16-letter words containing p, a, r, y
- orthosympathetic — Of or pertaining to the sympathetic component of the autonomic nervous system.
- overcompensatory — a pronounced striving to neutralize and conceal a strong but unacceptable character trait by substituting for it an opposite trait.
- paint-by-numbers — formulaic; showing no original thought or creativity
- papillary muscle — one of the small bundles of muscles attached to the ventricle walls and to the chordae tendineae that tighten these tendons during ventricular contraction.
- paradigmatically — of or relating to a paradigm.
- paraformaldehyde — a white, crystalline polymer of formaldehyde, (HCOH) n , from which it is obtained by evaporation of the aqueous solution: used chiefly as an antiseptic.
- parallel sysplex — (operating system) A Sysplex that uses one or more coupling facilities.
- parity operation — the mathematical operation of reversing the directions of all three space coordinates. Symbol: P.
- part way through — mid-way; before the end
- particle physics — the branch of physics that deals with the properties and behavior of elementary particles.
- parts of lindsey — an area in E England constituting a former administrative division of Lincolnshire
- pay-as-you-throw — denoting a system for waste collection in which households are charged according to the amount of refuse they leave
- pays de la loire — a region of W France, on the Bay of Biscay: generally low-lying, drained by the River Loire and its tributaries; agricultural
- pearly razorfish — See under razorfish.
- peegee hydrangea — a widely cultivated hydrangea, Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, having pyramidal clusters of persistent flowers that are white on opening and turn pinkish as they mature.
- periodic tenancy — the letting of a dwelling for a repeated short term, as by the week, month, or quarter, with no end date
- perpendicularity — vertical; straight up and down; upright.
- personal hygiene — bodily cleanliness
- personal liberty — the liberty of an individual to do his or her will freely except for those restraints imposed by law to safeguard the physical, moral, political, and economic welfare of others.
- personal stylist — a person employed by a rich or famous client to offer advice on clothes, hairstyles, and other aspects of personal appearance
- personality cult — deliberately cultivated adulation of a person, esp a political leader
- personality test — an instrument, as a questionnaire or series of standardized tasks, used to measure personality characteristics or to discover personality disorders.
- personality type — a cluster of personality traits commonly occurring together
- personnel agency — an agency for placing employable persons in jobs; employment agency.
- peruvian rhatany — See under rhatany (def 1).
- peter stuyvesant — Peter, 1592–1672, Dutch colonial administrator in the Americas: last governor of New Netherlands 1646–64.
- pharmacodynamics — the branch of pharmacology dealing with the course of action, effect, and breakdown of drugs within the body.
- pheochromocytoma — a tumor of the sympathetic nervous system or adrenal medulla, that produces excess norepinephrine and epinephrine and causes hypertension, headaches, nausea, etc.
- philip r. bagley — (person) A pioneer of computer document retrieval. See metadata.
- photolithography — the technique or art of making photolithographs.
- 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.
- pinot chardonnay — Chardonnay.
- planetary nebula — an expanding shell of thin ionized gas that is ejected from and surrounds a hot, dying star of about the same mass as the sun; the gas absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the central star and reemits it as visible light by the process of fluorescence.
- play one's cards — to carry out one's plans; take action (esp in the phrase play one's cards right)
- player character — a character in a role-playing game or video game who is controlled by the person playing the game. Abbreviation: PC. Compare nonplayer character.
- pocket secretary — a long, narrow walletlike case, usually of leather and containing pockets for credit and business cards, paper money, etc., and sometimes a notepad and pencil.
- polyacrylic acid — a polymer of acrylic acid used as a sizing agent in the manufacture of nylon and other synthetic textiles.
- polyhedral angle — a configuration consisting of the lateral faces of a polyhedron around one of its vertices. The portion of a pyramid including one of its points is such a configuration.
- polyvinyl formal — a colorless, water-insoluble, polyvinyl acetal produced from partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl acetate and formaldehyde, used chiefly in the manufacture of lacquers.
- poor boy sweater — a snug-fitting, pullover sweater with ribbing on both the body and sleeves, worn by girls and women.
- port phillip bay — a bay in SE Australia: the harbor of Melbourne. 31 miles (50 km) long; 25 miles (40 km) wide.
- portrait gallery — a gallery where pictures are displayed
- 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.
- pragmatic theory — the theory of truth that the truth of a statement consists in its practical consequences, especially in its agreement with subsequent experience.
- prerevolutionary — of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of a revolution, or a sudden, complete, or marked change: a revolutionary junta.
- primary consumer — (in the food chain) an animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore.
- primary deviance — the violation of a norm or rule that does not result in the violator's being stigmatized as deviant.