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16-letter words containing p, a, s, m, e

  • one-party system — a political system in which only one party is allowed
  • operating system — (operating system)   (OS) The low-level software which handles the interface to peripheral hardware, schedules tasks, allocates storage, and presents a default interface to the user when no application program is running. The OS may be split into a kernel which is always present and various system programs which use facilities provided by the kernel to perform higher-level house-keeping tasks, often acting as servers in a client-server relationship. Some would include a graphical user interface and window system as part of the OS, others would not. The operating system loader, BIOS, or other firmware required at boot time or when installing the operating system would generally not be considered part of the operating system, though this distinction is unclear in the case of a rommable operating system such as RISC OS. The facilities an operating system provides and its general design philosophy exert an extremely strong influence on programming style and on the technical cultures that grow up around the machines on which it runs. Example operating systems include 386BSD, AIX, AOS, Amoeba, Angel, Artemis microkernel, BeOS, Brazil, COS, CP/M, CTSS, Chorus, DACNOS, DOSEXEC 2, GCOS, GEORGE 3, GEOS, ITS, KAOS, Linux, LynxOS, MPV, MS-DOS, MVS, Mach, Macintosh operating system, Microsoft Windows, MINIX, Multics, Multipop-68, Novell NetWare, OS-9, OS/2, Pick, Plan 9, QNX, RISC OS, STING, System V, System/360, TOPS-10, TOPS-20, TRUSIX, TWENEX, TYMCOM-X, Thoth, Unix, VM/CMS, VMS, VRTX, VSTa, VxWorks, WAITS.
  • operating-system — the collection of software that directs a computer's operations, controlling and scheduling the execution of other programs, and managing storage, input/output, and communication resources. Abbreviation: OS.
  • ophthalmoparesis — (medicine) A partial or complete paralysis of the extraocular muscles which are responsible for eye movements.
  • orthosympathetic — Of or pertaining to the sympathetic component of the autonomic nervous system.
  • overcompensating — Present participle of overcompensate.
  • overcompensation — a pronounced striving to neutralize and conceal a strong but unacceptable character trait by substituting for it an opposite trait.
  • 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
  • pairs tournament — an event in a sport such as tennis or darts open to pairs of competitors
  • palmer peninsula — former name of Antarctic Peninsula.
  • palmerston north — a city in New Zealand, in the S North Island on the Manawatu River. Pop: 78 100 (2004 est)
  • panoramic screen — a very wide screen, as of a television, etc
  • 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.
  • pascal's theorem — the theorem that the lines joining adjacent vertices of a hexagon intersect the same straight line if alternate vertices lie on two intersecting straight lines.
  • passive immunity — immunity resulting from the injection of antibodies or sensitized lymphocytes from another organism or, in infants, from the transfer of antibodies through the placenta or from colostrum.
  • pearls of wisdom — good advice, wise words
  • pectoralis major — the larger of the two large chest muscles that assist in movements of the shoulder and upper arm
  • pectoralis minor — the smaller of the two large chest muscles that assist in movements of the shoulder and upper arm
  • pension mortgage — an arrangement whereby a person takes out a mortgage and pays the capital repayment instalments into a pension fund and the interest to the mortgagee. The loan is repaid out of the tax-free lump sum proceeds of the pension plan on the borrower's retirement
  • pentothal sodium — thiopental sodium
  • performance test — a test requiring little or no use of language, the test materials being designed to elicit manual or behavioral responses rather than verbal ones.
  • permaculturalist — a system of cultivation intended to maintain permanent agriculture or horticulture by relying on renewable resources and a self-sustaining ecosystem.
  • permafrost table — the variable surface constituting the upper limit of permafrost. Compare frostline (def 2).
  • phalansterianism — a system by which society would be reorganized into units comprising their own social and industrial elements; Fourierism.
  • pharmacogenetics — the branch of pharmacology that examines the relation of genetic factors to variations in response to drugs.
  • pharmacogenomics — the study of human genetic variability in relation to drug action and its application to medical treatment
  • pharmacokinetics — the branch of pharmacology that studies the fate of pharmacological substances in the body, as their absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination.
  • phase microscope — a microscope that utilizes the phase differences of light rays transmitted by different portions of an object to create an image in which the details of the object are distinct despite their near-uniformity of refractive index.
  • phase modulation — radio transmission in which the carrier wave is modulated by changing its phase to transmit the amplitude and pitch of the signal.
  • pico de sao tome — an island in the Gulf of Guinea, off the W coast of Gabon, just N of the equator: the larger component of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe. 318 sq. mi. (824 sq. km).
  • plainclothes man — a detective or police officer who wears civilian clothes while on duty
  • pleasure steamer — a boat powered by steam, used for recreational purposes
  • point estimation — the process of determining a single estimated value (point estimate) of a parameter of a given population.
  • policy statement — a declaration of the plans and intentions of an organization or government
  • political system — a coordinated set of principles, laws, ideas, and procedures relating to a particular form of government, or the form of government itself: Democracy is a political system in which citizens govern themselves.
  • post-reformation — the act of reforming; state of being reformed.
  • potassium iodide — a white, crystalline, water-soluble powder, KI, having a bitter saline taste: used chiefly in the manufacture of photographic emulsions, as a laboratory reagent, in the preparation of Gram's solution for biological staining, and in medicine as an expectorant and to treat thyroid conditions.
  • premillennialism — the doctrine or belief that the Second Coming of Christ will precede the millennium.
  • presence chamber — the special room in which a great personage, as a sovereign, receives guests, holds audiences, etc.
  • price comparison — Price comparison is comparing the price of the same product in different outlets.
  • prima facie case — a case in which the evidence produced is sufficient to enable a decision or verdict to be made unless the evidence is rebutted.
  • primary consumer — (in the food chain) an animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore.
  • primary meristem — primary tissue derived from an apical meristem.
  • primrose jasmine — an evergreen shrub, Jasminum mesnyi, of China, having thick, shiny leaflets and yellow flowers with a darker eye.
  • professionalisms — professional character, spirit, or methods.
  • programme seller — someone who sells written or printed lists of the events, performers, etc, in a theatre performance
  • progress payment — an instalment of a larger payment made to a contractor for work carried out up to a specified stage of the job
  • proslambanomenos — the lowest note of the scale in ancient Greek music
  • proxime accessit — the person coming next after the winner in a competitive examination or an academic prize giving; runner-up
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