23-letter words containing p, a, r, o, t
- professional misconduct — a violation of the rules or boundaries set by the governing body of a profession
- profit and loss account — income account (def 2).
- progressive cavity pump — A progressive cavity pump is a pump with an electric motor that rotates rods to make fluid in cavities move upward.
- provocative maintenance — [Common ironic mutation of "preventive maintenance"] Actions performed upon a machine at regularly scheduled intervals to ensure that the system remains in a usable state. So called because it is all too often performed by a field servoid who doesn't know what he is doing; such "maintenance" often *induces* problems, or otherwise results in the machine's remaining in an *un*usable state for an indeterminate amount of time. See also scratch monkey.
- psychomotor retardation — a generalized slowing of psychological and physical activity, frequently occurring as a symptom of severe depression.
- public-key cryptography — public-key encryption
- puerto rican royal palm — a feather palm, Roystonea borinquena, of Puerto Rico and St. Croix, having leaves about 10 feet (3 meters) long and egg-shaped, yellowish-brown fruit.
- put the record straight — to correct an error or misunderstanding
- put through one's paces — a rate of movement, especially in stepping, walking, etc.: to walk at a brisk pace of five miles an hour.
- quote chapter and verse — [by analogy with the mainstream phrase] To cite a relevant excerpt from an appropriate bible. "I don't care if "rn" gets it wrong; "Followup-To: poster" is explicitly permitted by RFC 1036. I'll quote chapter and verse if you don't believe me." See also legalese, language lawyer, RTFS (sense 2).
- real simple syndication — (spelling) Illiterate form of Really Simple Syndication.
- refinery waste disposal — Refinery waste disposal is the system for dealing with waste materials, especially hazardous ones, in a refinery.
- relative sunspot number — a number indicating the degree of sunspot activity on the sun as a factor of observer idiosyncrasies, the number of sunspot groups, and the number of individual sunspots.
- respectability politics — the set of beliefs holding that conformity to socially acceptable or mainstream standards of appearance and behavior will protect a member of a marginalized or minority group from prejudices and systemic injustices: Black respectability politics perpetuate the fiction of a meritocracy in public education.
- response generalization — generalization (def 4b).
- response-generalization — the act or process of generalizing.
- retrolental fibroplasia — an unusual eye disease occurring in premature infants, usually from being given high concentrations of oxygen, which causes abnormal formation of fibrous tissue behind the lens and often results in blindness.
- reverse polish notation — postfix notation
- rocky mountain beeplant — a rank-smelling plant, Cleome serrulata, of the caper family, native to the western U.S., having showy, dense clusters of pink or white flowers, frequented by bees.
- rub sb up the wrong way — If you rub someone up the wrong way in British English, or rub someone the wrong way in American English, you offend or annoy them without intending to.
- saint christopher-nevis — St. Kitts-Nevis.
- schizotypal personality — a personality disorder characterized by a group of symptoms similar to but less severe than schizophrenia, as odd behavior, peculiar thinking, and social isolation.
- scottish national party — a political party advocating the independence of Scotland, founded in 1934
- separation of variables — a grouping of the terms of an ordinary differential equation so that associated with each differential is a factor consisting entirely of functions of the independent variable appearing in the differential.
- silicone breast implant — silicone filled bags that are implanted into a woman in order to increase the size of her breasts
- social democratic party — History/Historical. a political party in Germany advocating a form of social organization based on the economic and political ideology of Karl Marx.
- social security payment — a payment of social security made to an individual
- sodium tripolyphosphate — a white powder, Na 5 P 3 O 1 0 , used as a water softener, sequestering agent, and food additive.
- software developers kit — (jargon, product) (SDK, or "Software Development Kit") Software provided by a software vendor to allow their products to be used with those of other software vendors.
- somaliland protectorate — official name of the former British Somaliland.
- st. pierre and miquelon — 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.
- staggered directorships — a defence against unwelcome takeover bids in which a company resolves that its directors should serve staggered terms of office and that no director can be removed from office without just cause, thus preventing a bidder from controlling the board for some years
- statutory maternity pay — the maternity pay a woman is legally entitled to
- stereospecific catalyst — a catalyst for stereospecific chemical reactions
- structural anthropology — a school of anthropology founded by Claude Lévi-Strauss and based loosely on the principles of structural linguistics.
- structural unemployment — unemployment caused by basic changes in the overall economy, as in demographics, technology, or industrial organization.
- suprasegmental phonemes — phonemes or features of speech, as pitch, stress, and juncture, that may extend over and modify series of segmental phonemes
- the chamber of deputies — the lower legislative assembly in some parliaments
- the data protection act — a United Kingdom act of parliament designed to ensure the proper handling of information stored about individuals on computers and entitling individuals to find out what information is stored about them
- the department of state — the United States federal department concerned with foreign policy
- the metropolitan police — the police organization that is responsible for Greater London, excluding the City of London
- the scottish parliament — the devolved national legislature of Scotland, located in Edinburgh
- the teaching profession — the profession of a teacher
- there'll be hell to pay — If you say there'll be hell to pay, you are emphasizing that there will be serious trouble.
- to have a police record — If you say that somebody has a police record, you mean that they have committed a crime or crimes and the police have a record of this.
- to keep a straight face — If you manage to keep a straight face, you manage to look serious, although you want to laugh.
- to keep a tight rein on — If you keep a tight rein on someone, you control them firmly.
- to keep your nose clean — If you keep your nose clean, you behave well and stay out of trouble.
- to pay through the nose — If you say that you paid through the nose for something, you are emphasizing that you had to pay what you consider too high a price for it.
- to play for high stakes — to gamble on something very important