16-letter words containing p, i, n, o
- 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.
- post-romanticism — romantic spirit or tendency.
- postencephalitic — inflammation of the substance of the brain.
- postfix notation — (language) (Or "Reverse Polish Notation", RPN) One of the possible orderings of functions and operands: in postfix notation the functions are preceded by all their operands. For example, what may normally be written as "1+2" becomes "1 2 +". Postfix notation is well suited for stack based architectures but modern compilers reduced this advantage considerably. The best-known language with postfix syntax is FORTH. Some Hewlett-Packard calculators use it, e.g. HP-25, HP-29C, HP-41C, HP-23SII. Compare: infix notation, prefix notation.
- postindependence — Also, independency. the state or quality of being independent.
- postremogeniture — a system of inheritance under which the estate of a deceased person goes to his youngest son. Also called ultimogeniture. Compare primogeniture (def 2).
- postscript point — (unit, text) The variant of the point used by Postscript, equal to 0.3527777778 mm, or 1/72 inch.
- potemkin village — a pretentiously showy or imposing façade intended to mask or divert attention from an embarrassing or shabby fact or condition.
- potential energy — the energy of a body or a system with respect to the position of the body or the arrangement of the particles of the system.
- pourriture noble — noble rot.
- poverty-stricken — suffering from poverty; extremely poor: poverty-stricken refugees.
- poynting theorem — the theorem that the rate of flow of electromagnetic energy through unit area is equal to the Poynting vector, i.e. the cross product of the electric and magnetic field intensities
- practical reason — (in Kantian ethics) reason applied to the problem of action and choice, especially in ethical matters.
- practice session — a period of training that takes place over a set period of time, for example an hour or several hours
- praetorian guard — the bodyguard of a military commander, especially the imperial guard stationed in Rome.
- prairie schooner — a type of covered wagon, similar to but smaller than the Conestoga wagon, used by pioneers in crossing the prairies and plains of North America.
- pre-conversation — informal interchange of thoughts, information, etc., by spoken words; oral communication between persons; talk; colloquy.
- pre-emancipation — the act of emancipating.
- pre-registration — the act of registering.
- pre-solicitation — the act of soliciting.
- pre-subscription — a sum of money given or pledged as a contribution, payment, investment, etc.
- precinct station — a police station for police responsible for a district of a city
- preconcentration — the act of concentrating; the state of being concentrated.
- precontemplation — the act of contemplating; thoughtful observation.
- predetermination — to settle or decide in advance: He had predetermined his answer to the offer.
- predispositional — the fact or condition of being predisposed: a predisposition to think optimistically.
- premier division — a football or soccer league division consisting of the top ten Scottish football teams
- prerevolutionary — of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of a revolution, or a sudden, complete, or marked change: a revolutionary junta.
- prescription pad — a pad of prescriptions used by doctors, etc
- presence of mind — a calm state of mind that allows one to think clearly or act effectively in an emergency.
- presentation box — a specially designed and attractive box to hold a product, and make it look more impressive
- prespecification — the act of specifying.
- prestidigitation — sleight of hand; legerdemain.
- pribilof islands — a group of islands in the Bering Sea, off SW Alaska, belonging to the US: the breeding ground of the northern fur seal. Area: about 168 sq km (65 sq miles)
- price commission — (in Britain) a commission established by the government in 1973 with authority to control prices as a measure against inflation. It was abolished in 1980
- price comparison — Price comparison is comparing the price of the same product in different outlets.
- pride oneself on — to be proud of
- primary consumer — (in the food chain) an animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore.
- primary election — primary (def 15a).
- primary electron — in thermionics, any of the electrons falling on a body, distinguished from those emitted by it
- primrose jasmine — an evergreen shrub, Jasminum mesnyi, of China, having thick, shiny leaflets and yellow flowers with a darker eye.
- print journalism — journalism as practiced in newspapers and magazines.
- prison psychosis — a state of mental confusion, transitory or permanent, brought on by incarceration or by the anticipation of imprisonment.
- prisoner of bill — (humour) (PoB) A derisory term, in use generally among Unix users, for anyone who uses Microsoft products either because they don't know there is anything better (i.e. Unix) or because they would be incapable of working anything more complex (i.e. Unix). The interesting and widespread presumption among users of the term is that (at least at the time of writing, 1998) using anything other than Unix or a Microsoft OS (whether VMS, Macintosh, Amiga) is so eccentric a choice as to be at least somewhat praiseworthy.
- privet andromeda — a spreading shrub, Lyonia ligustrina, of the eastern U.S., having leafless, white flowers in terminal clusters.
- pro bono publico — for the public good or welfare.
- pro-abolitionist — (especially prior to the Civil War) a person who advocated or supported the abolition of slavery in the U.S.
- pro-intervention — the act or fact of intervening.
- proboscis monkey — a reddish, arboreal monkey, Nasalis larvatus, of Borneo, the male of which has a long, flexible nose: an endangered species.
- process industry — business of treating raw materials