21-letter words containing n, s, p
- pseudo-cleft sentence — cleft sentence (def 2).
- psychomotor agitation — agitation (def 3).
- psychomotor-agitation — the act or process of agitating; state of being agitated: She left in great agitation.
- psychoneuroimmunology — the study of the effects of psychological factors on the immune system
- public administration — the implementation of public policy, largely by the executive branch.
- public transportation — means of fare-paying travel
- pull oneself together — to draw or haul toward oneself or itself, in a particular direction, or into a particular position: to pull a sled up a hill.
- pulse code modulation — a form of modulation that transforms a wave-form, as an audio signal, into a binary signal in which information is conveyed by a coded order of pulses for transmission, storage on a disk, or processing by a computer. Abbreviation: PCM.
- pulse height analyser — a multichannel analyser that sorts pulses into selected amplitude ranges
- pulse height analyzer — an instrument that records or counts an electrical pulse if its amplitude falls within specified limits: used in nuclear physics research for the determination of energy spectra of nuclear radiations
- pulse-code modulation — a form of modulation that transforms a wave-form, as an audio signal, into a binary signal in which information is conveyed by a coded order of pulses for transmission, storage on a disk, or processing by a computer. Abbreviation: PCM.
- pulse-time modulation — radio transmission in which the carrier is modulated to produce a series of pulses timed to transmit the amplitude and pitch of a signal. Abbr.: PTM.
- purchasing department — the group of staff within an organization that is responsible for buying goods or products
- purple-fringed orchis — either of two North American orchids (Habenaria psycodes and H. fimbriata) with purple-fringed flowers
- push the panic button — an alarm button for use in an emergency, as to summon help.
- put in the hard yards — to make a great effort to achieve an end
- put sb in the picture — If you put someone in the picture, you tell them about a situation which they need to know about.
- put sb in their place — If you put someone in their place, you show them that they are less important or clever than they think they are.
- put someone wise (to) — to give someone information, an explanation, etc. (about); enlighten someone (concerning)
- put someone's back up — to annoy someone
- put something over on — to deceive; trick
- queen's-pawn openings — a class of chess openings in which the pawn in front of the queen is advanced two squares on the first move.
- queer someone's pitch — to upset someone's plans
- rap over the knuckles — to reprimand
- reading comprehension — a text that students use to help them improve their reading skills, by reading it and answering questions relating to the text. Sometimes used as a test or examination of reading skills. A reading comprehension can be in the student's own or another language
- real operating system — (operating system, abuse) The sort the speaker is used to. People from the BSDophilic academic community are likely to issue comments like "System V? Why don't you use a *real* operating system?", people from the commercial/industrial Unix sector are known to complain "BSD? Why don't you use a *real* operating system?", and people from IBM object "Unix? Why don't you use a *real* operating system?" See holy wars, religious issues, proprietary, Get a real computer!.
- recompression chamber — hyperbaric chamber.
- reconnaissance patrol — a patrol made by soldiers in order to obtain military information about a particular place
- repatriation expenses — Repatriation expenses are the costs involved in transporting a claimant or their body back to their own country after they have been injured or killed in a foreign country.
- residual unemployment — the unemployment that remains in periods of full employment, as a result of those mentally, physically, or emotionally unfit to work
- reverse polish syntax — postfix notation
- reverse transcriptase — a retrovirus enzyme that synthesizes DNA from viral RNA, the reverse of the usual DNA-to-RNA replication: used in genetic engineering to clone genes from RNA strands.
- roll up one's sleeves — to prepare oneself for work, a fight, etc
- roll with the punches — a thrusting blow, especially with the fist.
- roll-on-roll-off ship — a cargo ship or ferry designed so that vehicles can be driven straight on and straight off
- sales finance company — a finance company that purchases, at a discount, installment contracts from dealers or that finances retail sales.
- sampling distribution — the distribution of a statistic based on all possible random samples that can be drawn from a given population.
- sanitation department — the department of local government responsible for collecting and disposing of refuse
- sao bernardo do campo — a city in SE Brazil, SE of São Paulo.
- sao tome and principe — Democratic Republic of, a republic in W Africa, comprising the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, in the Gulf of Guinea, N of the equator: a former overseas province of Portugal; gained independence in 1975. 372 sq. mi. (964 sq. km). Capital: São Tomé.
- saponification number — the number of milligrams of potassium hydroxide required to saponify one gram of a given ester, especially a glyceride.
- sb/sth reigns supreme — Someone or something that reigns supreme is the most important or powerful element in a situation or period of time.
- scalar multiplication — an operation used in the definition of a vector space in which the product of a scalar and a vector is a vector, the operation is distributive over the addition of both scalars and vectors, and is associative with multiplication of scalars
- schlieren photography — a type of photography which records schlieren
- school superintendent — an official whose job is to oversee school administration within a district
- schoolgirl complexion — a smooth, clear complexion, such as schoolgirls are considered to have
- science correspondent — a newspaper or television journalist who specializes in reporting on new discoveries in science
- scientific empiricism — the philosophy that there are no real differences between the sciences.
- sequoia national park — a national park in central California: giant sequoia trees. 604 sq. mi. (1565 sq. km).
- seven-segment display — (electronics) (SSD) A kind of display element consisting of seven independently controllable lines arranged as a rectangular figure eight. A seven-segment display is the simplest device that can display any of the digits zero to nine (and some other characters) by lighting different combinations of lines. They are often seen in electronic calculators or measuring equipment.