17-letter words containing p, a, l, m, c
- malay archipelago — an extensive island group in the Indian and Pacific oceans, SE of Asia, including the Greater and Lesser Sunda Islands, the Moluccas, and the Philippines.
- maximum principle — the theorem that a function of a complex variable that is analytic in a domain and on its boundary attains its maximum absolute value on the boundary.
- mayflower compact — an agreement to establish a government, entered into by the Pilgrims in the cabin of the Mayflower on November 11, 1620.
- mechanical pencil — a pencil for holding lead that can be extended by mechanical means.
- medical procedure — A medical procedure is a medical treatment or operation.
- meissen porcelain — Dresden china.
- metabolic pathway — biochemistry: sequence of reactions within a cell or organism
- microencapsulated — Encapsulated using microencapsulation.
- micromanipulation — the technique of performing mechanical operations under high magnification through the use of specialized tools.
- micromanipulators — Plural form of micromanipulator.
- micropaleontology — the branch of paleontology dealing with the study of microscopic fossils.
- mounted policeman — policemen who patrol on horseback
- multidisciplinary — composed of or combining several usually separate branches of learning or fields of expertise: a multidisciplinary study of the 18th century.
- multiple-unit car — a self-propelled railroad car, generally used in commuting service, equipped so that a train of such cars can be operated from any one of them.
- muscle dysmorphia — a mental disorder primarily affecting males, characterized by obsessions about a perceived lack of muscularity, leading to compulsive exercising, use of anabolic steroids, etc. Compare body dysmorphic disorder.
- nephelometrically — By means of nephelometry.
- neuropharmacology — the branch of pharmacology concerned with the effects of drugs on the nervous system.
- non-thermoplastic — soft and pliable when heated, as some plastics, without any change of the inherent properties.
- nonaccomplishment — Something that does not achieve the intended goal.
- office by example — (language) (OBE) A sequel to QBE, described in publications by Moshe Zloof of IBM in the early 1980s but apparently never implemented.
- olympic mountains — a mountain range in NW Washington: part of the Coast Range. Highest peak: Mount Olympus, 2427 m (7965 ft)
- olympic peninsula — a large peninsula of W Washington
- omphalomesenteric — (anatomy) Of or pertaining to the umbilicus and mesentery.
- onomatopoetically — the formation of a word, as cuckoo, meow, honk, or boom, by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent.
- optical astronomy — the branch of observational astronomy using telescopes to observe or photograph celestial objects in visible light.
- optical computing — (hardware) (Or "Optical Signal Processing") Operating on data represented using electromagnetic radiation, e.g. visible light, instead of the electrical signals used in a conventional electronic digital computer. Electronic digital computers are built from transistors. These form components that store data and logic gates that perform the low-level Boolean operations such as AND, OR and NOT that are the basis of all digital computation. The optical equivalent requires material with a non-linear refractive index such that light beams can interact with each other to perform the same Boolean operations. Though the photons that carry optical signals offer some theoretical advantages over the electrons that carry electronic signals, there are many practical problems that would have to be overcome before optical computing could compete in terms of cost, power and speed.
- optical isomerism — stereoisomerism in which the isomers are identical in molecular weight and most chemical and physical properties but differ in their effect on the rotation of polarized light.
- palaeoclimatology — the study of climates of the geological past
- paleobiochemistry — the study of biochemical processes that occurred in fossil life forms.
- panama canal zone — Canal Zone.
- parallel computer — parallel processor
- parcplace systems — (company) A company spun-off from Xerox PARC that developed the original version of VisualWorks.
- pashmina politics — the adoption of political policies immediately after they have gone out of fashion
- personal computer — a compact computer that uses a microprocessor and is designed for individual use, as by a person in an office or at home or school, for such applications as word processing, data management, financial analysis, or computer games. Abbreviation: PC.
- peterloo massacre — an incident at St Peter's Fields, Manchester, in 1819 in which a radical meeting was broken up by a cavalry charge, resulting in about 500 injuries and 11 deaths
- pharmacologically — the science dealing with the preparation, uses, and especially the effects of drugs.
- phenylformic acid — benzoic acid.
- physical medicine — the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of disease and injury by means of physical agents, as manipulation, massage, exercise, heat, or water.
- physical pendulum — any apparatus consisting of a body of possibly irregular shape allowed to rotate freely about a horizontal axis on which it is pivoted (distinguished from simple pendulum).
- ploughman's lunch — a light lunch consisting of bread and cheese, and sometimes pickled onions.
- police department — A police department is an official organization which is responsible for making sure that people obey the law.
- political economy — a social science dealing with political policies and economic processes, their interrelations, and their influence on social institutions.
- polymorphonuclear — (of a leukocyte) having a lobulate nucleus.
- portable computer — (computer) (Commonly, "laptop") A portable personal computer you can carry with one hand. Some laptops run so hot that it would be quite uncomforable to actually use them on your lap for long. The term "notebook" is often used to describe these, though it also implies a low weight (less than 2kg). A "luggable" is one you could carry in one hand but is so heavy you wouldn't want to. One that can by easily operated while held in one hand is a "palmtop". The computer considered by most historians to be the first true portable computer was the Osborne 1 but see the link below for other contenders.
- poststructuralism — a variation of structuralism, often seen as a critique, emphasizing plurality of meaning and instability of concepts that structuralism uses to define society, language, etc.
- private placement — a sale of an issue of securities by the issuing company directly to a limited number of investors, often only one or two large institutional investors, such as a bank or an insurance company (opposed to public offering): required to be cleared but not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- product placement — Product placement is a form of advertising in which a company has its product placed where it can be clearly seen during a film or television programme.
- pseudo-moralistic — a person who teaches or inculcates morality.
- recoil escapement — anchor escapement.
- repeating decimal — a decimal numeral that, after a certain point, consists of a group of one or more digits repeated ad infinitum, as 2.33333 …. or 23.0218181818 ….