15-letter words containing p, a, r, l, n
- rheinland-pfalz — German name of Rhineland-Palatinate.
- rhombencephalon — the hindbrain.
- rocket airplane — an airplane propelled wholly or mainly by a rocket engine.
- room-and-pillar — noting a means of extracting coal or other minerals from underground deposits by first cutting out rooms, then robbing the pillars between them; pillar-and-breast.
- royal poinciana — a tree, Delonix regia, of the legume family, native to Madagascar, having showy clusters of brilliant scarlet flowers and long, flat, woody pods.
- rudyard kipling — (Joseph) Rudyard [ruhd-yerd] /ˈrʌd yərd/ (Show IPA), 1865–1936, English author: Nobel Prize 1907.
- rump parliament — the remnant of the Long Parliament established by the expulsion of the Presbyterian members in 1648, dismissed by force in 1653, and restored briefly in 1659–60.
- sales promotion — the methods or techniques for creating public acceptance of or interest in a product, usually in addition to standard merchandising techniques, as advertising or personal selling, and generally consisting of the offer of free samples, gifts made to a purchaser, or the like.
- salisbury plain — a plateau in S England, N of Salisbury: the site of Stonehenge.
- salt and pepper — pepper-and-salt.
- salt-and-pepper — pepper-and-salt.
- self-absorption — preoccupation with oneself or one's own affairs.
- self-persuasion — the act of persuading or seeking to persuade.
- septentrionally — northwards; in the direction of the north
- shark repellent — any tactic used by a corporation to prevent a takeover by a corporate raider.
- shoulder weapon — a firearm that is fired while being held in the hands with the butt of the weapon braced against the shoulder.
- simple fraction — a ratio of two integers.
- simple interval — an interval of an octave or less.
- singapore sling — a cocktail of gin, cherry brandy, sugar, and water.
- slab plastering — coarse plastering, as between the studs in a half-timbered wall.
- slumpflationary — of or relating to slumpflation
- snafu principle — /sna'foo prin'si-pl/ [WWII Army acronym for "Situation Normal: All Fucked Up"] "True communication is possible only between equals, because inferiors are more consistently rewarded for telling their superiors pleasant lies than for telling the truth." - a central tenet of Discordianism, often invoked by hackers to explain why authoritarian hierarchies screw up so reliably and systematically. The effect of the SNAFU principle is a progressive disconnection of decision-makers from reality. This lightly adapted version of a fable dating back to the early 1960s illustrates the phenomenon perfectly: In the beginning was the plan, and then the specification; And the plan was without form, and the specification was void. And darkness was on the faces of the implementors thereof; And they spake unto their leader, saying: "It is a crock of shit, and smells as of a sewer." And the leader took pity on them, and spoke to the project leader: "It is a crock of excrement, and none may abide the odor thereof." And the project leader spake unto his section head, saying: "It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide it." The section head then hurried to his department manager, and informed him thus: "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength." The department manager carried these words to his general manager, and spoke unto him saying: "It containeth that which aideth the growth of plants, and it is very strong." And so it was that the general manager rejoiced and delivered the good news unto the Vice President. "It promoteth growth, and it is very powerful." The Vice President rushed to the President's side, and joyously exclaimed: "This powerful new software product will promote the growth of the company!" And the President looked upon the product, and saw that it was very good. After the subsequent disaster, the suits protect themselves by saying "I was misinformed!", and the implementors are demoted or fired.
- snapping turtle — either of two large, edible, freshwater turtles of the family Chelydridae, of North and Central America, having a large head and powerful hooked jaws, especially the common snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina.
- spanish trefoil — alfalfa.
- sparkling water — soda water (def 1).
- special partner — a partner whose liability for the firm's debts is limited to the amount that partner has invested in the firm.
- speckle pattern — the visual appearance of a star as viewed through a large telescope, with irregularities caused by the distorting effect of local turbulence in the earth's atmosphere.
- spherical angle — an angle formed by arcs of great circles of a sphere.
- spiral notebook — a notebook held together by a coil of wire passed through small holes punched at the back edge of the covers and individual pages
- splanchnopleure — the double layer formed by the association of the lower layer of the lateral plate of mesoderm with the underlying entoderm, which develops into the embryonic viscera.
- spratly islands — a widely-scattered group of uninhabited islets and reefs in the S South China Sea, the subject of territorial claims wholly or in part by six neighbouring nations
- spread sampling — the selection of a corpus for statistical analysis by selecting a number of short passages at random throughout the work and considering their aggregation
- spring-cleaning — a complete cleaning of a place, as a home, done traditionally in the spring of the year.
- sprinkler dance — a celebratory dance in which participants extend one arm and shake it to imitate the action of a rotating water sprinkler
- starting pistol — a pistol used to give the signal to start a race
- sublapsarianism — infralapsarianism.
- subprofessional — being below professional standards: subprofessional health care.
- sulphinpyrazone — a uricosuric drug with molecular formula C23H20N2O3S, used in the treatment of chronic gout
- superabundantly — very or too abundantly
- superexaltation — extreme or supreme exaltation; the act of superexalting; the process or condition of being superexalted
- superficialness — being at, on, or near the surface: a superficial wound.
- superindividual — greater than the individual
- superior planet — any of the five planets whose orbits are outside the orbit of the earth, namely, the planets Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
- supernaturalism — supernatural character or agency.
- supernaturalist — supernatural character or agency.
- supernaturality — the quality or state of being supernatural; supernaturalism.
- supernaturalize — to make supernatural; give supernatural character or qualities to.
- talking picture — Older Use. a motion picture with accompanying synchronized speech, singing, etc.
- telegraph plant — a tick trefoil, Desmodium motorium, of the legume family, native to tropical Asia, noted for the spontaneous, jerking, signallike motions of its leaflets.
- temperamentally — having or exhibiting a strongly marked, individual temperament.