16-letter words containing i, r, u, m, a
- papillary muscle — one of the small bundles of muscles attached to the ventricle walls and to the chordae tendineae that tighten these tendons during ventricular contraction.
- permaculturalist — a system of cultivation intended to maintain permanent agriculture or horticulture by relying on renewable resources and a self-sustaining ecosystem.
- perpetual motion — the motion of a theoretical mechanism that, without any losses due to friction or other forms of dissipation of energy, would continue to operate indefinitely at the same rate without any external energy being applied to it.
- pietermaritzburg — a province in the E part of the Republic of South Africa. 35,284 sq. mi. (91,886 sq. km). Capital: Pietermaritzburg.
- platinum-iridium — (standard) A standard, against which all others of the same category are measured. Usage: silly. The notion is that one of whatever it is has actually been cast in platinum-iridium alloy and placed in the vault beside the Standard Kilogram at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris, as the bar defining the standard metre once was. "This garbage collection algorithm has been tested against the platinum-iridium cons cell in Paris." Compare golden.
- pneumatic trough — a trough filled with liquid, especially water, for collecting gases in bell jars or the like by displacement.
- primary consumer — (in the food chain) an animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore.
- primary industry — an industry, as agriculture, forestry, or fishing, that deals in obtaining natural materials.
- primary producer — any green plant or any of various microorganisms that can convert light energy or chemical energy into organic matter.
- print journalism — journalism as practiced in newspapers and magazines.
- private judgment — personal opinion formed independently of the expressed position of an institution, as in matters of religion or politics.
- proxima centauri — the nearest star to the sun at a distance of 4.3 light-years, part of the Alpha Centauri triple-star system located in the constellation Centaurus.
- 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.
- punctuation mark — any of a group of conventional marks or characters used in punctuation, as the period, comma, semicolon, question mark, or dash.
- quadrimillennial — Occurring every four thousand years.
- 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-managerial — pertaining to management or a manager: managerial functions; the managerial class of society.
- 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.
- radium emanation — (formerly) radon.
- rambunctiousness — difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous: a rambunctious child.
- rating community — an online community based around a website that allows members to rate each other's photographs, qualifications, etc, as well as those of applicants, and which only those approved by existing members are allowed to join
- real-time euclid — Real-time language, restriction to time-bounded constructs. ["Real-Time Euclid: A Language for Reliable Real-Time Systems", E. Kligerman et al, IEEE Trans Software Eng SE-12(9):941-1986-09-949].
- 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
- redemption value — the price at which the issuing company may choose to repurchase a security before its maturity date
- relative maximum — maximum (def 4a).
- relative minimum — minimum (def 5a).
- relative-maximum — maximum (def 4a).
- romeo and juliet — a tragedy (produced between 1591 and 1596) by Shakespeare.
- run-time library — (operating system, programming, library) A file containing routines which are linked with a program at run time rather than at compile-time. The advantage of such dynamic linking is that only one copy of the library needs to be stored, rather than a copy being included with each executable that refers to it. This can greatly reduce the disk space occupied by programs. Furthermore, it means that all programs immediately benefit from changes (e.g. bug fixes) to the single copy of the library without requiring recompilation. Since the library code is normally classified as read-only to the memory management system, it is possible for a single copy of the library to be loaded into memory and shared by all active programs, thus reducing RAM and virtual memory requirements and program load time.
- sauce americaine — a sauce prepared with tomatoes, garlic, wine, shallots, and herbs. See also à l’américaine.
- sault ste. marie — the rapids of the St. Marys River, between NE Michigan and Ontario, Canada.
- saxo grammaticus — c1150–1206? Danish historian and poet.
- schaumburg-lippe — a former state in NW Germany.
- secular humanism — any set of beliefs that promotes human values without specific allusion to religious doctrines.
- security manager — The security manager of a store is the person responsible for organizing all security in the store and to whom security guards report.
- security measure — a precaution taken against terrorism, espionage or other danger
- semiagricultural — partly engaged in or given over to agriculture
- semisubterranean — half below the surface of the ground: the semisubterranean houses of some Indian tribes.
- shotgun marriage — a wedding occasioned or precipitated by pregnancy.
- sinus meridianii — an area on the equator of Mars, appearing as a dark region when viewed telescopically from the earth.
- smelting furnace — an industrial oven used to heat ore in order to extract metal
- sodium carbonate — Also called soda ash. an anhydrous, grayish-white, odorless, water-soluble powder, Na 2 CO 3 , usually obtained by the Solvay process and containing about 1 percent of impurities consisting of sulfates, chlorides, and bicarbonates of sodium: used in the manufacture of glass, ceramics, soaps, paper, petroleum products, sodium salts, as a cleanser, for bleaching, and in water treatment.
- sodium perborate — a white, crystalline, water-soluble solid, NaBO 2 ⋅3H 2 O or NaBO 3 ⋅4H 2 O, used chiefly as a bleaching agent and antiseptic.
- source materials — publications from which information is obtained
- speaking trumpet — a trumpet-shaped instrument used to carry the voice a great distance or held to the ear by a deaf person to aid his hearing
- spring mountains — a mountain range in S Nevada extending to the California border. Highest peak, Charleston Peak. 11,919 feet (3635 meters).
- square kilometer — a unit of area measurement equal to a square measuring one kilometer on each side. 2 , sq. km. Abbreviation: km.
- stomach-churning — causing nausea.