17-letter words containing a, r, c, t, o
- presentation copy — a copy of a book given by the publisher or author
- press association — an organization formed for the purpose of gathering news for transmittal to its members. Compare news agency.
- primary education — junior, elementary schooling
- prismatic compass — a hand compass equipped with sights and prisms to permit aiming the instrument at a point and at the same time reading the compass direction of the point.
- private education — education provided by a private individual or organization, rather than by the state or a public body
- probability curve — a curve that describes the distribution of probability over the values of a random variable.
- probation officer — an officer who investigates and reports on the conduct of offenders who are free on probation.
- procurator fiscal — In the Scottish legal system, the procurator fiscal is a public official who puts people on trial.
- product liability — the responsibility of a manufacturer for injury or loss caused by its product.
- product placement — Product placement is a form of advertising in which a company has its product placed where it can be clearly seen during a film or television programme.
- production values — the quality of a media production (such as a film) in regards to elements such as colours, quality, style, etc
- project assurance — The process of specifying the support system: techniques, internal standards, measurements, tools, and training for a project; counselling the project team in the application of these elements and monitoring the adherence to the standards.
- promenade concert — a concert at which some of the audience stand rather than sit
- prostatic utricle — a small pouch near the prostate gland that opens into the urethra.
- protection factor — a figure representing the relative degree of protection from the sun's rays afforded by a particular sunscreen
- protection racket — a criminal activity in which money gangsters extort money from victims in exchange for freedom from molestation
- protective tariff — a tariff levied on imports to protect the domestic economy rather than to raise revenue
- prothoracic gland — either of a pair of endocrine glands in the anterior thorax of some insects, functioning to promote the series of molts from hatching to adulthood.
- protocol analyser — (communications, hardware, networking, testing, tool) Any device that captures and interprets the network traffic between two or more connected computer systems. The traffic can then be decoded so that it is possible to see what processes are occurring. By examining the flow of traffic, protocol analysers can be used to find out where problems (such as bottlenecks or the failure of a network device) are on a LAN. Advanced protocol analysers can also provide statistics on the traffic that can help to identify trends that may in future lead to further problems with the network.
- provincialization — to make provincial in character.
- pseudo-democratic — pertaining to or of the nature of democracy or a democracy.
- pseudo-historical — of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events: historical records; historical research.
- pseudo-moralistic — a person who teaches or inculcates morality.
- psychotherapeutic — psychotherapy.
- put into practice — If you put a belief or method into practice, you behave or act in accordance with it.
- pythagorean scale — the major scale as derived acoustically by Pythagoras from the perfect fifth.
- quadratic formula — the formula for determining theroots of a quadratic equation from its coefficients: .
- quattuordecillion — a cardinal number represented in the U.S. by 1 followed by 45 zeros, and in Great Britain by 1 followed by 84 zeros.
- quick on the draw — having fast reflexes
- radioactive decay — decay (def 8).
- radioactive waste — the radioactive by-products from the operation of a nuclear reactor or from the reprocessing of depleted nuclear fuel.
- rail detector car — a car equipped with special instruments and used to locate defects in rails.
- rainbow coalition — a political grouping together by several minority parties
- rational function — a function that can be written as the quotient of two polynomials with integral coefficients.
- read the riot act — an English statute of 1715 providing that if 12 or more persons assemble unlawfully and riotously, to the disturbance of the public peace, and refuse to disperse upon proclamation they shall be considered guilty of felony.
- recoil escapement — anchor escapement.
- recreation centre — a facility open to the public for leisure and recreation activities
- recreation ground — an open space for public recreation, esp one in a town, with swings and slides, etc, for children
- recreational drug — drug taken for pleasure
- recreationalist's — recreationist.
- recrystallization — to become crystallized again.
- reduction formula — a formula, such as sin (90° ± A) = cos A, expressing the values of a trigonometric function of any angle greater than 90° in terms of a function of an acute angle
- reflection nebula — a cloud of interstellar gas and dust that reflects the light of neighboring stars.
- refractory period — a short period after a nerve or muscle cell fires during which the cell cannot respond to additional stimulation.
- rental collection — a group of books, in a public or other free library, for which a borrower must pay a fee.
- repertory catalog — a catalog containing bibliographic records that indicate locations of materials in more than one library or in several units of one library.
- repertory company — repertory (def 2).
- rescue operations — operations or organized procedures to bring people or a person out of danger, attack, harm, etc
- respiratory chain — a series of mitochondrial proteins that transport electrons of hydrogen, released in the Krebs cycle, from acetyl coenzyme A to inhaled oxygen to form H 2 O: the energy released in the process is conserved as ATP.
- respiratory tract — the passages through which air enters and leaves the body