15-letter words containing p, l, a, i, n, s
- primary sealing — Primary sealing is devices used for sealing tanks, to reduce emissions, often made of foam.
- prince of wales — Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall ("The Black Prince") 1330–76, English military leader (son of Edward III).
- prince's island — former name of Príncipe.
- principal focus — focal point (def 1).
- principal parts — a set of inflected forms of a form class from which all the other inflected forms can be derived, as sing, sang, sung; smoke, smoked.
- prism binocular — Usually, prism binoculars. Optics. binocular (def 1).
- pro-nationalist — a person devoted to nationalism.
- processionalist — a member of a procession
- professionalism — professional character, spirit, or methods.
- professionalist — to give a professional character or status to; make into or establish as a profession.
- professionalize — to give a professional character or status to; make into or establish as a profession.
- profit and loss — the gain and loss arising from commercial or other transactions, applied especially to an account or statement of account in bookkeeping showing gains and losses in business.
- propositionally — the act of offering or suggesting something to be considered, accepted, adopted, or done.
- pseudo-national — of, relating to, or maintained by a nation as an organized whole or independent political unit: national affairs.
- public nuisance — act, thing: anti-social
- public speaking — the act of delivering speeches in public.
- pure and simple — sheer, utter
- purslane family — the plant family Portulacaceae, characterized by chiefly herbaceous plants having simple, often fleshy leaves, sometimes showy flowers, and capsular fruit, and including bitterroot, purslane, red maids, rose moss, and spring beauty.
- pusillanimously — lacking courage or resolution; cowardly; faint-hearted; timid.
- pyramid selling — Pyramid selling is a method of selling in which one person buys a supply of a particular product direct from the manufacturer and then sells it to a number of other people at an increased price. These people sell it on to others in a similar way, but eventually the final buyers are only able to sell the product for less than they paid for it.
- pyrocrystalline — crystallized from a molten magma or highly heated solution.
- random sampling — a method of selecting a sample (random sample) from a statistical population in such a way that every possible sample that could be selected has a predetermined probability of being selected.
- range paralysis — Marek's disease.
- reception class — A reception class is a class that children go into when they first start school at the age of four or five.
- relapsing fever — one of a group of fevers characterized by relapses, occurring in many tropical countries, and caused by several species of spirochetes transmitted by several species of lice and ticks.
- sales promotion — the methods or techniques for creating public acceptance of or interest in a product, usually in addition to standard merchandising techniques, as advertising or personal selling, and generally consisting of the offer of free samples, gifts made to a purchaser, or the like.
- salisbury plain — a plateau in S England, N of Salisbury: the site of Stonehenge.
- san luis obispo — a city in W California.
- san luis potosi — a state in central Mexico. 24,415 sq. mi. (63,235 sq. km).
- schlieffen plan — a plan intended to ensure German victory over a Franco-Russian alliance by holding off Russia with minimal strength and swiftly defeating France by a massive flanking movement through the Low Countries, devised by Alfred, Count von Schlieffen (1833–1913) in 1905
- self-absorption — preoccupation with oneself or one's own affairs.
- self-persuasion — the act of persuading or seeking to persuade.
- sensitive plant — Also called humble plant. a tropical American plant, Mimosa pudica, cultivated in greenhouses, having bipinnate leaves whose leaflets fold together when touched.
- septentrionally — northwards; in the direction of the north
- simple equation — linear equation
- simple fraction — a ratio of two integers.
- simple interval — an interval of an octave or less.
- simplicidentate — belonging or pertaining to the Simplicidentata, formerly regarded as a suborder or division of rodents having only one pair of upper incisor teeth.
- sinai peninsula — broad peninsula in NE Egypt, between the Gulf of Suez & the Gulf of Aqaba
- singapore sling — a cocktail of gin, cherry brandy, sugar, and water.
- slab plastering — coarse plastering, as between the studs in a half-timbered wall.
- slap and tickle — sexual play
- sleeping beauty — a beautiful princess, the heroine of a popular fairy tale, awakened from a charmed sleep by the kiss of the prince who is her true love.
- sleeping tablet — A sleeping tablet is the same as a sleeping pill.
- slumpflationary — of or relating to slumpflation
- snafu principle — /sna'foo prin'si-pl/ [WWII Army acronym for "Situation Normal: All Fucked Up"] "True communication is possible only between equals, because inferiors are more consistently rewarded for telling their superiors pleasant lies than for telling the truth." - a central tenet of Discordianism, often invoked by hackers to explain why authoritarian hierarchies screw up so reliably and systematically. The effect of the SNAFU principle is a progressive disconnection of decision-makers from reality. This lightly adapted version of a fable dating back to the early 1960s illustrates the phenomenon perfectly: In the beginning was the plan, and then the specification; And the plan was without form, and the specification was void. And darkness was on the faces of the implementors thereof; And they spake unto their leader, saying: "It is a crock of shit, and smells as of a sewer." And the leader took pity on them, and spoke to the project leader: "It is a crock of excrement, and none may abide the odor thereof." And the project leader spake unto his section head, saying: "It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide it." The section head then hurried to his department manager, and informed him thus: "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength." The department manager carried these words to his general manager, and spoke unto him saying: "It containeth that which aideth the growth of plants, and it is very strong." And so it was that the general manager rejoiced and delivered the good news unto the Vice President. "It promoteth growth, and it is very powerful." The Vice President rushed to the President's side, and joyously exclaimed: "This powerful new software product will promote the growth of the company!" And the President looked upon the product, and saw that it was very good. After the subsequent disaster, the suits protect themselves by saying "I was misinformed!", and the implementors are demoted or fired.
- snapping beetle — click beetle.
- snapping turtle — either of two large, edible, freshwater turtles of the family Chelydridae, of North and Central America, having a large head and powerful hooked jaws, especially the common snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina.
- social spending — the money that is spent on welfare payments
- spanish needles — (used with a singular or plural verb) a composite plant, Bidens bipinnata, having achenes with downwardly barbed awns.