16-letter words containing a, u, s, o
- pseudo-political — of, relating to, or concerned with politics: political writers.
- pseudo-realistic — interested in, concerned with, or based on what is real or practical: a realistic estimate of costs; a realistic planner.
- pseudo-spiritual — of, relating to, or consisting of spirit; incorporeal.
- pseudocopulation — pollination of plants, esp orchids, by male insects while attempting to mate with flowers that resemble the female insect
- pseudohemophilia — a clotting disorder caused by abnormal factor VIII activity, and characterized by a prolonged bleeding time but without the delayed coagulation time of hemophilia.
- pseudohistorical — of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events: historical records; historical research.
- pseudoparenchyma — (in certain fungi and red algae) a compact mass of tissue, made up of interwoven hyphae or filaments, that superficially resembles plant tissue.
- pseudoperipteral — having a freestanding colonnade at each end, with engaged columns at the sides.
- public relations — (used with a plural verb) the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc.
- public transport — fare-paying travel
- pullorum disease — a highly contagious, frequently fatal disease of young poultry caused by the bacterium Salmonella gallinarum (pullorum), transmitted by the infected hen during egg production, and characterized by weakness, loss of appetite, and diarrhea.
- pulse modulation — a type of modulation in which a train of pulses is used as the carrier wave, one or more of its parameters, such as amplitude, being modulated or modified in order to carry information
- punctuationalism — punctuated equilibrium.
- purchasing power — Also called buying power. the ability to purchase goods and services.
- put (out) to sea — to sail away from land
- put a sock in it — be quiet!
- put in mothballs — to postpone work on (a project, activity, etc)
- put one's oar in — to interfere or interrupt
- put out to grass — If you say that someone is being put out to grass, you mean they are no longer being employed because they are considered to be too old or no longer useful.
- quarter sessions — an English court of general criminal jurisdiction for crimes less than homicide, held quarterly.
- quasi-commercial — of, relating to, or characteristic of commerce.
- quasi-compulsory — required; mandatory; obligatory: compulsory education.
- quasi-democratic — pertaining to or of the nature of democracy or a democracy.
- quasi-diplomatic — of, relating to, or engaged in diplomacy: diplomatic officials.
- quasi-historical — of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events: historical records; historical research.
- quasi-stationary — a person or thing that is stationary.
- queen's champion — a hereditary official at British coronations, representing the king (King's Champion) or the queen (Queen's Champion) who is being crowned, and having originally the function of challenging to mortal combat any person disputing the right of the new sovereign to rule.
- question of fact — a question concerning the reality of an alleged event or circumstance in a trial by jury, usually determined by the jury.
- questionableness — The state or condition of being questionable; dubiousness.
- radioimmunoassay — a test procedure that integrates immunologic and radiolabeling techniques to measure minute quantities of a substance, as a protein, hormone, or drug, in a given sample of body fluid or tissue.
- radius of action — the maximum distance that a ship, aircraft, or land vehicle can travel from its base and return without refuelling
- rambunctiousness — difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous: a rambunctious child.
- reasonable doubt — law: grounds for believing sb is innocent
- rectus abdominis — a long flat muscle that extends along the whole length of both sides of the abdomen. It flexes the vertebral column, particularly the lumbar portion; it also tenses the anterior abdominal wall and assists in compressing the abdominal contents
- redistributional — a distribution performed again or anew.
- regular gasoline — unleaded gasoline or petrol, as for fuelling a vehicle, etc
- reinsurance pool — the grouping of insurers that provide partial or complete insurance coverage to other insurers for (a risk on which a policy has already been issued)
- religious leader — head of a church or order
- reporting clause — A reporting clause is a clause which indicates that you are talking about what someone said or thought. For example, in 'She said that she was hungry', 'She said' is a reporting clause.
- repressurization — the process or act of pressurizing.
- reserve buoyancy — the difference between the volume of a hull below the designed waterline and the volume of the hull below the lowest opening incapable of being made watertight.
- resonant circuit — A resonant circuit combines an inductor and capacitor to make a circuit that responds to a frequency.
- return on assets — the amount of profit computed by dividing net income before interest and taxes by the cost of assets, usually expressed as a percentage. Abbreviation: ROA.
- risus sardonicus — fixed contraction of the facial muscles resulting in a peculiar distorted grin, caused esp by tetanus
- root mean square — the square root of the arithmetic mean of the squares of the numbers in a given set of numbers. Abbreviation: rms.
- run rings around — a typically circular band of metal or other durable material, especially one of gold or other precious metal, often set with gems, for wearing on the finger as an ornament, a token of betrothal or marriage, etc.
- russian orthodox — of or relating to the Russian Orthodox Church
- russian roulette — a game of high risk in which each player in turn, using a revolver containing one bullet, spins the cylinder of the revolver, points the muzzle at the head, and pulls the trigger.
- safety-conscious — conscious of being safe and preventing danger
- saint-ulmo-light — St. Elmo's fire.