12-letter words containing l, p, a, t
- phentolamine — an alpha blocker, C 1 7 H 1 9 N 3 O, used to reduce hypertensive states caused by a catecholamine excess, as in the treatment of pheochromocytoma.
- philanthropy — altruistic concern for human welfare and advancement, usually manifested by donations of money, property, or work to needy persons, by endowment of institutions of learning and hospitals, and by generosity to other socially useful purposes.
- phonetic law — a statement of some regular pattern of sound change in a specific language, as Grimm's law or Verner's law.
- phonetically — Also, phonetical. of or relating to speech sounds, their production, or their transcription in written symbols.
- phosphatidyl — an atom or group of atoms containing one or more unpaired electrons derived from a phosphatide
- photo layout — a picture spread. See under spread (def 33).
- photoanalyst — a person who analyzes and interprets photographs, especially a military specialist in aerial or satellite photography.
- photoelastic — displaying photoelasticity; of or relating to photoelasticity
- photogelatin — pertaining to any photographic process in which gelatin is used to receive or transfer a print.
- photolyzable — able to undergo photolysis
- photonuclear — of, relating to, or caused by the collision of high-energy photons with the nucleus of an atom.
- photorealism — a style of painting flourishing in the 1970s, especially in the U.S., England, and France, and depicting commonplace scenes or ordinary people, with a meticulously detailed realism, flat images, and barely discernible brushwork that suggests and often is based on or incorporates an actual photograph.
- photovoltaic — of or relating to the photovoltaic effect.
- phragmoplast — the cytoplasmic structure that forms at the equator of the spindle after the chromosomes have divided during the anaphase of plant mitosis, and that initiates cell division.
- phylacteries — Judaism. either of two small, black, leather cubes containing a piece of parchment inscribed with verses 4–9 of Deut. 6, 13–21 of Deut. 11, and 1–16 of Ex. 13: one is attached with straps to the left arm and the other to the forehead during weekday morning prayers by Orthodox and Conservative Jewish men.
- phytoclimate — the climate of a small area, as of confined spaces such as caves or houses (cryptoclimate) of plant communities, wooded areas, etc. (phytoclimate) or of urban communities, which may be different from that in the general region.
- picnic table — table-and-bench structure used outdoors
- pictorialism — Fine Arts. the creation or use of pictures or visual images, especially of recognizable or realistic representations.
- pictorialist — Fine Arts. the creation or use of pictures or visual images, especially of recognizable or realistic representations.
- pictorialize — to make pictorial; illustrate or represent with or as if with pictures.
- picture rail — bar from which pictures are hung
- pied wagtail — a British songbird, Motacilla alba yarrellii, with a black throat and back, long black tail, and white underparts and face: family Motacillidae (wagtails and pipits)
- pigtail hook — a screw hook having an eye in the form of a spiral for holding a loop, chain link, etc., at any angle.
- pilot jacket — a type of leather jacket associated with U.S. Army pilots in World War II
- pilot ladder — Jacob's ladder (def 2a).
- pilot signal — a signal, as a flag or light, used to request a pilot.
- piltdown man — a hypothetical early modern human, assigned to the genus Eoanthropus, whose existence was inferred from skull fragments that were allegedly found at Piltdown, England, in 1912 but were exposed as fraudulent through chemical analysis in 1953.
- pinealectomy — a surgical operation to remove the pineal gland
- piss-elegant — displaying a contrived, often pretentious, sophistication, opulence, etc.
- pitch a tale — to tell a story, usually of a fantastic nature
- placentation — Anatomy, Zoology. the formation of a placenta. the manner of placement or construction of a placenta.
- placentiform — shaped like a placenta, with a flat rounded form
- placentology — the scientific study of the placenta
- plagiaristic — an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work as one's own, as by not crediting the original author: It is said that he plagiarized Thoreau's plagiarism of a line written by Montaigne. Synonyms: appropriation, infringement, piracy, counterfeiting; theft, borrowing, cribbing, passing off.
- plagiotropic — growing more or less divergent from the vertical.
- plain turkey — a bustard
- plainclothes — Plainclothes police officers wear ordinary clothes instead of a police uniform.
- plane strain — Plane strain is a two-dimensional state of strain in which all the shape changes of a material happen on a single plane.
- plane stress — Plane stress is a two-dimensional state of stress in which all stress is applied in a single plane.
- plane ticket — entitlement to travel by aircraft
- planet earth — the world
- planet wheel — any of the gears in an epicyclic train surrounding and engaging with the sun gear.
- planetesimal — one of the small celestial bodies that, according to one theory (planetesimal hypothesis) were fused together to form the planets of the solar system.
- plant-cutter — any of several South American, passerine birds of the family Phytotomidae, superficially resembling grosbeaks but having serrated edges on the bill that aid in cutting leaves and other plant food.
- plasma torch — an electrical device for converting a gas into a plasma, used for melting metal
- plasmosomata — a kind of nucleoli
- plaster cast — any piece of sculpture reproduced in plaster of Paris.
- plasterboard — a material used for insulating or covering walls, or as a lath, consisting of paper-covered sheets of gypsum and felt.
- plasteriness — the state of being made of or resembling plaster
- plastic arts — arts producing works or effects that are three-dimensional, as sculpture or ceramics