18-letter words containing i, s, m
- potassium sulphate — a soluble substance usually obtained as colourless crystals of the decahydrate: used in making glass and as a fertilizer. Formula: K2SO4
- pragmatic sanction — any one of various imperial decrees with the effect of fundamental law.
- precious moonstone — moonstone (def 1).
- premiere screening — the first screening of a film at a cinema, etc
- presenile dementia — a form of dementia, of unknown cause, starting before a person is old
- pressure altimeter — an aneroid barometer adapted for measuring altitude by converting the indicated atmospheric pressure to altitude according to a standard relationship.
- presumption of law — a presumption based upon a policy of law or a general rule and not upon the facts or evidence in an individual case.
- prime-ministership — the principal minister and head of government in parliamentary systems; chief of the cabinet or ministry: the British prime minister.
- primus inter pares — (of males) first among equals.
- prism spectrometer — an optical device for measuring wavelengths, deviation of refracted rays, and angles between faces of a prism, especially an instrument (prism spectrometer) consisting of a slit through which light passes, a collimator, a prism that deviates the light, and a telescope through which the deviated light is viewed and examined.
- prisoner's dilemma — (in game theory) a scenario in which the outcome of one person's decision is determined by the simultaneous decisions of the other participants, resulting in a bad outcome for all of them if all act in their own self-interest.
- processionary moth — a moth of the family Thaumetopoeidae, esp the oak processionary moth (Thaumetopoea processionea), the larvae of which leave the communal shelter nightly for food in a V-shaped procession
- programming skills — the skills required to write a program so that data may be processed by a computer
- provision merchant — a person or company in the business of retailing food and other provisions
- pseudo-competitive — of, pertaining to, involving, or decided by competition: competitive sports; a competitive examination.
- pseudo-symptomatic — pertaining to a symptom or symptoms.
- ptomaine poisoning — (erroneously) food poisoning thought to be caused by ptomaine.
- publishing company — a firm which publishes books
- pulmonary embolism — the blockage of a pulmonary artery, often by a blood clot, that stops the flow of blood to the lungs and which can result in death if untreated
- pulmonic airstream — a current of lung air set in motion by the respiratory muscles in the production of speech.
- punishment beating — a form of corporal punishment carried out by a paramilitary organization on a member of another sectarian organization, usually in Northern Ireland
- pygmy hippopotamus — a small hippopotamus, Choeropsis liberiensis, of forests and swamps in western Africa.
- pyramus and thisbe — (in Greek legend) two lovers of Babylon: Pyramus, wrongly supposing Thisbe to be dead, killed himself and she, encountering him in his death throes, did the same
- quantum statistics — the branch of statistical mechanics that incorporates quantum mechanics.
- quasi-metaphysical — pertaining to or of the nature of metaphysics.
- quinacrine mustard — a nitrogen mustard derived from mepacrine and used as a stain for chromosomes
- radical empiricism — (in the philosophy of William James) the doctrine that the only proper subject matter of philosophy is that which can be defined in terms of experience, and that relations are a part of experience.
- recess appointment — a person appointed to an office by the President of the United States without approval from the Senate because the Senate is in recess
- registered company — a company which has officially registered its business
- remains to be seen — If you say that it remains to be seen whether something will happen, you mean that nobody knows whether it will happen.
- remanent magnetism — magnetization in minerals induced by a former magnetic field and persisting after the field changes.
- residual magnetism — remanence.
- resistance plasmid — any of a group of bacterial plasmids carrying genetic information that provide resistance to antibiotic drugs: some resistance plasmids are able to transfer themselves, and hence resistance, during conjugation
- respiratory system — the system by which oxygen is taken into the body and an exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place; in mammals the system includes the nasal passages, pharynx, trachea, bronchi, and lungs.
- restoration comedy — English comedy of the period of the Restoration, stressing manners and social satire.
- restriction enzyme — any of a group of enzymes that catalyze the cleavage of DNA molecules at specific sites: used for gene splicing in recombinant DNA technology and for chromosome mapping.
- resuscitation room — an intensive care unit
- retirement pension — income: no longer at work
- retrograde amnesia — a memory disorder characterized by an inability to remember events or experiences that occurred before a significant point in time.
- rheims-douay bible — Douay Bible.
- rufous hummingbird — a reddish-brown hummingbird, Selasphorus rufus, of western North America.
- run in sb's family — If a characteristic runs in someone's family, it often occurs in members of that family, in different generations.
- sacrificial victim — a person who is ritually killed with the intention of propitiating or pleasing a deity
- salem witch trials — 17th-century witchcraft case
- sampling equipment — Sampling equipment is equipment which is used to remove small amounts of something for analysis and monitoring.
- sampling frequency — sample rate
- sampling statistic — any function of observed data, esp one used to estimate the corresponding parameter of the underlying distribution, such as the sample mean, sample variance, etc
- san juan mountains — a mountain range in SW Colorado and N New Mexico: part of the Rocky Mountains. Highest peak: Uncompahgre Peak, 4363 m (14 314 ft)
- sao joao de meriti — a city in SE Brazil, NW of Rio de Janeiro.
- saturation bombing — intense area bombing intended to destroy everything in the target area.