16-letter words containing a, p, r, i
- dispersal prison — a prison organized and equipped to accommodate a proportion of the most dangerous and highest security risk prisoners
- dispersing agent — a surface-active substance added to a suspension, usually a colloid, to improve the separation of particles and to prevent settling or clumping
- displaced person — a person driven or expelled from his or her homeland by war, famine, tyranny, etc. Abbreviation: DP, D.P.
- display standard — (hardware, standard) IBM and others have introduced a bewildering plethora of graphics and text display standards for IBM PCs. The standards are mostly implemented by plugging in a video display board (or "graphics adaptor") and connecting the appropriate monitor to it. Each new standard subsumes its predecessors. For example, an EGA board can also do CGA and MDA. With the PS/2, IBM introduced the VGA standard and built it into the main system board motherboard. VGA is also available as a plug-in board for PCs from third-party vendors. Also with the PS/2, IBM introduced the 8514 high-resolution graphics standard. An 8514 adaptor board plugs into the PS/2, providing a dual-monitor capability. Graphics software had to support the major IBM graphics standards and many non-IBM, proprietary standards for displays. Either software vendors provided display drivers or display vendors provided drivers for the software package. In either case, switching software or switching display systems was fraught with compatibility problems. More colours are available from third-party vendors for some display types. See also MDA, CGA, EGA, PGA, Hercules, MCGA, VGA, SVGA, 8514, VESA.
- display terminal — Visual Display Unit
- disproportionate — not proportionate; out of proportion, as in size or number.
- disreputableness — The state or quality of being disreputable or disgraceful; disreputability.
- diurnal parallax — the apparent displacement of an observed object due to a change in the position of the observer.
- dollar diplomacy — a government policy of promoting the business interests of its citizens in other countries.
- domestic partner — either member of an unmarried, cohabiting, and especially homosexual couple that seeks benefits usually available only to spouses.
- domestic prelate — an honorary distinction conferred by the Holy See upon clergy, entitling them to some of the privileges of a bishop.
- dual personality — a disorder in which an individual possesses two dissociated personalities.
- dublin bay prawn — a large prawn usually used in a dish of scampi
- duplessis-mornay — Philippe [fee-leep] /fiˈlip/ (Show IPA), Mornay, Philippe de.
- duplicate bridge — a form of contract bridge used in tournaments in which contestants play the identical series of deals, with each deal being scored independently, permitting individual scores to be compared.
- dynamic response — The dynamic response of a machine, structure, or process is how it reacts over time to something that is done to it.
- earthly paradise — Bible: Garden of Eden
- eastern whipbird — an Australian whipbird, Psophodes olivaceus
- echocardiographs — Plural form of echocardiograph.
- echocardiography — an instrument employing reflected ultrasonic waves to examine the structures and functioning of the heart.
- eclipsing binary — a variable star whose changes in brightness are caused by periodic eclipses of two stars in a binary system.
- ectoparasiticide — Any pesticide designed to kill parasites that live on the exterior of a host.
- educational park — a group of elementary and high schools, usually clustered in a parklike setting and having certain facilities shared by all grades, that often accommodates students from a large area.
- electrical power — electricity
- electrotherapist — One who administers electrotherapy.
- encephalographic — Relating to, or employing encephalography.
- epigrammatically — In a manner suggesting of an epigram.
- episcopal church — an autonomous branch of the Anglican Communion in Scotland and the US
- ethnographically — Regarding the ethnography (of a region).
- european council — an executive body of the European Union, made up of the President of the European Commission and representatives of the member states, including the foreign and other ministers. The Council acts at the request of the Commission
- experience table — an actuarial table, esp a mortality table based on past statistics
- experimentations — Plural form of experimentation.
- expert appraisal — a valuation of property or goods by an expert
- exploration well — An exploration well is a borehole which is drilled to find out if there is any oil or gas in a place.
- exponential horn — a horn for the radiation of acoustic or high-frequency electromagnetic waves, of which the cross-sectional area increases exponentially with the length
- fair-trade price — the price set for a commodity by the Fairtrade Foundation
- federalist party — a political group that favored the adoption by the states of the Constitution.
- feeping creature — [feeping creaturism] An unnecessary feature; a bit of chrome that, in the speaker's judgment, is the camel's nose for a whole horde of new features.
- fingertip search — When the police carry out a fingertip search of a place, they examine it for evidence in a very detailed way.
- firework display — a public event at which fireworks are set alight
- flying phalanger — any of various small phalangers of Australia and New Guinea, having a parachutelike fold of skin on each side of the body to give gliding assistance in leaping.
- follicular phase — a stage of the menstrual cycle, from onset of menstruation to ovulation.
- formation packer — A formation packer is a substance that is used as a seal between the casing and the borehole so that part of the hole can be tested.
- forward planning — business: making future provisions
- francis joseph i — 1830–1916, emperor of Austria 1848–1916; king of Hungary 1867–1916.
- francis of paula — Saint, 1416–1507, Italian monk: founder of the order of Minims.
- french polynesia — a French overseas territory in the S Pacific, including the Society Islands, Marquesas Islands, and other scattered island groups. 1544 sq. mi. (4000 sq. km). Capital: Papeete.
- fringed polygala — a North American milkwort, Polygala paucifolia, having flowers with purplish-pink, winglike petals and a fringed tube.
- functional group — a group of atoms responsible for the characteristic behavior of the class of compounds in which the group occurs, as the hydroxyl group in alcohols.
- galenic pharmacy — the art or practice of preparing and dispensing galenicals.