19-letter words containing a, r, n
- prairie rattlesnake — a rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis viridis, of the prairies of western North America.
- preferential voting — a system of voting designed to permit the voter to indicate an order of preference for the candidates on the ballot.
- preliminary hearing — initial court session
- preproduction trial — a trial to test a prototype of a product before the product goes into full-scale production
- prescription charge — a charge, set by the government, to be paid by a patient for medicines
- presentation skills — the set of techniques and skills required successfully to present oral information to others
- presumption of fact — a presumption based on experience or knowledge of the relationship between a known fact and a fact inferred from it.
- prick up one's ears — a puncture made by a needle, thorn, or the like.
- pride and prejudice — a novel (1813) by Jane Austen (written 1796–97).
- pride-of-california — a shrubby plant, Lathyrus splendens, of the legume family, native to southern California, having showy clusters of pale rose-pink, violet, or magenta flowers and large, smooth, beaked pods.
- primary containment — Primary containment is the main means of preventing leaks and spills using equipment in direct content with the oil or gas being stored or transported.
- prime interest rate — prime rate.
- private prosecution — a prosecution started by a private individual rather than by the police
- privatization issue — an issue of shares available for purchase by members of the public when a publicly owned organization is transferred to the private sector
- procedural language — (language) Any programming language in which the programmer specifies an explicit sequences of steps to follow to produce a result (an algorithm). The term should not be confused with "imperative language" - a language that specifies explicit manipulation of state. An example (non-imperative) procedural language is LOGO, which specifies sequences of steps to perform but does not have an internal state. Other procedural languages include Basic, Pascal, C, and Modula-2. Both procedural and imperative languages are in contrast to declarative languages, in which the programmer specifies neither explicit steps nor explicit state manipulation.
- process performance — Process performance is a measure of how efficient or effective a process is.
- production platform — offshore power station
- professional advice — advice given by someone trained in a particular and relevant profession or job
- professional school — a postgraduate school or college which trains students for a particular profession
- professionalization — to give a professional character or status to; make into or establish as a profession.
- programmed learning — a progressively monitored, step-by-step teaching method, employing small units of information or learning material and frequent testing, whereby the student must complete or pass one stage before moving on to the next.
- propositional logic — (logic) (or "propositional calculus") A system of symbolic logic using symbols to stand for whole propositions and logical connectives. Propositional logic only considers whether a proposition is true or false. In contrast to predicate logic, it does not consider the internal structure of propositions.
- protease inhibitors — a drug that inhibits the action of protease, especially any of a class of antiviral drugs that prevent the cleavage and replication of HIV proteins.
- proto-indo-european — the unattested prehistoric parent language of the Indo-European languages; Indo-European.
- proton-proton chain — a series of thermonuclear reactions, responsible for the energy production in stars like the sun, in which the nuclei of hydrogen atoms are transformed into helium nuclei by sequential addition of single hydrogen nuclei.
- provably unsolvable — The set or property of problems for which no algorithm at all exists. E.g. the Halting Problem. See also provably difficult.
- pseudo-conservative — disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
- pseudo-experimental — pertaining to, derived from, or founded on experiment: an experimental science.
- pseudo-intransitive — denoting an occurrence of a normally transitive verb in which a direct object is not explicitly stated or forms the subject of the sentence, as in Margaret is cooking or these apples cook well
- pseudo-professional — following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder.
- pseudorandom number — (programming) One of a sequence of numbers generated by some algorithm so as to have an even distribution over some range of values and minimal correlation between successive values. Pseudorandom numbers are used in simulation and encryption. They are pseudorandom not random because the sequence eventually repeats exactly and is entirely determined by the initial conditions. One of the simplest algorithms is x[i+1] = (a * x[i] + c) mod m but this repeats after at most m numbers and successive numbers are closely related. Better algorithms generally use more previous numbers to calculate the next number.
- public-interest law — a branch of law that often utilizes class-action suits to protect the interest of a large group or of the public at large, as in matters relating to racial discrimination, air pollution, etc.
- pugwash conferences — international peace conferences of scientists held regularly to discuss world problems: Nobel peace prize 1995 awarded to Joseph Rotblat (1908–2005) , one of the founders of the conferences, secretary-general (1957–73), and president (1988–97)
- puncture repair kit — set of tools for patching a bicycle tyre
- put a figure on sth — When you put a figure on an amount, you say exactly how much it is.
- pyrenees-orientales — a department in S France. 1600 sq. mi. (4145 sq. km). Capital: Perpignan.
- pythagorean theorem — Pythagoras's Theorem
- quantum electronics — the application of quantum mechanics and quantum optics to the study and design of electronic devices
- queen street farmer — a businessman who runs a farm, often for a tax loss
- queen's regulations — (in Britain and certain other Commonwealth countries when the sovereign is female) the code of conduct for members of the armed forces
- quick-change artist — a person adept at changing from one thing to another, as an entertainer who changes costumes quickly during a performance.
- radiation potential — the potential in volts that must be applied to an atom or molecule to cause it to emit radiation at one of its characteristic frequencies.
- radiational cooling — the cooling of the earth's surface and adjacent air, primarily at night, caused by a loss of heat due to surface emission of infrared radiation.
- rag-tag and bobtail — the riffraff; rabble: The ragtag and bobtail of every nation poured into the frontier in search of gold.
- raise one's hackles — one of the long, slender feathers on the neck or saddle of certain birds, as the domestic rooster, much used in making artificial flies for anglers.
- ralph waldo emerson — Ralph Waldo [wawl-doh,, wol-] /ˈwɔl doʊ,, ˈwɒl-/ (Show IPA), 1803–82, U.S. essayist and poet.
- rancho palos verdes — a town in SW California.
- rap on the knuckles — a mild reprimand or light sentence
- rate of penetration — The rate of penetration is the speed with which a drill bit can break the rock under it.
- rayleigh scattering — the scattering of light by particles that are very small in relation to the wavelength of the light, and in which the intensity of the scattered light varies inversely with the fourth power of the wavelength.