17-letter words containing o, p, s, i
- potassium acetate — a white, crystalline, deliquescent, water-soluble powder, KC 2 H 3 O 2 , used chiefly as a reagent in analytical chemistry.
- potassium bromate — a white, crystalline, water-soluble powder, KBrO 3 , used chiefly as an oxidizing agent and as an analytical reagent.
- potassium bromide — a white, crystalline, water-soluble powder, KBr, having a bitter saline taste: used chiefly in the manufacture of photographic papers and plates, in engraving, and in medicine as a sedative.
- potassium cyanide — a white, granular, water-soluble, poisonous powder, KCN, having a faint almondlike odor, used chiefly in metallurgy and photography.
- potassium nitrate — a crystalline compound, KNO 3 , produced by nitrification in soil, and used in gunpowders, fertilizers, and preservatives; saltpeter; niter.
- potassium oxalate — a colorless, crystalline, water-soluble, poisonous solid, K 2 C 2 O 4 ⋅H 2 O, used chiefly as a bleaching agent and in medical tests as an anticoagulant.
- potassium sulfate — a crystalline, water-soluble solid, K 2 SO 4 , used chiefly in the manufacture of fertilizers, alums, and mineral water, and as a reagent in analytical chemistry.
- power supply unit — (hardware) (PSU) An electronic module that converts high voltage (110 or 240 VAC) alternating current mains electricity into smoothed direct current at the various differnt voltages required by the motherboard; internal peripheral devices, cheifly storage devices: hard disks, CD or DVD, floppy disks and external connections such as USB. A PSU needs a high enough power output rating to supply all the devices connected to it and should output as little as possible electrical noise, both on the output wires and as electromagnetic radiation. See also uninterruptable power supply.
- prairie provinces — the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, which lie in the N Great Plains region of North America: the chief wheat and petroleum producing area of Canada
- pre-investigation — the act or process of investigating or the condition of being investigated.
- pre-manifestation — an act of manifesting.
- pre-modifications — an act or instance of modifying.
- precision bombing — aerial bombing in which bombs are dropped, as accurately as possible, on a specific, usually small, target.
- precision casting — investment casting.
- prefect apostolic — the administrator, usually below the rank of bishop, in charge of a prefecture apostolic.
- preferential shop — a shop in which union members are preferred, usually by agreement of an employer with a union.
- premonstratensian — a member of a religious order founded at Prémontré in N France in 1120 by St Norbert (about 1080–1134)
- prescription drug — medication available only on doctor's instruction
- presentation copy — a copy of a book given by the publisher or author
- presentationalism — a style of production in which the audience is addressed directly with songs, skits, exposition, etc., and no attempt is made at realism.
- presiding officer — the person who presides over the Scottish Parliament or Welsh Assembly
- press association — an organization formed for the purpose of gathering news for transmittal to its members. Compare news agency.
- previous question — a move that a vote be taken at once on a main question, used especially as a means of cutting off further debate.
- primary processes — the generally unorganized mental activity characteristic of the unconscious and occurring in dreams, fantasies, and related processes.
- prismatic compass — a hand compass equipped with sights and prisms to permit aiming the instrument at a point and at the same time reading the compass direction of the point.
- prison population — all the people who are confined in prison
- private ownership — the fact of being owned by a private individual or organization, rather than by the state or a public body
- procurator fiscal — In the Scottish legal system, the procurator fiscal is a public official who puts people on trial.
- production string — A production string is the series of pipes through which the oil or gas is brought up from the reservoir.
- production system — (programming) A production system consists of a collection of productions (rules), a working memory of facts and an algorithm, known as forward chaining, for producing new facts from old. A rule becomes eligible to "fire" when its conditions match some set of elements currently in working memory. A conflict resolution strategy determines which of several eligible rules (the conflict set) fires next. A condition is a list of symbols which represent constants, which must be matched exactly; variables which bind to the thing they match and "<> symbol" which matches a field not equal to symbol. Example production systems are OPS5, CLIPS, flex.
- production values — the quality of a media production (such as a film) in regards to elements such as colours, quality, style, etc
- professional army — an army of trained soldiers
- professional foul — In football, if a player commits a professional foul, they deliberately do something which is against the rules in order to prevent another player from scoring a goal.
- progressive party — a political party formed in 1912 under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, advocating popular control of government, direct primaries, the initiative, the referendum, woman suffrage, etc.
- property mistress — a female member of the stage crew in charge of the stage properties
- prosperity gospel — a modern version or, according to some, perversion of the gospel according to which the full blessings of God available to those who approach Him in faith and obedience include wealth, health and power
- prostatic utricle — a small pouch near the prostate gland that opens into the urethra.
- protected species — a species of animal or plant which it is forbidden by law to harm or destroy
- protective system — protectionism (def 1).
- protein synthesis — the process by which amino acids are linearly arranged into proteins through the involvement of ribosomal RNA, transfer RNA, messenger RNA, and various enzymes.
- proton microscope — a powerful type of microscope that uses a beam of protons, giving high resolution and sharp contrast
- prusso-danish war — a war of 1864 between Prussia and Denmark by which Denmark lost Schleswig-Holstein.
- pseudo-aggressive — characterized by or tending toward unprovoked offensives, attacks, invasions, or the like; militantly forward or menacing: aggressive acts against a neighboring country.
- pseudo-biological — pertaining to biology.
- pseudo-democratic — pertaining to or of the nature of democracy or a democracy.
- pseudo-historical — of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events: historical records; historical research.
- pseudo-humanistic — a person having a strong interest in or concern for human welfare, values, and dignity.
- pseudo-moralistic — a person who teaches or inculcates morality.
- pseudo-scientific — any of various methods, theories, or systems, as astrology, psychokinesis, or clairvoyance, considered as having no scientific basis.
- psychodiagnostics — the study and evaluation of character or personality in terms of behavioral and anatomical traits, as gesture, posture and physiognomy.