15-letter words containing a, r, i, o, u, s
- ovoviviparously — in an ovoviviparous manner
- ozark mountains — an eroded plateau in S Missouri, N Arkansas, and NE Oklahoma. Area: about 130 000 sq km (50 000 sq miles)
- parallel cousin — a cousin who is the child either of one's mother's sister or of one's father's brother.
- parti québécois — (in Canada) a political party in Quebec, formed in 1968 and originally advocating the separation of Quebec from the rest of the country
- passifloraceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Passifloraceae, a tropical and subtropical family of climbing plants including the passionflowers: the flowers have five petals and threadlike parts forming a dense mass (corona) around the central disc
- personal injury — injury to an individual
- photojournalism — journalism in which photography dominates written copy, as in certain magazines.
- pictorial janus — K. Kahn, Xerox. Visual extension of Janus. Requires Strand88 and a PostScript interpreter.
- pithecanthropus — a former genus of extinct hominids whose members have now been assigned to the proposed species Homo erectus.
- plastic surgeon — doctor who performs cosmetic surgery
- play favourites — to display favouritism
- pleasure-loving — enjoying pleasure
- post-industrial — of, relating to, or characteristic of an era following industrialization: The economy of the postindustrial society is based on the provision of services rather than on the manufacture of goods.
- post-parturient — bearing or about to bear young; travailing.
- poststimulatory — following stimulation
- posttransfusion — occurring after or as a result of a transfusion
- pre-acquisition — the act of acquiring or gaining possession: the acquisition of real estate.
- primordial soup — the seas and atmosphere as they existed on earth before the existence of life, consisting primarily of an oxygen-free gaseous mixture containing chiefly water, hydrogen, methane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide.
- principal focus — focal point (def 1).
- prism binocular — Usually, prism binoculars. Optics. binocular (def 1).
- programme music — music that is intended to depict or evoke a scene or idea
- proscenium arch — the arch separating the stage from the auditorium
- protospatharius — (of the Byzantine empire) a high-ranking official in the imperial guard
- pseudepigraphon — any book of the Pseudepigrapha
- pseudo-artistic — conforming to the standards of art; satisfying aesthetic requirements: artistic productions.
- pseudo-critical — inclined to find fault or to judge with severity, often too readily.
- pseudo-dramatic — of or relating to the drama.
- pseudo-military — of, for, or pertaining to the army or armed forces, often as distinguished from the navy: from civilian to military life.
- pseudo-romantic — of, relating to, or of the nature of romance; characteristic or suggestive of the world of romance: a romantic adventure.
- pseudoarthrosis — a joint formed by fibrous tissue bridging the gap between the two fragments of bone of an old fracture that have not united
- pseudoparalysis — the inability to move a part of the body owing to factors, as pain, other than those causing actual paralysis.
- pseudotripteral — having an arrangement of columns suggesting a tripteral structure but without the inner colonnades.
- quarter section — (in surveying and homesteading) a square tract of land, half a mile on each side, thus containing ¼ sq. mi. or 160 acres. Abbreviation: q.s.
- quasi-religious — of, relating to, or concerned with religion: a religious holiday.
- quasi-sovereign — a monarch; a king, queen, or other supreme ruler.
- quasihistorical — of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events: historical records; historical research.
- query expansion — (information science) Adding search terms to a user's search. Query expansion is the process of a search engine adding search terms to a user's weighted search. The intent is to improve precision and/or recall. The additional terms may be taken from a thesaurus. For example a search for "car" may be expanded to: car cars auto autos automobile automobiles. The additional terms may also be taken from documents that the user has specified as being relevant; this is the basis for the "more like this" feature of some search engines. The extra terms can have positive or negative weights.
- question master — quizmaster.
- quotation marks — one of the marks used to indicate the beginning and end of a quotation, in English usually shown as “ at the beginning and ” at the end, or, for a quotation within a quotation, of single marks of this kind, as “He said, ‘I will go.’ ” Frequently, especially in Great Britain, single marks are used instead of double, the latter being then used for a quotation within a quotation.
- radio sono-buoy — a buoy equipped to detect underwater noises and transmit them by radio
- radiophosphorus — phosphorus 32.
- ray of sunshine — beam of sunlight
- rayside-balfour — a town in S Ontario, in S Canada.
- reconstitutable — to constitute again; reconstruct; recompose.
- rediscount rate — the rate charged by the Federal Reserve Bank to member banks for rediscounting commercial paper.
- refuse disposal — the act of disposing of rubbish and waste
- regulatory risk — a risk to which private companies are subject, arising from the possibility of legislation or regulations that will affect business being adopted by a government
- residual income — the remaining income (of a business or person) after necessary debts, expenses, etc, have been paid
- resurrectionary — pertaining to or of the nature of resurrection.
- revisualization — the act of visualizing or picturing something again