12-letter words containing m, a, o, s
- oamaru stone — a kind of limestone, of building quality, found at Oamaru on South Island, New Zealand
- obscurantism — opposition to the increase and spread of knowledge.
- odd-man rush — an attacking move when the defence is outnumbered by the opposing team
- odontomatous — relating to an odontoma
- old guardism — political conservatism.
- old-womanish — Sometimes Offensive. having characteristics considered typical of an old woman, as excessive fussiness or timidity.
- oligospermia — (medicine) Low volume of semen.
- omnidistance — the distance between an omnirange station and a receiver.
- omnishambles — Chiefly British Informal. a situation, especially in politics, in which poor judgment results in disorder or chaos with potentially disastrous consequences.
- omphaloscopy — Introversion.
- one-man show — a show with only one performer
- onomasiology — the study of the means of expressing a given concept.
- onomastician — the study of the origin, history, and use of proper names.
- operationism — the doctrine that the meaning of a scientific term, concept, or proposition consists of the operation or operations performed in defining or demonstrating it.
- ophthalmitis — ophthalmia.
- optic chiasm — a site at the base of the forebrain where the inner half of the fibers of the left and right optic nerves cross to the opposite side of the brain.
- optimisation — Alternative spelling of optimization.
- optimistical — disposed to take a favorable view of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome.
- oscillograms — Plural form of oscillogram.
- osco-umbrian — a group of languages, usually classified as Italic, that contains Oscan and Umbrian.
- osteomalacia — a condition characterized by softening of the bones with resultant pain, weakness, and bone fragility, caused by inadequate deposition of calcium or vitamin D.
- osteomalacic — a condition characterized by softening of the bones with resultant pain, weakness, and bone fragility, caused by inadequate deposition of calcium or vitamin D.
- osteosarcoma — a malignant tumor of the bone.
- otitis media — inflammation of the middle ear, characterized by pain, dizziness, and impaired hearing.
- outmaneuvers — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of outmaneuver.
- ovariotomies — Plural form of ovariotomy.
- ovariotomist — a surgeon who performs ovariotomies
- overemphasis — excessive or undue emphasis.
- overestimate — to estimate at too high a value, amount, rate, or the like: Don't overestimate the car's trade-in value.
- oxidant smog — photochemical smog.
- pachydermous — any of the thick-skinned, nonruminant ungulates, as the elephant, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros.
- paedobaptism — the baptism of infants
- palindromist — a word, line, verse, number, sentence, etc., reading the same backward as forward, as Madam, I'm Adam or Poor Dan is in a droop.
- parachronism — a chronological error in which a person, event, etc., is assigned a date later than the actual one.
- paramorphism — the process by which a paramorph is formed.
- paraphimosis — inability to retract the penis into the prepuce as a result of narrowing of the prepuce
- parkinsonism — Parkinson's disease.
- parochialism — a parochial character, spirit, or tendency; excessive narrowness of interests or view; provincialism.
- paronomastic — the use of a word in different senses or the use of words similar in sound to achieve a specific effect, as humor or a dual meaning; punning.
- parsimonious — characterized by or showing parsimony; frugal or stingy.
- pax vobiscum — peace be with you
- periostracum — the external, chitinlike covering of the shell of certain mollusks that protects the limy portion from acids.
- peristomatic — surrounding a leaf's stoma or stomata
- phosphamidon — a systemic and contact insecticide, C 1 0 H 1 9 ClNO 5 P, used against beetles, aphids, mites, and other crop pests.
- 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.
- 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.
- phrasemonger — phrasemaker (def 2).
- pictorialism — Fine Arts. the creation or use of pictures or visual images, especially of recognizable or realistic representations.
- plasma torch — an electrical device for converting a gas into a plasma, used for melting metal
- plasmosomata — a kind of nucleoli