17-letter words containing a, t, o, r
- 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 a dampener on — To put a dampener on something means the same as to put a damper on it.
- put in a word for — to make favourable mention of (someone); recommend
- put into practice — If you put a belief or method into practice, you behave or act in accordance with it.
- put on the market — offer for sale
- 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: .
- quantity surveyor — A quantity surveyor is a person who calculates the cost and amount of materials and workers needed for a job such as building a house or a road.
- 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
- radial keratotomy — a surgical technique for correcting nearsightedness by making a series of spokelike incisions in the cornea to change its shape and focusing properties.
- radiation pattern — the graphic representation of the strength and direction of electromagnetic radiation in the vicinity of a transmitting aerial
- radiation therapy — x-rays used as treatment
- radio in the loop — Wireless Local Loop
- radio-transparent — transparent to radiation; invisible in x-ray photographs and under fluoroscopy (opposed to radiopaque).
- 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.
- radiometeorograph — a device for the automatic transmission by radio of the data from a set of meteorological instruments
- 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
- rapid prototyping — (programming) The creation of a working model of a software module to demonstrate the feasibility and suitability of the function. The prototype is expected to be replaced or refined before inclusion in the final product. Rapid prototyping contrasts with a DIRFT approach which emphasises careful design and implementation to avoid the overheads of debugging and testing prototype code. Rapid prototyping is appropriate when the requirements are unclear or likely to change (which is most of the time).
- rat-tailed maggot — the aquatic larva of any of several syrphid flies of the genus Eristalis, that breathes through a long, thin tube at the posterior end of its body.
- rational function — a function that can be written as the quotient of two polynomials with integral coefficients.
- rattle one's dags — to hurry up
- 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.
- read-write memory — a type of computer memory that you can write to as well as read from
- 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
- reel-to-reel tape — open-reel tape.
- 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.
- regent honeyeater — a large brightly-coloured Australian honeyeater, Zanthomiza phrygia
- rehospitalization — the act, process, or state of being hospitalized.
- relative majority — the excess of votes or seats won by the winner of an election over the runner-up when no candidate or party has more than 50 per cent
- rental collection — a group of books, in a public or other free library, for which a borrower must pay a fee.