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22-letter words containing p, a, r, t, l

  • satisfiability problem — A problem used as an example in complexity theory. It can be stated thus: Given a Boolean expression E, decide if there is some assignment to the variables in E such that E is true. A Boolean expression is composed of Boolean variables, (logical) negation (NOT), (logical) conjunction (AND) and parentheses for grouping. The satisfiability problem was the first problem to be proved to be NP-complete (by Cook).
  • saturday night special — a cheap, small-caliber handgun that is easily obtainable and concealable.
  • saturday-night special — a cheap, small-caliber handgun that is easily obtainable and concealable.
  • scalable sampling rate — (compression, standard, algorithm)   (SSR) See, e.g., MPEG-4 AAC SSR.
  • school crossing patrol — the official name for lollipop man or lady
  • semipalmated sandpiper — a common North American sandpiper, Calidris pusillus, having semipalmate feet.
  • serial presence detect — presence detect
  • simple harmonic motion — vibratory motion in a system in which the restoring force is proportional to the displacement from equilibrium. Abbreviation: S.H.M., s.h.m.
  • south african republic — former name of Transvaal.
  • special delivery stamp — a stamp of special design, having a value indicating an extra fee in addition to the regular postage, and affixed to an item of mail to ensure its special delivery.
  • special drawing rights — the reserve assets of the International Monetary Fund on which member nations may draw in proportion to their contribution to the Fund
  • special interest group — (SIG) One of several technical areas, sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery. Well-known SIGs include SIGPLAN (the Special Interest Group on Programming Languages), SIGARCH (the Special Interest Group for Computer Architecture) and SIGGRAPH (the Special Interest Group for Computer Graphics).
  • special school teacher — a teacher who works in a school for children who are unable to benefit from ordinary schooling because they have learning difficulties, physical or mental handicaps, etc
  • special-interest group — Also called special interest. a body of persons, corporation, or industry that seeks or receives benefits or privileged treatment, especially through legislation.
  • spectrophotometrically — an instrument for making photometric comparisons between parts of spectra.
  • spectroscopic analysis — the use of spectroscopy in determining the chemical or physical constitution of substances
  • spelling pronunciation — a pronunciation based on spelling, usually a variant of the traditional pronunciation. The spelling pronunciation of waistcoat is [weyst-koht] /ˈweɪstˌkoʊt/ (Show IPA) rather than [wes-kuh t] /ˈwɛs kət/ (Show IPA).
  • spherical trigonometry — the branch of trigonometry that deals with spherical triangles.
  • split-dollar insurance — life insurance in which someone helps pay the premiums for another, as when an employer contributes to the premiums of an employee's policy.
  • st-pierre and miquelon — group of islands in the Atlantic, south of Newfoundland, constituting a political unit of France: includes the islands of St-Pierre (c. 10 sq mi, 26 sq km) & Miquelon & several islets: 93 sq mi (241 sq km); pop. 6,000
  • subjective probability — a measure or estimate of the degree of confidence one may have in the occurrence of an event, defined by subjective criteria
  • supplementary question — a question asked in Parliament by an MP during Questions to the Prime Minister
  • supreme judicial court — (often initial capital letters) the highest court in some states, as Massachusetts and Maine.
  • tapered roller bearing — a rolling bearing that uses tapered rollers running in coned races and is able to accept axial thrust as well as providing shaft location
  • temporal lobe epilepsy — a type of seizure disorder produced by abnormal electric discharges in the temporal lobe of the brain, characterized by the occurrence of any of a variety of auras followed by a brief loss of consciousness with accompanying repetitive, automatic movements.
  • temporal-lobe epilepsy — a type of seizure disorder produced by abnormal electric discharges in the temporal lobe of the brain, characterized by the occurrence of any of a variety of auras followed by a brief loss of consciousness with accompanying repetitive, automatic movements.
  • temporary life annuity — an annuity that ceases upon the death of the annuitant or upon the expiration of a period of time, whichever occurs first.
  • the atlantic provinces — certain of the Canadian provinces with coasts facing the Gulf of St Lawrence or the Atlantic: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador
  • the great leap forward — the attempt by the People's Republic of China in 1959–60 to solve the country's economic problems by labour-intensive industrialization
  • the medical profession — the occupation of working as a doctor of medicine
  • the-leaning-tower-pisa — a round, marble campanile in Pisa, Italy, begun in 1174 and now 17 feet (5.2 meters) out of the perpendicular in its height of 179 feet (54 meters).
  • threespine stickleback — a widely distributed stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, occurring in marine, brackish, or fresh waters throughout the northern hemisphere.
  • time complex simulator — (simulation)   (Tcsim) Complex arithmetic version of Tsim. Contact: ZOLA Technologies.
  • time-lapse photography — the photographing on motion-picture film of a slow and continuous process, as the growth of a plant, at regular intervals, especially by exposing a single frame at a time, for projection at a higher speed.
  • to drop someone a line — If you drop someone a line, you write to them.
  • to overplay one's hand — If someone overplays their hand, they act more confidently than they should because they believe that they are in a stronger position than they actually are.
  • to play to the gallery — If you play to the gallery, you do something in public in a way which you hope will impress people.
  • to swallow one's pride — If you swallow your pride, you decide to do something even though you think it will cause you to lose some respect.
  • to upset the applecart — If you upset the applecart, you do something which causes a plan, system, or arrangement to go wrong.
  • transition probability — the probability of going from a given state to the next state in a Markov process.
  • unemployment insurance — a government program that provides a limited number of payments to eligible workers who are involuntarily unemployed.
  • united empire loyalist — any of the American colonists who settled in Canada during or after the War of American Independence because of loyalty to the British Crown
  • universal postal union — an international organization, formed in Bern, Switzerland (1875), that administers and regulates international postal service. Abbreviation: UPU.
  • universal product code — a bar code that indicates price, product classification, etc., and can be read electronically, as at checkout counters in supermarkets. Abbreviation: UPC.
  • unprofessional conduct — activity that is contrary to the accepted code of conduct of a profession
  • upright vacuum cleaner — a vacuum cleaner that is tall rather than wide
  • urban development zone — an area that is designated as being a site for urban development
  • user datagram protocol — (protocol)   (UDP) Internet standard network layer, transport layer and session layer protocols which provide simple but unreliable datagram services. UDP is defined in STD 6, RFC 768. It adds a checksum and additional process-to-process addressing information [to what?]. UDP is a connectionless protocol which, like TCP, is layered on top of IP. UDP neither guarantees delivery nor does it require a connection. As a result it is lightweight and efficient, but all error processing and retransmission must be taken care of by the application program.
  • valencia simple tasker — (operating system)   (VSTa) A small microkernel based Unix-like operating system, taking ideas from QNX and Plan 9, available under GPL.
  • verification principle — (in the philosophy of the logical positivists) the doctrine that nontautologous statements are meaningful only if it is in principle possible to establish empirically whether they are true or false
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