20-letter words containing p, e, l, i, t
- portfolio employment — the practice of working for several employers simultaneously rather than working full-time for a single employer
- positive electricity — the electricity present in a body or substance that has a deficiency of electrons, as the electricity developed on glass when rubbed with silk.
- post office protocol — (messaging, protocol) (POP) A protocol designed to allow single-user computers to retrieve electronic mail from a POP server via TCP/IP. The default port is 110. The POP server might be a computer with a permanent Internet connection whereas its clients might only connect to it occasionally, e.g. by modem. There are (in 1994) three versions: POP, POP2, and POP3. Later versions are NOT compatible with earlier ones.
- postal delivery zone — zone (def 10).
- postnatal depression — a form of clinical depression that occurs in mothers after the birth of a baby
- potassium binoxalate — a white, crystalline, hygroscopic, poisonous solid, KHC 2 O 4 , that is usually hydrated: used chiefly for removing ink stains, cleaning metal and wood, and in photography.
- potential difference — voltage
- practical imperative — (in Kantian ethics) the dictum that one should treat oneself and all humanity as an end and never as a means.
- prefecture apostolic — a territory in the early stage of missionary development.
- premenstrual tension — Premenstrual tension is the same as premenstrual syndrome. The abbreviation PMT is often used.
- prenuptial agreement — A prenuptial agreement is a written contract made between a man and a woman before they marry, in which they state how their assets such as property and money should be divided if they get divorced.
- prepatellar bursitis — inflammation and swelling of the bursa in front of the kneecap, caused esp by constant kneeling on a hard surface
- prepositional phrase — a phrase consisting of a preposition, its object, which is usually a noun or a pronoun, and any modifiers of the object, as in the gray desk I use.
- prescription glasses — corrective spectacles
- presidential primary — a direct primary for the selection of state delegates to a national party convention and the expression of preference for a U.S. presidential nominee.
- primary optical area — a point in or toward the upper left-hand corner of a printed page, advertisement, or the like, looked at first in reading. Abbreviation: POA.
- primitive polynomial — a polynomial that has content equal to 1. Compare content1 (def 11a).
- property speculation — the buying or selling of property in the hope of deriving capital gains
- proportional counter — a radiation counter in which the strength of each electric pulse generated per count is proportional to the energy of the particle or photon producing the pulse, alpha particles producing a different electric pulse from beta rays.
- psychological moment — the proper or critical time for achieving a desired result: She found the right psychological moment to make her request.
- psychomotor epilepsy — temporal-lobe epilepsy.
- public lending right — (in Britain) an act of Parliament that directs compensation to an author for the library loan of his or her book.
- punch a (time) clock — to insert a timecard into a time clock when coming to or going from work
- pyrenees-atlantiques — a department in SW France. 2978 sq. mi. (7710 sq. km). Capital: Pau.
- rattlesnake plantain — any of several low, terrestrial orchids, as Goodyera repens, of northern temperate regions, having a basal rosette of leaves with white veins and a one-sided spike of white flowers.
- read-eval-print loop — (language, LISP, programming) (REPL) A programming structure within LISP which repeatedly reads a form from the user, evaluates it, and displays the result. A read-eval-print loop forms the basis of the Top-Level shell that programmers of the LISP family of languages interact with. In many dialects of LISP a very simple REPL could be implemented as: (loop (print (eval (read)))). (2003-06-23)
- real-time processing — data-processing by a computer which receives constantly changing data, such as information relating to air-traffic control, travel booking systems, etc, and processes it sufficiently rapidly to be able to control the source of the data
- recreational therapy — therapy by means of recreational activities engaged in by the patient
- red-legged partridge — a partridge, Alectoris rufa, having a reddish tail, red legs and bill, and flanks barred with chestnut, black, and white: common on farmlands and heaths in SW Europe, including Britain
- reflecting telescope — an optical instrument for making distant objects appear larger and therefore nearer. One of the two principal forms (refracting telescope) consists essentially of an objective lens set into one end of a tube and an adjustable eyepiece or combination of lenses set into the other end of a tube that slides into the first and through which the enlarged object is viewed directly; the other form (reflecting telescope) has a concave mirror that gathers light from the object and focuses it into an adjustable eyepiece or combination of lenses through which the reflection of the object is enlarged and viewed. Compare radio telescope.
- refracting telescope — an optical instrument for making distant objects appear larger and therefore nearer. One of the two principal forms (refracting telescope) consists essentially of an objective lens set into one end of a tube and an adjustable eyepiece or combination of lenses set into the other end of a tube that slides into the first and through which the enlarged object is viewed directly; the other form (reflecting telescope) has a concave mirror that gathers light from the object and focuses it into an adjustable eyepiece or combination of lenses through which the reflection of the object is enlarged and viewed. Compare radio telescope.
- refuse disposal unit — a unit or part of a sink that disposes of waste food, etc, by grinding
- regional development — aid-giving to poorer areas or countries
- relative deprivation — the perception of an unfair disparity between one's situation and that of others.
- relative probability — a measure or estimate of the degree of confidence one may have in the occurrence of an event, defined as the limit of the proportion observed in a sample as the sample size tends to infinity
- rhineland-palatinate — a state in W Germany: formerly part of Rhine Province. 7655 sq. mi. (19,825 sq. km). Capital: Mainz.
- royal leamington spa — a city in Warwickshire, central England: health resort.
- sailor's breastplate — a knot consisting of three overlapping loops formed by a single rope passed alternately over and under itself at crossings.
- saint james's palace — a palace in London, England: the royal residence from the time of Henry VIII until the accession of Victoria.
- sales representative — a person or organization designated by a company to solicit business on its behalf in a specified territory or foreign country: I suggest you contact our Chicago sales representative.
- satellite photograph — a photograph taken by an artificial satellite from space
- schizoid personality — sb with identity disorder
- semiautobiographical — pertaining to or being a fictionalized account of an author's own life.
- separation allowance — an allowance paid to a member of the military when they are forced to be apart from their family due to their military duties
- sharp-tailed sparrow — a sparrow, Ammospiza caudacuta, inhabiting salt marshes in North America, having narrow, sharply pointed tail feathers.
- single point mooring — monobuoy.
- slip through the net — If criminals slip through the net, they avoid being caught by the system or trap that was meant to catch them.
- societal development — the formation and transformation of social life, customs, institutions, etc.
- soft gelatin capsule — A soft gelatin capsule is a type of capsule that is usually used to contain medicine in the form of liquid or powder, and which dissolves more quickly than a hard gelatin capsule.
- south american plate — a major tectonic division of the earth's crust, comprising the continent of South America and several ocean basins and bounded on the north by the Caribbean Plate, on the east by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, on the west by a submarine trench that borders the western coast of the continent, and on the south by the Antarctic Plate.