16-letter words containing c, e, t, a, l
- overdramatically — In an overdramatic manner.
- overexcitability — to excite too much.
- oxaloacetic acid — a crystalline organic acid, C 4 H 4 O 5 , that is an important intermediate in the Krebs cycle, where it is formed by the oxidation of malic acid and is acetylated to form citric acid: also a product of transamination reactions of aspartic acid.
- palaeolithic man — any of various primitive types of man, such as Neanderthal man and Java man, who lived in the Palaeolithic
- paleoclimatology — the branch of paleogeography dealing with the study of paleoclimates.
- palmitoleic acid — a colorless, unsaturated fatty acid, C 1 6 H 3 0 O 2 , occurring in oils and fats of plants and animals.
- palmtop computer — a computer that has a small screen and compressed keyboard and is small enough to be held in the hand, often used as a personal organizer
- paratuberculosis — Johne's disease.
- particle physics — the branch of physics that deals with the properties and behavior of elementary particles.
- pascal's theorem — the theorem that the lines joining adjacent vertices of a hexagon intersect the same straight line if alternate vertices lie on two intersecting straight lines.
- pathetic fallacy — the endowment of nature, inanimate objects, etc., with human traits and feelings, as in the smiling skies; the angry sea.
- pectoralis major — the larger of the two large chest muscles that assist in movements of the shoulder and upper arm
- pectoralis minor — the smaller of the two large chest muscles that assist in movements of the shoulder and upper arm
- pentatonic scale — a scale having five tones to an octave, as one having intervals that correspond to the five black keys of a piano octave.
- people's charter — the principles or movement of a party of political reformers, chiefly workingmen, in England from 1838 to 1848: so called from the document (People's Charter or National Charter) that contained a statement of their principles and demands.
- perchloromethane — carbon tetrachloride.
- perforated ulcer — an ulcer that bursts through the stomach wall and leaks food and gastric juices into the abdominal cavity
- permaculturalist — a system of cultivation intended to maintain permanent agriculture or horticulture by relying on renewable resources and a self-sustaining ecosystem.
- perpendicularity — vertical; straight up and down; upright.
- personal effects — belongings
- personality cult — deliberately cultivated adulation of a person, esp a political leader
- peter pan collar — a close-fitting flat or rolled collar with rounded ends that meet in front of a high, round neckline.
- phylogenetically — the development or evolution of a particular group of organisms.
- physical fitness — good physical condition
- physical therapy — the treatment or management of physical disability, malfunction, or pain by exercise, massage, hydrotherapy, etc., without the use of medicines, surgery, or radiation.
- pitch-cone angle — (in a bevel gear) the apex angle of the truncated cone (pitch cone) which forms the reference surface on which the teeth of a bevel gear are cut
- place in the sun — (often initial capital letter) the star that is the central body of the solar system, around which the planets revolve and from which they receive light and heat: its mean distance from the earth is about 93 million miles (150 million km), its diameter about 864,000 miles (1.4 million km), and its mass about 330,000 times that of the earth; its period of surface rotation is about 26 days at its equator but longer at higher latitudes.
- placement office — an office in a university that offers students careers advice and help to find employment
- plainclothes man — a detective or police officer who wears civilian clothes while on duty
- platform-balance — a scale with a platform for holding the items to be weighed.
- player character — a character in a role-playing game or video game who is controlled by the person playing the game. Abbreviation: PC. Compare nonplayer character.
- plutarch's lives — (Parallel Lives) a collection (a.d. 105–15) by Plutarch of short biographies of the leading political figures of ancient Greece and Rome.
- pocket billiards — pool2 (def 1).
- polar coordinate — Usually, polar coordinates. one of two coordinates used to locate a point in a plane by the length of its radius vector and the angle this vector makes with the polar axis (polar angle)
- police constable — police officer
- policy statement — a declaration of the plans and intentions of an organization or government
- political system — a coordinated set of principles, laws, ideas, and procedures relating to a particular form of government, or the form of government itself: Democracy is a political system in which citizens govern themselves.
- polycondensation — formation of a polymer by chemical condensation with the elimination of a small molecule, such as water.
- polyvinyl acetal — any of the class of thermoplastic resins derived by the condensation of an aldehyde with polyvinyl alcohol.
- postencephalitic — inflammation of the substance of the brain.
- powerpc platform — (architecture, standard) (PPCP, PReP - PowerPC Reference Platform, formerly CHRP - Common Hardware Reference Platform) An open system standard, designed by IBM, intended to ensure compatibility among PowerPC-based systems built by different companies. The PReP standard specifies the PCI bus, but will also support ISA, MicroChannel and PCMCIA. PReP-compliant systems will be able to run the Macintosh OS, OS/2, WorkplaceOS, AIX, Solaris, Taligent and Windows NT. IBM systems will (of course) be PReP-compliant. Apple's first PowerPC Macintoshes will not be compliant, but future ones may be.
- practical effect — Usually, practical effects. a special effect that is created live on the set of a film, using real-world objects.
- practical reason — (in Kantian ethics) reason applied to the problem of action and choice, especially in ethical matters.
- pre-solicitation — the act of soliciting.
- precontemplation — the act of contemplating; thoughtful observation.
- primary election — primary (def 15a).
- primary electron — in thermionics, any of the electrons falling on a body, distinguished from those emitted by it
- principal rafter — a diagonal member of a roof principal, usually forming part of a truss and supporting the purlins on which the common rafters rest.
- private-line car — a freight car owned by a company other than a railroad but operated over the tracks of railroads.
- processing plant — a factory where raw materials are treated or prepared by a special method, esp one where food is treated in order to preserve it