maine in 1607.
- policy statement — a declaration of the plans and intentions of an organization or government
- political asylum — asylum provided by one nation to refugees, especially political refugees, from another nation.
- political system — a coordinated set of principles, laws, ideas, and procedures relating to a particular form of government, or the form of government itself: Democracy is a political system in which citizens govern themselves.
- polyacrylic acid — a polymer of acrylic acid used as a sizing agent in the manufacture of nylon and other synthetic textiles.
- polycondensation — formation of a polymer by chemical condensation with the elimination of a small molecule, such as water.
- polyhedral angle — a configuration consisting of the lateral faces of a polyhedron around one of its vertices. The portion of a pyramid including one of its points is such a configuration.
- polyvinyl acetal — any of the class of thermoplastic resins derived by the condensation of an aldehyde with polyvinyl alcohol.
- polyvinyl formal — a colorless, water-insoluble, polyvinyl acetal produced from partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl acetate and formaldehyde, used chiefly in the manufacture of lacquers.
- port phillip bay — a bay in SE Australia: the harbor of Melbourne. 31 miles (50 km) long; 25 miles (40 km) wide.
- portrait gallery — a gallery where pictures are displayed
- post-apocalyptic — of or like an apocalypse; affording a revelation or prophecy.
- potential energy — the energy of a body or a system with respect to the position of the body or the arrangement of the particles of the system.
- prerevolutionary — of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of a revolution, or a sudden, complete, or marked change: a revolutionary junta.
- primary election — primary (def 15a).
- primary electron — in thermionics, any of the electrons falling on a body, distinguished from those emitted by it
- primary syphilis — the first stage of syphilis, characterized by the formation of a chancre at the site of infection.
- programmatically — by using a computer program: You can set the value in each field programmatically with a simple algorithm. The background shapes can be programmatically drawn and animated.
- prophylactically — defending or protecting from disease or infection, as a drug.
- propylthiouracil — a white crystalline compound, C 7 H 1 0 N 2 OS, that interferes with the synthesis of thyroid hormone by the thyroid gland: used in the treatment of hyperthyroidism.
- psychoanalytical — a systematic structure of theories concerning the relation of conscious and unconscious psychological processes.
- psychobiological — the use of biological methods to study normal and abnormal emotional and cognitive processes, as the anatomical basis of memory or neurochemical abnormalities in schizophrenia.
- ptolemaic system — a system elaborated by Ptolemy and subsequently modified by others, according to which the earth was the fixed center of the universe, with the heavenly bodies moving about it.
- publicity agency — an advertising agency; a firm that gets publicity for people or products
- pulmonary artery — an artery conveying venous blood from the right ventricle of the heart to the lungs.
- pyramidal orchid — a chalk-loving orchid, Anacamptis pyramidalis, bearing a dense cone-shaped spike of purplish-pink flowers with a long curved spur
- pyruvic aldehyde — a yellow, liquid compound, C 3 H 4 O 2 , containing both an aldehyde and a ketone group, usually obtained in a polymeric form: used chiefly in organic synthesis.
- quasi-compulsory — required; mandatory; obligatory: compulsory education.
- query by example — (database, language) (QBE) A user-friendly query language developed by Moshé Zloof of IBM in 1975.
- radial paralysis — paralysis of a forelimb as a result of loss of function of the radial nerve, usually following traumatic injury
- radiographically — the production of radiographs.
- raspberry sawfly — a black sawfly, Monophadnoides geniculatus, the larvae of which feed on the leaves of the raspberry and blackberry.
- relatively prime — (mathematics) Having no common divisors (greater than 1). Two numbers are said to be relativey prime if there is no number greater than unity that divides both of them evenly. For example, 10 and 33 are relativly prime. 15 and 33 are not relatively prime, since 3 is a divisor of both.
- representatively — a person or thing that represents another or others.
- republican party — one of the two major political parties in the U.S.: originated 1854–56.
- restriction play — a limited number of opening moves that are predetermined by their chance selection from an accepted list.
- rhynchocephalian — belonging or pertaining to the Rhynchocephalia, an order of lizardlike reptiles that are extinct except for the tuatara.
- sapodilla family — the plant family Sapotaceae, characterized by chiefly tropical trees and shrubs having milky juice, simple leaves, small flowers, and fruit in the form of a berry, and including the buckthorn (genus Bumelia), sapodilla, star apple, and trees that are the source of gutta-percha and balata.
- secondary phloem — phloem derived from the cambium during secondary growth.