16-letter words containing c, y, p, s
- physiognomically — the face or countenance, especially when considered as an index to the character: a fierce physiognomy.
- phytosuccivorous — feeding on sap, as certain sucking insects.
- play one's cards — to carry out one's plans; take action (esp in the phrase play one's cards right)
- play-action pass — a pass play designed to deceive the defense by appearing to be a running play, in which the quarterback fakes a hand-off to a back before throwing a forward pass.
- pocket secretary — a long, narrow walletlike case, usually of leather and containing pockets for credit and business cards, paper money, etc., and sometimes a notepad and pencil.
- policy statement — a declaration of the plans and intentions of an organization or government
- political asylum — asylum provided by one nation to refugees, especially political refugees, from another nation.
- 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.
- polyphonic prose — prose characterized by the use of poetic devices, as alliteration, assonance, rhyme, etc., and especially by an emphasis on rhythm not strictly metered.
- post-apocalyptic — of or like an apocalypse; affording a revelation or prophecy.
- postcode lottery — a situation in which the standard of medical care, education, etc, received by the public varies from area to area, depending on the funding policies of various health boards, local authorities, etc
- poverty-stricken — suffering from poverty; extremely poor: poverty-stricken refugees.
- primary consumer — (in the food chain) an animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore.
- prison psychosis — a state of mental confusion, transitory or permanent, brought on by incarceration or by the anticipation of imprisonment.
- proboscis monkey — a reddish, arboreal monkey, Nasalis larvatus, of Borneo, the male of which has a long, flexible nose: an endangered species.
- process industry — business of treating raw materials
- process theology — a form of theology that emphasizes the close relation of human beings, nature, and God.
- proficiency test — an exam which test how proficient or skilled someone is in a particular activity, field of study, language, etc
- pseudoparenchyma — (in certain fungi and red algae) a compact mass of tissue, made up of interwoven hyphae or filaments, that superficially resembles plant tissue.
- psychic distance — the degree of emotional detachment maintained toward a person, group of people, event, etc.
- psychoanalytical — a systematic structure of theories concerning the relation of conscious and unconscious psychological processes.
- psychobiological — the use of biological methods to study normal and abnormal emotional and cognitive processes, as the anatomical basis of memory or neurochemical abnormalities in schizophrenia.
- psychogeriatrics — the psychology of old age.
- psychoimmunology — the branch of medicine studying the effects of psychological phenomena on the immune system; the intersection of psychology and immunology.
- psychophysiology — the branch of physiology that deals with the interrelation of mental and physical phenomena.
- psychotechnology — the body of knowledge, theories, and techniques developed for understanding and influencing individual, group, and societal behavior in specified situations.
- ptolemaic system — a system elaborated by Ptolemy and subsequently modified by others, according to which the earth was the fixed center of the universe, with the heavenly bodies moving about it.
- public schoolboy — a boy attending a public school, or a man who attended one
- pyloric stenosis — an abnormal narrowing of the valve at the outlet from the stomach, preventing normal passage of food into the small intestine.
- quasi-compulsory — required; mandatory; obligatory: compulsory education.
- ramsden eyepiece — an eyepiece consisting of two plano-convex crown-glass lenses of equal focal length, placed with the convex sides facing each other and with a separation between the lenses of about two-thirds of the focal length of each.
- reserve capacity — the capacity of a battery, measured in minutes, to keep a vehicle operating if the charging system fails.
- restriction play — a limited number of opening moves that are predetermined by their chance selection from an accepted list.
- schneider trophy — a trophy for air racing between seaplanes of any nation, first presented by Jacques Schneider (1879–1928) in 1913; won outright by Britain in 1931
- seating capacity — the number of people a place can seat
- secondary phloem — phloem derived from the cambium during secondary growth.
- self-complacency — pleased with oneself; self-satisfied; smug.
- self-deprecatory — belittling or undervaluing oneself; excessively modest.
- self-exculpatory — intended to excuse oneself from blame or guilt
- shipping company — business that sends goods overseas
- showy crab apple — a large Japanese bush or tree, Malus floribunda, of the rose family, having red fruit and rose-colored flowers that fade to white.
- simply-connected — (of a set or domain) having a connected complement.
- single occupancy — a type of travel accommodation, as at a hotel, for one person in a room.
- sleep-wake cycle — Physiology. the species-specific biological pattern of alternating sleep and wakefulness, in humans roughly 8 hours of nocturnal sleep and 16 hours of daytime activity.
- social pathology — a social factor, as poverty, old age, or crime, that tends to increase social disorganization and inhibit personal adjustment.
- special delivery — (in the U.S. Postal Service) delivery of mail outside the regularly scheduled hours, by a special messenger, upon the payment of an extra fee.
- specific gravity — the ratio of the density of any substance to the density of some other substance taken as standard, water being the standard for liquids and solids, and hydrogen or air being the standard for gases.
- spectrochemistry — the branch of chemistry that deals with the chemical analysis of substances by means of the spectra of light they absorb or emit.
- speech community — the aggregate of all the people who use a given language or dialect.