22-letter words containing p, a, l, e

special marine warning — a National Weather Service warning of high-wind conditions at sea that are expected to last for up to two hours, and generally result from convective storm systems, as thunderstorms or squall lines. Compare warning (def 3).
special school teacher — a teacher who works in a school for children who are unable to benefit from ordinary schooling because they have learning difficulties, physical or mental handicaps, etc
special-interest group — Also called special interest. a body of persons, corporation, or industry that seeks or receives benefits or privileged treatment, especially through legislation.
spectrophotometrically — an instrument for making photometric comparisons between parts of spectra.
spectroscopic analysis — the use of spectroscopy in determining the chemical or physical constitution of substances
speculative philosophy — philosophy embodying beliefs insusceptible of proof and attempting to gain insight into the nature of the ultimate by intuitive or a priori means.
spelling pronunciation — a pronunciation based on spelling, usually a variant of the traditional pronunciation. The spelling pronunciation of waistcoat is [weyst-koht] /ˈweɪstˌkoʊt/ (Show IPA) rather than [wes-kuh t] /ˈwɛs kət/ (Show IPA).
spherical trigonometry — the branch of trigonometry that deals with spherical triangles.
spinal accessory nerve — accessory nerve.
split-dollar insurance — life insurance in which someone helps pay the premiums for another, as when an employer contributes to the premiums of an employee's policy.
st-pierre and miquelon — group of islands in the Atlantic, south of Newfoundland, constituting a political unit of France: includes the islands of St-Pierre (c. 10 sq mi, 26 sq km) & Miquelon & several islets: 93 sq mi (241 sq km); pop. 6,000
statistical dependence — a condition in which two random variables are not independent. X and Y are positively dependent if the conditional probability, P(X|Y), of X given Y is greater than the probability, P(X), of X, or equivalently if P(X&Y) > P(X).P(Y). They are negatively dependent if the inequalities are reversed
subjective probability — a measure or estimate of the degree of confidence one may have in the occurrence of an event, defined by subjective criteria
supplementary question — a question asked in Parliament by an MP during Questions to the Prime Minister
supreme judicial court — (often initial capital letters) the highest court in some states, as Massachusetts and Maine.
sympathetic ophthalmia — inflammation of one eye due to injury or disease of the other eye.
tapered roller bearing — a rolling bearing that uses tapered rollers running in coned races and is able to accept axial thrust as well as providing shaft location
temporal lobe epilepsy — a type of seizure disorder produced by abnormal electric discharges in the temporal lobe of the brain, characterized by the occurrence of any of a variety of auras followed by a brief loss of consciousness with accompanying repetitive, automatic movements.
temporal-lobe epilepsy — a type of seizure disorder produced by abnormal electric discharges in the temporal lobe of the brain, characterized by the occurrence of any of a variety of auras followed by a brief loss of consciousness with accompanying repetitive, automatic movements.
temporary life annuity — an annuity that ceases upon the death of the annuitant or upon the expiration of a period of time, whichever occurs first.
ten-spined stickleback — a small teleost fish, Gasterosteus pungitius, of the family Gasterosteidae, of rivers and coastal regions, having ten spines along the back and occurring in cold and temperate northern regions
the atlantic provinces — certain of the Canadian provinces with coasts facing the Gulf of St Lawrence or the Atlantic: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador
the great leap forward — the attempt by the People's Republic of China in 1959–60 to solve the country's economic problems by labour-intensive industrialization
the houston ship canal — a canal linking Houston to the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway
the medical profession — the occupation of working as a doctor of medicine
the pennsylvania dutch — a group of German-speaking people in E Pennsylvania, descended from 18th-century settlers from SW Germany and Switzerland
the-leaning-tower-pisa — a round, marble campanile in Pisa, Italy, begun in 1174 and now 17 feet (5.2 meters) out of the perpendicular in its height of 179 feet (54 meters).
threespine stickleback — a widely distributed stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, occurring in marine, brackish, or fresh waters throughout the northern hemisphere.
time complex simulator — (simulation) (Tcsim) Complex arithmetic version of Tsim. Contact: ZOLA Technologies.
time-lapse photography — the photographing on motion-picture film of a slow and continuous process, as the growth of a plant, at regular intervals, especially by exposing a single frame at a time, for projection at a higher speed.
tip the scales/balance — If something tips the scales or tips the balance, it gives someone a slight advantage.
to drop someone a line — If you drop someone a line, you write to them.
to fall to bits/pieces — To fall to pieces, or in British English to fall to bits, means the same as to fall apart.
to open the floodgates — If events open the floodgates to something, they make it possible for that thing to happen much more often or much more seriously than before.
to overplay one's hand — If someone overplays their hand, they act more confidently than they should because they believe that they are in a stronger position than they actually are.
to play fast and loose — If you say that someone is playing fast and loose, you are expressing disapproval of them for behaving in a deceitful, immoral, or irresponsible way.
to play happy families — to spend time with your family or partner and to outwardly give the impression of being happy (although this may not be the case)
to play to the gallery — If you play to the gallery, you do something in public in a way which you hope will impress people.
to swallow one's pride — If you swallow your pride, you decide to do something even though you think it will cause you to lose some respect.
to upset the applecart — If you upset the applecart, you do something which causes a plan, system, or arrangement to go wrong.
unemployment insurance — a government program that provides a limited number of payments to eligible workers who are involuntarily unemployed.
united empire loyalist — any of the American colonists who settled in Canada during or after the War of American Independence because of loyalty to the British Crown
universal postal union — an international organization, formed in Bern, Switzerland (1875), that administers and regulates international postal service. Abbreviation: UPU.
universal product code — a bar code that indicates price, product classification, etc., and can be read electronically, as at checkout counters in supermarkets. Abbreviation: UPC.
unprofessional conduct — activity that is contrary to the accepted code of conduct of a profession
upright vacuum cleaner — a vacuum cleaner that is tall rather than wide
urban development zone — an area that is designated as being a site for urban development
user datagram protocol — (protocol) (UDP) Internet standard network layer, transport layer and session layer protocols which provide simple but unreliable datagram services. UDP is defined in STD 6, RFC 768. It adds a checksum and additional process-to-process addressing information [to what?]. UDP is a connectionless protocol which, like TCP, is layered on top of IP. UDP neither guarantees delivery nor does it require a connection. As a result it is lightweight and efficient, but all error processing and retransmission must be taken care of by the application program.
valencia simple tasker — (operating system) (VSTa) A small microkernel based Unix-like operating system, taking ideas from QNX and Plan 9, available under GPL.
verification principle — (in the philosophy of the logical positivists) the doctrine that nontautologous statements are meaningful only if it is in principle possible to establish empirically whether they are true or false

Was this page helpful?

Yes No

Thank you for your feedback! Tell your friends about this page

Tell us why?