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23-letter words containing a, p, o, r, t

  • not a hair out of place — If you say that someone has not a hair out of place, you are emphasizing that they are extremely smart and neatly dressed.
  • object management group — (body)   (OMG) A consortium aimed at setting standards in object-oriented programming. In 1989, this consortium, which included IBM Corporation, Apple Computer Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc., mobilised to create a cross-compatible distributed object standard. The goal was a common binary object with methods and data that work using all types of development environments on all types of platforms. Using a committee of organisations, OMG set out to create the first Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) standard which appeared in 1991. As of February 1998, the latest standard is CORBA 2.2.
  • on-line data processing — the storing or processing of data on a computer using the internet
  • orthographic projection — a two-dimensional graphic representation of an object in which the projecting lines are at right angles to the plane of the projection. Also called orthogonal projection. Compare isometric (def 5).
  • orthostatic hypotension — Medicine/Medical. a fall in blood pressure associated with an upright position, usually occurring as a result of standing still for a long time or rising from a prolonged stay in bed and often causing faintness, dizziness, and vision disturbances.
  • osteogenesis imperfecta — a rare hereditary disease in which abnormal connective tissue development leads to fragile bones subject to fracture.
  • own occupation coverage — Own occupation coverage is insurance that covers a person if they cannot work in their own occupation, following an accident, injury, or disability.
  • painting and decorating — interior decoration
  • pan-africanist congress — a South African liberation movement founded in 1959, now a political party known as the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania
  • parametric polymorphism — Polymorphism was first identified by Christopher Strachey in 1967 and developed by Hindley and Milner. For example we could specify that the argument of the "head" function was a list without specifying a type for the elements of the list. In Haskell we would write: head :: [a] -> a meaning head has type function from "list of a" to "a" where "a" is a type variable). This is known as parametric polymorphism. Polymorphic typing allows strong type checking as well as generic functions. ML in 1976 was the first language with polymorphic typing. See also generic type variable.
  • parasexual reproduction — reproduction by recombination of genes from genetically dissimilar nuclei within binucleate or multinucleate cells, as in filamentous fungi.
  • parkinson's law of data — "Data expands to fill the space available for storage"; buying more memory encourages the use of more memory-intensive techniques. It has been observed over the last 10 years that the memory usage of evolving systems tends to double roughly once every 18 months. Fortunately, memory density available for constant dollars also tends to double about once every 12 months (see Moore's Law); unfortunately, the laws of physics guarantee that the latter cannot continue indefinitely.
  • parliamentary democracy — a system of government in which people elect representatives to a parliament to make laws, for example Canada and the UK
  • partial differentiation — the process of finding one of the partial derivatives of a function of several variables.
  • participant observation — a technique of field research, used in anthropology and sociology, by which an investigator (participant observer) studies the life of a group by sharing in its activities.
  • participatory democracy — individual participation by citizens in political decisions and policies that affect their lives, especially directly rather than through elected representatives.
  • pay one's last respects — If you pay your last respects to someone who has just died, you show your respect or affection for them by coming to see their body or their grave.
  • pentachloronitrobenzene — a crystalline compound, C 6 Cl 5 NO 2 , used as an herbicide and insecticide. Abbreviation: PCNB.
  • pentagonal dodecahedron — pyritohedron.
  • percentage distribution — a frequency distribution is which individual frequencies are shown as a percentage of the total frequencies
  • performance-related pay — salary based on individual assessment
  • pest control department — the local government department responsible for controlling such pests as rats and mice
  • pharmaceuticals company — a company specialising in developing and marketing pharmaceuticals
  • philadelphia pepper pot — pepper pot (def 1).
  • photoelectric magnitude — the magnitude of a star determined using a photometer plus a filter to select light or other radiation of the desired wavelength
  • pithecanthropus erectus — Java man
  • plan position indicator — a radarscope on which an object reflecting radar waves shows its bearing and distance from the radar detector by causing a spot of light to appear on a screen that represents a map of the area around the detector. Abbreviation: PPI.
  • play a part/play a role — If something or someone plays a part or plays a role in a situation, they are involved in it and have an effect on it.
  • play by electronic mail — (games)   A kind of game where the players use electronic mail to communicate. This may be done via a human moderator or an automatic mailing list exploder on some central machine or it may be fully distributed with each player just addressing his mail to all other players. This is a natural extension of "play by mail" games conducted via snail mail.
  • political incorrectness — Political incorrectness is the attitude or policy shown by someone who does not care if they offend or upset any group of people in society who have a disadvantage, or who have been treated differently because of their sex, race, or disability.
  • polybrominated biphenyl — PBB.
  • polymethyl methacrylate — polymerized methyl methacrylate.
  • polytetrafluoroethylene — any polymer, plastic, or resin having the formula (C 2 F 4) n , prepared from tetrafluoroethylene, noted for its slippery, nonsticking properties, and used in the manufacture of gaskets, electrical insulation, tubing, candy molds, container linings, frying-pan coatings, etc.
  • portable object adapter — (architecture)   (POA) Part of the CORBA architecture.
  • portable tool interface — (programming, standard)   (PTI) A standard such as PCTE, allowing interworking between different software tools via defined interfaces to the user and to the repository or object management system.
  • positive discrimination — special opportunities
  • postcode discrimination — discrimination on the basis of the area where someone lives, with relation to employment, credit rating, etc
  • potassium acid tartrate — cream of tartar.
  • power factor correction — Power factor correction is the process of increasing the power factor to near unity without altering the original load.
  • precautionary principle — the precept that an action should not be taken if the consequences are uncertain and potentially dangerous
  • precipitation hardening — a process in which alloys are strengthened by the formation, in their lattice, of a fine dispersion of one component when the metal is quenched from a high temperature and aged at an intermediate temperature
  • presidential government — a system of government in which the powers of the president are constitutionally separate from those of the legislature.
  • price escalation clause — a clause in a contract allowing the seller to raise prices if the cost of inputs increases
  • price out of the market — to charge so highly for as to prevent the sale, hire, etc, of
  • printer access protocol — (networking, protocol, printer)   (PAP) A protocol used in Mac OS Appletalk to provide bi-directional communication between PostScript printers and the client computer.
  • private limited company — a company whose shares can be bought by the public
  • probabilistic automaton — nondeterministic automaton
  • process intensification — Process intensification is a change made to a process to make it work in a smaller volume for the same performance.
  • product differentiation — the real or illusory distinction between competing products in a market
  • productivity bargaining — the process of reaching an agreement (productivity agreement) through collective bargaining 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
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