19-letter words containing p, e, r, s, i, f
- norfolk island pine — a coniferous evergreen tree, Araucaria heterophylla (or A. excelsa), having whorled branches and needlelike foliage, widely cultivated as a houseplant.
- pancreatic fibrosis — cystic fibrosis.
- parainfluenza virus — any of a group of viruses that cause respiratory infections with influenza-like symptoms, esp in children
- paraphase amplifier — an amplifier that produces a push-pull output from a single input.
- parting of the ways — When there is a parting of the ways, two or more people or groups of people stop working together or travelling together.
- perfect progressive — a verb form including the auxiliary have followed by been and a present participle, noting the continuation of an activity or event, its incompleteness or interruption, and its connection to the temporal point of reference, as in I've been waiting for over an hour, They had been talking about her before she came into the room, or In July, he will have been living here for two years.
- performance figures — the statistics that indicate how well or badly a company or organization has performed
- peroxysulfuric acid — persulfuric acid (def 1).
- persian gulf states — group of Arab sheikdoms along the Persian Gulf: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, & United Arab Emirates
- persistent offender — a person who repeatedly breaks the law
- pillars of hercules — the two promontories at the E end of the Strait of Gibraltar: the Rock of Gibraltar on the European side and the Jebel Musa on the African side; according to legend, formed by Hercules
- pirates of penzance — an operetta (1879) by Sir William S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan.
- plastic deformation — In plastic deformation a material changes shape when a stress is applied to it and does not go back to its original state when the stress is removed.
- post office problem — (algorithm) Given a set of points (in N dimensions), find another point which minimises the sum of the distances from that point to each of the others.
- post-and-rail fence — a fence constructed of upright wooden posts with horizontal timber slotted through it
- presumption of fact — a presumption based on experience or knowledge of the relationship between a known fact and a fact inferred from it.
- private first class — a soldier ranking above a private and below a corporal or specialist fourth class in the U.S. Army, and above a private and below a lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps.
- professional advice — advice given by someone trained in a particular and relevant profession or job
- professional school — a postgraduate school or college which trains students for a particular profession
- professionalization — to give a professional character or status to; make into or establish as a profession.
- pseudo-professional — following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder.
- put a figure on sth — When you put a figure on an amount, you say exactly how much it is.
- put one's finger on — any of the terminal members of the hand, especially one other than the thumb.
- reef whitetip shark — whitetip shark (def 1).
- reflux oesophagitis — inflammation of the gullet caused by regurgitation of stomach acids, producing heartburn: may be associated with a hiatus hernia
- refreshable display — braille display
- republic of letters — the collective body of literary people.
- research fellowship — the position or office of someone who conducts academic research into a subject at a university, etc
- respiratory failure — a condition in which the respiratory system is unable to provide an adequate supply of oxygen or to remove carbon dioxide efficiently
- ring-spinning frame — a machine containing the ring, traveler, and bobbin used in spinning yarn.
- ruffini's corpuscle — an end organ of certain sensory neurons that branches out parallel to the skin and responds to steady pressure.
- sacrifice operative — a euphemistic term for a suicide bomber
- san francisco peaks — a mountain mass in N Arizona: highest point in the state, Humphrey's Peak, 12,611 feet (3845 meters).
- sea floor spreading — a process in which new ocean floor is created as molten material from the earth's mantle rises in margins between plates or ridges and spreads out.
- sea-floor spreading — a process in which new ocean floor is created as molten material from the earth's mantle rises in margins between plates or ridges and spreads out.
- self-interpretation — the act of interpreting; elucidation; explication: This writer's work demands interpretation.
- self-representation — the act of representing.
- self-responsibility — the state or fact of being responsible, answerable, or accountable for something within one's power, control, or management.
- sense of proportion — If someone has a sense of proportion, they know what is really important and what is not.
- sharp-focus realism — photorealism.
- spanish west africa — a former overseas territory of Spain in NW Africa: divided in 1958 into the overseas provinces of Ifni and Spanish Sahara
- specific characters — the persistent features that distinguish one species from all others
- specific resistance — resistivity (def 2).
- specific-resistance — the power or property of resistance.
- specular reflection — Specular reflection is reflection of heat or light in which the angles of different parts of the surface are important.
- sphere of influence — any area in which one nation wields dominant power over another or others.
- splinterproof glass — glass that is designed not to form sharp splinters should it be shattered
- spread oneself thin — to draw, stretch, or open out, especially over a flat surface, as something rolled or folded (often followed by out).
- succession of crops — the continuous cultivation of a crop throughout a season by successive plantings or by the use of varieties with different rates of growth.
- superannuation fund — a fund used for paying pensions