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23-letter words containing a, p, o

  • provocative maintenance — [Common ironic mutation of "preventive maintenance"] Actions performed upon a machine at regularly scheduled intervals to ensure that the system remains in a usable state. So called because it is all too often performed by a field servoid who doesn't know what he is doing; such "maintenance" often *induces* problems, or otherwise results in the machine's remaining in an *un*usable state for an indeterminate amount of time. See also scratch monkey.
  • psychomotor retardation — a generalized slowing of psychological and physical activity, frequently occurring as a symptom of severe depression.
  • public-key cryptography — public-key encryption
  • publicly-quoted company — a company whose shares are traded on a stock exchange
  • puerto rican royal palm — a feather palm, Roystonea borinquena, of Puerto Rico and St. Croix, having leaves about 10 feet (3 meters) long and egg-shaped, yellowish-brown fruit.
  • put in a false position — to cause misunderstanding of the intentions, opinions, etc. of
  • put the record straight — to correct an error or misunderstanding
  • put through one's paces — a rate of movement, especially in stepping, walking, etc.: to walk at a brisk pace of five miles an hour.
  • quote chapter and verse — [by analogy with the mainstream phrase] To cite a relevant excerpt from an appropriate bible. "I don't care if "rn" gets it wrong; "Followup-To: poster" is explicitly permitted by RFC 1036. I'll quote chapter and verse if you don't believe me." See also legalese, language lawyer, RTFS (sense 2).
  • real simple syndication — (spelling)   Illiterate form of Really Simple Syndication.
  • refinery waste disposal — Refinery waste disposal is the system for dealing with waste materials, especially hazardous ones, in a refinery.
  • refuse disposal service — a place or facility where rubbish and waste can be disposed
  • relative sunspot number — a number indicating the degree of sunspot activity on the sun as a factor of observer idiosyncrasies, the number of sunspot groups, and the number of individual sunspots.
  • respectability politics — the set of beliefs holding that conformity to socially acceptable or mainstream standards of appearance and behavior will protect a member of a marginalized or minority group from prejudices and systemic injustices: Black respectability politics perpetuate the fiction of a meritocracy in public education.
  • response generalization — generalization (def 4b).
  • response-generalization — the act or process of generalizing.
  • retrolental fibroplasia — an unusual eye disease occurring in premature infants, usually from being given high concentrations of oxygen, which causes abnormal formation of fibrous tissue behind the lens and often results in blindness.
  • reverse polish notation — postfix notation
  • rocky mountain beeplant — a rank-smelling plant, Cleome serrulata, of the caper family, native to the western U.S., having showy, dense clusters of pink or white flowers, frequented by bees.
  • rub sb up the wrong way — If you rub someone up the wrong way in British English, or rub someone the wrong way in American English, you offend or annoy them without intending to.
  • saint christopher-nevis — St. Kitts-Nevis.
  • schizotypal personality — a personality disorder characterized by a group of symptoms similar to but less severe than schizophrenia, as odd behavior, peculiar thinking, and social isolation.
  • scottish national party — a political party advocating the independence of Scotland, founded in 1934
  • self-addressed envelope — addressed to self
  • separation of variables — a grouping of the terms of an ordinary differential equation so that associated with each differential is a factor consisting entirely of functions of the independent variable appearing in the differential.
  • silicone breast implant — silicone filled bags that are implanted into a woman in order to increase the size of her breasts
  • snap someone's head off — to cut, wound, or tear with the teeth: She bit the apple greedily. The lion bit his trainer.
  • social democratic party — History/Historical. a political party in Germany advocating a form of social organization based on the economic and political ideology of Karl Marx.
  • social security payment — a payment of social security made to an individual
  • sodium tripolyphosphate — a white powder, Na 5 P 3 O 1 0 , used as a water softener, sequestering agent, and food additive.
  • software developers kit — (jargon, product)   (SDK, or "Software Development Kit") Software provided by a software vendor to allow their products to be used with those of other software vendors.
  • somaliland protectorate — official name of the former British Somaliland.
  • speak well/highly of sb — If you speak well of someone or speak highly of someone, you say good things about them. If you speak ill of someone, you criticize them.
  • specialite de la maison — the specialty of the house (used in referring to the most important dish served by a restaurant).
  • spigot and socket joint — a joint between two pipes using male and female parts
  • st. pierre and miquelon — two small groups of islands off the S coast of Newfoundland: an overseas territory of France; important base for fishing. 3 sq. mi. (240 sq. km). Capital: St. Pierre.
  • staggered directorships — a defence against unwelcome takeover bids in which a company resolves that its directors should serve staggered terms of office and that no director can be removed from office without just cause, thus preventing a bidder from controlling the board for some years
  • stand up and be counted — express opinion
  • statutory maternity pay — the maternity pay a woman is legally entitled to
  • stereospecific catalyst — a catalyst for stereospecific chemical reactions
  • structural anthropology — a school of anthropology founded by Claude Lévi-Strauss and based loosely on the principles of structural linguistics.
  • structural unemployment — unemployment caused by basic changes in the overall economy, as in demographics, technology, or industrial organization.
  • suprasegmental phonemes — phonemes or features of speech, as pitch, stress, and juncture, that may extend over and modify series of segmental phonemes
  • sustainable development — supporting economy via renewable resources
  • talk/speak of the devil — People say speak of the devil, or in British English talk of the devil, if someone they have just been talking about appears unexpectedly.
  • the chamber of deputies — the lower legislative assembly in some parliaments
  • the data protection act — a United Kingdom act of parliament designed to ensure the proper handling of information stored about individuals on computers and entitling individuals to find out what information is stored about them
  • the department of state — the United States federal department concerned with foreign policy
  • the metropolitan police — the police organization that is responsible for Greater London, excluding the City of London
  • the scottish parliament — the devolved national legislature of Scotland, located in Edinburgh
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