12-letter words containing p, a, r, i
- ribbon plant — spider plant (def 1).
- ring spanner — tool for turning screws
- ripe old age — advanced age
- risk capital — venture capital.
- road pricing — Road pricing is a system of making drivers pay money for driving on certain roads by electronically recording the movement of vehicles on those roads.
- role playing — role-play used as a method of training or education
- role-playing — a method of instruction or psychotherapy aimed at changing attitudes and behavior, in which participants act out designated roles relevant to real-life situations.
- rolling plan — a plan which is designed to continue over a period of time and is subject to regular review and updating
- roman empire — the lands and peoples subject to the authority of ancient Rome.
- rose campion — a plant, Lychnis coronaria, of the pink family, having reddish purple flowers, and leaves covered with whitish down.
- rose pogonia — a North American terrestrial orchid, Pogonia ophioglossoides, having a fragrant, usually solitary rose-pink or white flower.
- run in place — to go quickly by moving the legs more rapidly than at a walk and in such a manner that for an instant in each step all or both feet are off the ground.
- saint-pierre — two small groups of islands off the S coast of Newfoundland: an overseas territory of France; important base for fishing. 3 sq. mi. (240 sq. km). Capital: St. Pierre.
- saint-tropez — a town in SE France, on the French Riviera: beach resort.
- sand springs — a town in NE Oklahoma.
- sandpapering — the act or process of polishing or grinding a surface with or as if with sandpaper
- saprobiology — the branch of ecology that studies decaying organic matter or environments, especially saprophytes that derive nourishment in this way.
- saprophytism — living and feeding on dead organic matter
- sarsaparilla — any of various climbing or trailing tropical American plants belonging to the genus Smilax, of the lily family, having alternate leaves, umbels of flowers, and a root that has been used in the treatment of psoriasis.
- scenographic — the art of representing objects in accordance with the rules of perspective.
- schiaparelli — Elsa [el-sah] /ˈɛl sɑ/ (Show IPA), 1890–1973, French fashion designer, born in Italy.
- schizocarpic — a dry, dehiscent fruit that at maturity splits into two or more one-seeded carpels.
- science park — A science park is an area, usually linked to a university, where there are a lot of private companies, especially ones concerned with high technology.
- scintigraphy — the process of producing a scintigram.
- scissiparity — reproduction by one cell splitting into two
- scopes trial — John Thomas, 1901–70, U.S. high-school teacher whose teaching of the Darwinian theory of evolution became a cause célèbre (Scopes Trial or Monkey Trial) in 1925.
- scouring pad — a small pad, as of steel wool or plastic mesh, used for scouring pots, pans, etc.
- scrapbooking — hobby: collaging
- scratchpad i — (language) A general-purpose language originally for interactive symbolic mathematics by Richard Jenks, Barry Trager, Stephen M. Watt and Robert S. Sutor of IBM Research, ca 1971. It features abstract parametrised data types, multiple inheritance and polymorphism. There were implementations for VM/CMS and AIX.
- scripturally — (sometimes initial capital letter) of, relating to, or in accordance with sacred writings, especially the Scriptures.
- scrophularia — a member of a genus of flowering plants which have a square stem and are known as figworts
- scsi adaptor — (hardware) (Or "host adaptor") A device that communicates between a computer and its SCSI peripherals. The SCSI adaptor is usually assigned SCSI ID 7. It is often a separate card that is connected to the computer's bus (e.g. PCI, ISA, PCMCIA) though increasinly, SCSI adaptors are built in to the motherboard. Apart from being cheaper, busses like PCI are too slow to keep up with the newer SCSI standards like Ultra SCSI and Ultra-Wide SCSI. There are several varieties of SCSI (and their connectors) and an adaptor will not support them all. The performance of SCSI devices is limited by the speed of the SCSI adaptor and its connection to the computer. An adaptor that plugs into a parallel port is unlikely to be as fast as one incorporated into a motherboard. Fast adaptors use DMA or bus mastering. Some SCSI adaptors include a BIOS to allow PCs to boot from a SCSI hard disk, if their own BIOS supports it. Note that it is not a "SCSI controller" - it does not control the devices, and "SCSI interface" is redundant - the "I" of "SCSI" stands for "interface".
- sea scorpion — scorpionfish.
- seismography — the scientific measuring and recording of the shock and vibrations of earthquakes.
- semi-popular — regarded with favor, approval, or affection by people in general: a popular preacher.
- semiparasite — hemiparasite
- semitropical — subtropical.
- separability — capable of being separated, parted, or dissociated.
- separatrices — something that divides or separates, as the line between light and dark areas on a partially illuminated surface.
- septemvirate — the ruling body of septemvirs.
- septilateral — having seven sides.
- seraphically — of, like, or befitting a seraph.
- seringapatam — a town in S Karnataka, in S India, former capital of Mysore state: taken by the British 1799.
- serpentarium — a place where snakes are housed, especially for exhibition.
- serre-papier — cartonnier.
- shadow price — the calculated price of a good or service for which no market price exists
- share option — A share option is an opportunity for the employees of a company to buy shares at a special price.
- sharp-witted — having or showing mental acuity; intellectually discerning; acute.
- shoe repairs — repairs to shoes
- shopbreaking — the act of breaking into a shop