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16-letter words containing p, a, r, i

  • phonocardiograph — an instrument for graphically recording the sound of the heartbeat.
  • phosphor fatigue — screen saver
  • phosphorous acid — a colorless, crystalline, water-soluble acid of phosphorus, H 3 PO 3 , from which phosphites are derived.
  • photoautotrophic — any organism that derives its energy for food synthesis from light and is capable of using carbon dioxide as its principal source of carbon.
  • photolithography — the technique or art of making photolithographs.
  • photopolarimeter — a polarimeter that uses a photocell.
  • photorespiration — the oxidation of carbohydrates in many higher plants in which they get oxygen from light and then release carbon dioxide, somewhat different from photosynthesis.
  • photozincography — a type of photoengraving using a sensitized zinc plate.
  • physical address — (memory management)   The address presented to a computer's main memory in a virtual memory system, in contrast to the virtual address which is the address generated by the CPU. A memory management unit translates virtual addresses into physical addresses.
  • physical therapy — the treatment or management of physical disability, malfunction, or pain by exercise, massage, hydrotherapy, etc., without the use of medicines, surgery, or radiation.
  • phytoremediation — a process of decontaminating soil or water by using plants and trees to absorb or break down pollutants.
  • picture postcard — postcard (def 1).
  • pierce's disease — a disease of grapes caused by a rickettsialike organism, characterized by dwarfing of vines, mottling of woody tissues, and plant death.
  • pietermaritzburg — a province in the E part of the Republic of South Africa. 35,284 sq. mi. (91,886 sq. km). Capital: Pietermaritzburg.
  • pineal apparatus — a median outgrowth of the roof of the diencephalon in vertebrates that in some develops into the pineal eye and in others into the pineal gland.
  • pinot chardonnay — Chardonnay.
  • piscis austrinus — a small constellation in the S hemisphere lying between Aquarius and Grus and containing the first-magnitude star Fomalhaut
  • pithecanthropine — of, belonging to, or resembling a former genus (Pithecanthropus, now classified as Homo erectus) of extinct early humans, who lived in Java, China, Europe, and Africa
  • pithecanthropoid — of, relating to, or resembling the former genus Pithecanthropus or one of its members.
  • place of worship — religious house: church, temple
  • plant bargaining — a form of bargaining within industry, involving either informal small groups of employees or collective agreements at plant level
  • plaster of paris — calcined gypsum in white, powdery form, used as a base for gypsum plasters, as an additive of lime plasters, and as a material for making fine and ornamental casts: characterized by its ability to set rapidly when mixed with water.
  • platinum-iridium — (standard)   A standard, against which all others of the same category are measured. Usage: silly. The notion is that one of whatever it is has actually been cast in platinum-iridium alloy and placed in the vault beside the Standard Kilogram at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris, as the bar defining the standard metre once was. "This garbage collection algorithm has been tested against the platinum-iridium cons cell in Paris." Compare golden.
  • pleasure-seeking — always looking for pleasure
  • plutarch's lives — (Parallel Lives) a collection (a.d. 105–15) by Plutarch of short biographies of the leading political figures of ancient Greece and Rome.
  • pneumatic trough — a trough filled with liquid, especially water, for collecting gases in bell jars or the like by displacement.
  • pocket billiards — pool2 (def 1).
  • poitou-charentes — a region of W central France, on the Bay of Biscay: mainly low-lying
  • polar coordinate — Usually, polar coordinates. one of two coordinates used to locate a point in a plane by the length of its radius vector and the angle this vector makes with the polar axis (polar angle)
  • polar opposition — the relation between a pair of antonyms that denote relatively higher and lower degrees of a quality with respect to an explicit or implicit norm rather than absolute values, as the relation between tall and short or light and dark, but not between true and false.
  • polarizing angle — the law that light will receive maximum polarization from a reflecting surface when it is incident to the surface at an angle (angle of polarization or polarizing angle) having a tangent equal to the index of refraction of the surface.
  • polyacrylic acid — a polymer of acrylic acid used as a sizing agent in the manufacture of nylon and other synthetic textiles.
  • polyvinyl formal — a colorless, water-insoluble, polyvinyl acetal produced from partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl acetate and formaldehyde, used chiefly in the manufacture of lacquers.
  • ponderosa (pine) — a yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa) of W North America, valued for its timber
  • poor white trash — white trash.
  • porcelain enamel — a glass coating, made to adhere to a metal or another enamel by fusion.
  • pork scratchings — small pieces of crisply cooked pork crackling, eaten cold as an appetizer with drinks
  • port authorities — the body with overall responsibility for a port
  • port phillip bay — a bay in SE Australia: the harbor of Melbourne. 31 miles (50 km) long; 25 miles (40 km) wide.
  • portable airtime — (communications, wireless)   A wireless, digital communications system enabling user-to-user voice communication, "quicknotes", and alphanumeric messaging.
  • portrait gallery — a gallery where pictures are displayed
  • portrait painter — artist: paints likenesses
  • portuguese india — a former Portuguese overseas territory on the W coast of India, consisting of the districts of Gôa, Daman, and Diu: annexed by India December 1961. Capital: Gôa.
  • posigrade rocket — an auxiliary rocket used to separate the sections of a multistage rocket, fired in the direction of flight.
  • post-reformation — the act of reforming; state of being reformed.
  • post-renaissance — the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.
  • post-romanticism — romantic spirit or tendency.
  • potential energy — the energy of a body or a system with respect to the position of the body or the arrangement of the particles of the system.
  • practical effect — Usually, practical effects. a special effect that is created live on the set of a film, using real-world objects.
  • practical reason — (in Kantian ethics) reason applied to the problem of action and choice, especially in ethical matters.
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