16-letter words containing p, l, a, y
- self-complacency — pleased with oneself; self-satisfied; smug.
- self-deprecatory — belittling or undervaluing oneself; excessively modest.
- self-exculpatory — intended to excuse oneself from blame or guilt
- self-explanatory — explaining itself; needing no explanation; obvious.
- showy crab apple — a large Japanese bush or tree, Malus floribunda, of the rose family, having red fruit and rose-colored flowers that fade to white.
- single occupancy — a type of travel accommodation, as at a hotel, for one person in a room.
- sleep-wake cycle — Physiology. the species-specific biological pattern of alternating sleep and wakefulness, in humans roughly 8 hours of nocturnal sleep and 16 hours of daytime activity.
- soapberry family — the plant family Sapindaceae, characterized by chiefly tropical trees, shrubs, or herbaceous vines having compound leaves, clustered flowers, and berrylike, fleshy, or capsular fruit, and including the balloon vine, golden rain tree, litchi, and soapberry.
- social pathology — a social factor, as poverty, old age, or crime, that tends to increase social disorganization and inhibit personal adjustment.
- sony playstation — Playstation
- special delivery — (in the U.S. Postal Service) delivery of mail outside the regularly scheduled hours, by a special messenger, upon the payment of an extra fee.
- speech pathology — the scientific study and treatment of defects, disorders, and malfunctions of speech and voice, as stuttering, lisping, or lalling, and of language disturbances, as aphasia or delayed language acquisition.
- stonecrop family — the plant family Crassulaceae, characterized by succulent herbaceous plants and shrubs with simple, fleshy leaves, clusters of small flowers, and dry, dehiscent fruit, and including hen-and-chickens, houseleek, kalanchoe, live-forever, orpine, sedum, and stonecrop.
- sulfanilyl group — the para form of the group C 6 H 6 NO 2 S–, derived from sulfanilic acid.
- swine erysipelas — erysipelas (def 2).
- taimyr peninsula — a peninsula in the N Russian Federation in Asia, between the Kara and Laptev seas.
- the devil to pay — Theology. (sometimes initial capital letter) the supreme spirit of evil; Satan. a subordinate evil spirit at enmity with God, and having power to afflict humans both with bodily disease and with spiritual corruption.
- the-card-players — a painting (1892) by Paul Cézanne.
- thermoplasticity — soft and pliable when heated, as some plastics, without any change of the inherent properties.
- three-point play — a play in which a player sinks the free throw that was awarded when the player was fouled while scoring a basket.
- to play for time — If you play for time, you try to make something happen more slowly, because you do not want it to happen or because you need time to think about what to do if it happens.
- to play the fool — If you play the fool or act the fool, you behave in a playful, childish, and foolish way, usually in order to make other people laugh.
- triphenylmethane — a colorless, crystalline, solid compound containing three benzene rings, C 19 H 16 , from which many dyes are derived.
- tropical cyclone — a cyclone that originates over a tropical ocean area and can develop into the destructive storm known in the U.S. as a hurricane, in the western Pacific region as a typhoon, and elsewhere by other names. Compare extratropical cyclone, hurricane (def 1), willy-willy.
- twelvepenny nail — a nail that is 3 1/4 inches (8.25 cm) long.
- typhoid bacillus — the bacterium Salmonella typhosa, causing typhoid fever.
- unapologetically — containing an apology or excuse for a fault, failure, insult, injury, etc.: An apologetic letter to his creditors explained the delay.
- unpredictability — not predictable; not to be foreseen or foretold: an unpredictable occurrence.
- unproportionally — having due proportion; corresponding.
- ventriculography — radiography of the ventricles of the heart after injection of a contrast medium
- videodisc player — an electronic device for playing videodiscs through a television set.
- voluntary helper — a person who aids or assists in a specified function of one's own accord and without compulsion or promise of remuneration
- water lily tulip — a showy tulip, Tulipa kaufmanniana, of Turkestan, having spreading, white or pale-yellow flowers with yellow centers streaked with red.
- welfare payments — government benefits
- whiptail wallaby — a wallaby of NE Australia, Macropus parryi, with a long slender tail
- yah-boo politics — adversarial politics in which politicians constantly deride their opponents and dismiss everything suggested by them
- yellow poinciana — royal poinciana.