16-letter words containing p, c, e
- pick up stompies — to come late to a conversation and so misunderstand what is being discussed
- 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).
- picture moulding — the edge around a framed picture
- picture postcard — postcard (def 1).
- piece d'occasion — something prepared or used for a special occasion.
- pierce's disease — a disease of grapes caused by a rickettsialike organism, characterized by dwarfing of vines, mottling of woody tissues, and plant death.
- piezoelectricity — electricity, or electric polarity, produced by the piezoelectric effect.
- pincers movement — a military maneuver in which both flanks of an enemy force are attacked with the aim of attaining complete encirclement.
- pitch inspection — in inclement weather, a pre-match inspection of the playing surface in order to determine whether it is in good enough condition for the match to go ahead
- pitch-cone angle — (in a bevel gear) the apex angle of the truncated cone (pitch cone) which forms the reference surface on which the teeth of a bevel gear are cut
- pitching pennies — a gambling game in which pennies are tossed to a mark or against a wall, the winner being the person whose penny lands closest to the mark or wall.
- pithecanthropine — of, belonging to, or resembling a former genus (Pithecanthropus, now classified as Homo erectus) of extinct early humans, who lived in Java, China, Europe, and Africa
- pithecanthropoid — of, relating to, or resembling the former genus Pithecanthropus or one of its members.
- place in the sun — (often initial capital letter) the star that is the central body of the solar system, around which the planets revolve and from which they receive light and heat: its mean distance from the earth is about 93 million miles (150 million km), its diameter about 864,000 miles (1.4 million km), and its mass about 330,000 times that of the earth; its period of surface rotation is about 26 days at its equator but longer at higher latitudes.
- place of worship — religious house: church, temple
- placement office — an office in a university that offers students careers advice and help to find employment
- plainclothes man — a detective or police officer who wears civilian clothes while on duty
- platform-balance — a scale with a platform for holding the items to be weighed.
- 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.
- pleased as punch — the chief male character in a Punch-and-Judy show.
- plutarch's lives — (Parallel Lives) a collection (a.d. 105–15) by Plutarch of short biographies of the leading political figures of ancient Greece and Rome.
- pneumatic trough — a trough filled with liquid, especially water, for collecting gases in bell jars or the like by displacement.
- pneumonic plague — a form of plague characterized by lung involvement.
- pneumonoconiosis — pneumoconiosis.
- pocket billiards — pool2 (def 1).
- 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.
- poisoned chalice — If you refer to a job or an opportunity as a poisoned chalice, you mean that it seems to be very attractive but you believe it will lead to failure.
- poitou-charentes — a region of W central France, on the Bay of Biscay: mainly low-lying
- polar coordinate — Usually, polar coordinates. one of two coordinates used to locate a point in a plane by the length of its radius vector and the angle this vector makes with the polar axis (polar angle)
- police constable — police officer
- police inspector — rank of police officer in the UK
- policy committee — a group of people who provide ideas or plans that are used by an organization or government as a basis for making decisions
- 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.
- polycondensation — formation of a polymer by chemical condensation with the elimination of a small molecule, such as water.
- polyphonic prose — prose characterized by the use of poetic devices, as alliteration, assonance, rhyme, etc., and especially by an emphasis on rhythm not strictly metered.
- polyvinyl acetal — any of the class of thermoplastic resins derived by the condensation of an aldehyde with polyvinyl alcohol.
- porcelain enamel — a glass coating, made to adhere to a metal or another enamel by fusion.
- posigrade rocket — an auxiliary rocket used to separate the sections of a multistage rocket, fired in the direction of flight.
- post-pleistocene — noting or pertaining to the epoch forming the earlier half of the Quaternary Period, beginning about two million years ago and ending 10,000 years ago, characterized by widespread glacial ice and the advent of modern humans.
- post-renaissance — the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.
- postcode lottery — a situation in which the standard of medical care, education, etc, received by the public varies from area to area, depending on the funding policies of various health boards, local authorities, etc
- postencephalitic — inflammation of the substance of the brain.
- postindependence — Also, independency. the state or quality of being independent.
- poverty-stricken — suffering from poverty; extremely poor: poverty-stricken refugees.
- powerpc platform — (architecture, standard) (PPCP, PReP - PowerPC Reference Platform, formerly CHRP - Common Hardware Reference Platform) An open system standard, designed by IBM, intended to ensure compatibility among PowerPC-based systems built by different companies. The PReP standard specifies the PCI bus, but will also support ISA, MicroChannel and PCMCIA. PReP-compliant systems will be able to run the Macintosh OS, OS/2, WorkplaceOS, AIX, Solaris, Taligent and Windows NT. IBM systems will (of course) be PReP-compliant. Apple's first PowerPC Macintoshes will not be compliant, but future ones may be.
- practical effect — Usually, practical effects. a special effect that is created live on the set of a film, using real-world objects.
- practical reason — (in Kantian ethics) reason applied to the problem of action and choice, especially in ethical matters.
- practice manager — the manager of a business such as a medical practice, dental practice, or legal practice