16-letter words containing p, i, c, o
- protection ratio — the minimum acceptable ratio between the amplitudes of a wanted radio or television broadcast signal and any interfering signal
- protective slope — a slope given to a yard or the like to drain surface water away from a building.
- protestant ethic — work ethic.
- proxima centauri — the nearest star to the sun at a distance of 4.3 light-years, part of the Alpha Centauri triple-star system located in the constellation Centaurus.
- proxime accessit — the person coming next after the winner in a competitive examination or an academic prize giving; runner-up
- pseudo-patriotic — of, like, suitable for, or characteristic of a patriot.
- pseudo-political — of, relating to, or concerned with politics: political writers.
- pseudo-realistic — interested in, concerned with, or based on what is real or practical: a realistic estimate of costs; a realistic planner.
- pseudo-scientist — any of various methods, theories, or systems, as astrology, psychokinesis, or clairvoyance, considered as having no scientific basis.
- pseudocopulation — pollination of plants, esp orchids, by male insects while attempting to mate with flowers that resemble the female insect
- pseudohistorical — of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events: historical records; historical research.
- pseudoscientific — any of various methods, theories, or systems, as astrology, psychokinesis, or clairvoyance, considered as having no scientific basis.
- psychoanalytical — a systematic structure of theories concerning the relation of conscious and unconscious psychological processes.
- psychobiological — the use of biological methods to study normal and abnormal emotional and cognitive processes, as the anatomical basis of memory or neurochemical abnormalities in schizophrenia.
- psychogeriatrics — the psychology of old age.
- psychoimmunology — the branch of medicine studying the effects of psychological phenomena on the immune system; the intersection of psychology and immunology.
- psychophysiology — the branch of physiology that deals with the interrelation of mental and physical phenomena.
- ptolemaic system — a system elaborated by Ptolemy and subsequently modified by others, according to which the earth was the fixed center of the universe, with the heavenly bodies moving about it.
- public ownership — ownership by the state; nationalization
- public relations — (used with a plural verb) the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc.
- public schoolboy — a boy attending a public school, or a man who attended one
- public transport — fare-paying travel
- publication date — the date on which a book or periodical is or is planned to be published.
- punctuation mark — any of a group of conventional marks or characters used in punctuation, as the period, comma, semicolon, question mark, or dash.
- punctuationalism — punctuated equilibrium.
- purchasing power — Also called buying power. the ability to purchase goods and services.
- put a sock in it — be quiet!
- pyloric stenosis — an abnormal narrowing of the valve at the outlet from the stomach, preventing normal passage of food into the small intestine.
- pyramidal orchid — a chalk-loving orchid, Anacamptis pyramidalis, bearing a dense cone-shaped spike of purplish-pink flowers with a long curved spur
- pyroconductivity — conductivity brought about by the application of heat, especially in solids that are not conductors at normal temperatures.
- pyroracemic acid — pyruvic acid.
- pyrovanadic acid — an oxyacid of vanadium, known chiefly in the form of its vanadate salts; Formula: H4V2O7
- quasi-compulsory — required; mandatory; obligatory: compulsory education.
- quasi-diplomatic — of, relating to, or engaged in diplomacy: diplomatic officials.
- queen's champion — a hereditary official at British coronations, representing the king (King's Champion) or the queen (Queen's Champion) who is being crowned, and having originally the function of challenging to mortal combat any person disputing the right of the new sovereign to rule.
- racial profiling — the use of personal characteristics or behavior patterns to make generalizations about a person, as in gender profiling.
- radio microphone — a microphone incorporating a radio transmitter so that the user can move around freely
- radiographically — the production of radiographs.
- rainbow seaperch — an embiotocid fish, Hypsurus caryi, living off the Pacific coast of North America, having red, orange, and blue stripes on the body.
- recapitalization — a revision of a corporation's capital structure by an exchange of securities.
- reception centre — A reception centre is a place where people who have no homes or are being looked after by the government can live until somewhere else is found for them to live.
- reconceptualized — to form into a concept; make a concept of.
- reflection plane — a plane through a crystal that divides the crystal into two halves that are mirror images of each other.
- reinsurance pool — the grouping of insurers that provide partial or complete insurance coverage to other insurers for (a risk on which a policy has already been issued)
- reporting clause — A reporting clause is a clause which indicates that you are talking about what someone said or thought. For example, in 'She said that she was hungry', 'She said' is a reporting clause.
- restriction play — a limited number of opening moves that are predetermined by their chance selection from an accepted list.
- rhynchocephalian — belonging or pertaining to the Rhynchocephalia, an order of lizardlike reptiles that are extinct except for the tuatara.
- riau archipelago — a group of islands belonging to Indonesia, off the SE coast of the Malay Peninsula, at the entrance to the Strait of Malacca. 36,510 sq. mi. (94,561 sq. km).
- rooting compound — a substance, usually a powder, containing auxins in which plant cuttings are dipped in order to promote root growth
- schneider trophy — a trophy for air racing between seaplanes of any nation, first presented by Jacques Schneider (1879–1928) in 1913; won outright by Britain in 1931