12-letter words containing a, s, l, o
- paludicolous — inhabiting marshland
- palynologist — the study of live and fossil spores, pollen grains, and similar plant structures.
- papadopoulos — George, 1919–99, Greek military leader and dictator (1967–74).
- paraglossate — having paraglossae
- parasitology — the branch of biology dealing with parasites and the effects of parasitism.
- parasol pine — stone pine (def 1).
- parlor house — (especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries) a brothel with a comfortable, often elaborately decorated parlor for the reception of clients.
- parochialise — to make parochial.
- parochialism — a parochial character, spirit, or tendency; excessive narrowness of interests or view; provincialism.
- parochialist — a parochial character, spirit, or tendency; excessive narrowness of interests or view; provincialism.
- pasch flower — pasqueflower
- pasqueflower — an Old World plant, Anemone pulsatilla, of the buttercup family, having purple, crocuslike flowers blooming about Easter.
- passion play — a dramatic representation of the passion of Christ, as that given every ten years at the Bavarian village of Oberammergau.
- passionately — having, compelled by, or ruled by intense emotion or strong feeling; fervid: a passionate advocate of socialism.
- pastoralness — the quality or state of being pastoral or rural
- patent rolls — (in Britain) the register of patents issued
- patroclinous — inheritance in which the traits of the offspring are derived primarily from the paternal parent (opposed to matrocliny).
- pearl oyster — any of several marine bivalve mollusks of the family Pteriidae, some of which form pearls of great value, inhabiting waters of eastern Asia and off the coasts of Panama and Baja California.
- peccadilloes — a very minor or slight sin or offense; a trifling fault.
- penalty shot — a free shot at the goal defended only by the goalkeeper, awarded to an offensive player for certain defensive violations.
- penalty spot — a point within the penalty area and 12 yards (about 11 m) from the goal, from which a penalty kick may be taken
- pension plan — a systematic plan created and maintained, as by a corporation, to make regular payments of benefits to retired or disabled employees, either on a contributory or a noncontributory basis.
- percussional — of or relating to percussion
- perez galdos — Benito [buh-nee-toh;; Spanish be-nee-taw] /bəˈni toʊ;; Spanish bɛˈni tɔ/ (Show IPA), 1843–1920, Spanish journalist, dramatist, and novelist.
- personalised — to have marked with one's initials, name, or monogram: to personalize stationery.
- personalized — customized
- personalness — of, relating to, or coming as from a particular person; individual; private: a personal opinion.
- pestological — relating to pestology
- petaliferous — bearing or having petals.
- petrodollars — Petrodollars are a unit of money used to calculate how much a country has earned by exporting petroleum or natural gas.
- phalaenopsis — any of various epiphytic orchids of the genus Phalaenopsis, native to tropical Asia, having clusters of showy, variously colored flowers.
- phosphatidyl — an atom or group of atoms containing one or more unpaired electrons derived from a phosphatide
- photoanalyst — a person who analyzes and interprets photographs, especially a military specialist in aerial or satellite photography.
- photoelastic — displaying photoelasticity; of or relating to photoelasticity
- photorealism — a style of painting flourishing in the 1970s, especially in the U.S., England, and France, and depicting commonplace scenes or ordinary people, with a meticulously detailed realism, flat images, and barely discernible brushwork that suggests and often is based on or incorporates an actual photograph.
- phragmoplast — the cytoplasmic structure that forms at the equator of the spindle after the chromosomes have divided during the anaphase of plant mitosis, and that initiates cell division.
- piano lesson — music class in playing the piano
- pictorialism — Fine Arts. the creation or use of pictures or visual images, especially of recognizable or realistic representations.
- pictorialist — Fine Arts. the creation or use of pictures or visual images, especially of recognizable or realistic representations.
- pilot signal — a signal, as a flag or light, used to request a pilot.
- plain-spoken — candid; frank; blunt.
- plainclothes — Plainclothes police officers wear ordinary clothes instead of a police uniform.
- plasma torch — an electrical device for converting a gas into a plasma, used for melting metal
- plasmosomata — a kind of nucleoli
- plasterboard — a material used for insulating or covering walls, or as a lath, consisting of paper-covered sheets of gypsum and felt.
- plastic bomb — a bomb made of plastic explosive.
- plastic flow — deformation of a material that remains rigid under stresses of less than a certain intensity but that behaves under severer stresses approximately as a Newtonian fluid.
- plastic foam — expanded plastic.
- plastination — a technique for embalming bodies by impregnating whole organs with silicon polymers
- plastocyanin — a blue protein found in green plants and in some bacteria