18-letter words containing p, l, i, a, n, c
- political prisoner — sb imprisoned for political dissidence
- political question — a question regarded by the courts as being a matter to be determined by another department of government rather than of law and therefore one with which they will not deal, as the recognition of a foreign state.
- politically-minded — (of a person or group of people) interested in the way power is achieved and used in a country or society (through government, policy-making, etc)
- pontifical college — the chief body of priests in ancient Rome.
- population balance — A population balance is a model showing particle sizes during a grinding process, which is used when designing a process.
- population control — a policy of attempting to limit the growth in numbers of a population, esp in poor or densely populated parts of the world, by programmes of contraception or sterilization
- portal circulation — blood flow in a portal system.
- present participle — Grammar. a participle form, in English having the suffix -ing, denoting repetition or duration of an activity or event: used as an adjective, as in the growing weeds, and in forming progressive verb forms, as in The weeds are growing.
- principal argument — the radian measure of the argument between −π and π of a complex number. Compare argument (def 8c).
- principal diagonal — a diagonal line or plane.
- principal meridian — a meridian line accurately laid out to serve as the reference meridian in land survey
- proprietary colony — any of certain colonies, as Maryland and Pennsylvania, that were granted to an individual or group by the British crown and that were granted full rights of self-government.
- protocol data unit — (PDU) A packet of data passed across a network. The term implies a specific layer of the OSI seven layer model and a specific protocol.
- provincial council — (formerly) a council administering any of the New Zealand provinces
- pseudointellectual — a person exhibiting intellectual pretensions that have no basis in sound scholarship.
- public corporation — a corporation, owned and operated by a government, established for the administration of certain public programs.
- public examination — an examination, such as a GCSE exam, that is set by a central examining board
- publicity campaign — an effort to convey information to the public
- publishing company — a firm which publishes books
- pulmonic airstream — a current of lung air set in motion by the respiratory muscles in the production of speech.
- radical expression — an expression in which radical signs appear.
- reinforced plastic — plastic with fibrous matter, such as carbon fibre, embedded in it to confer additional strength
- replacement engine — an engine used to replace or substitute an older or broken engine (in a vehicle, etc)
- reprocessing plant — a plant where materials are treated in order to make them reusable
- resistance plasmid — any of a group of bacterial plasmids carrying genetic information that provide resistance to antibiotic drugs: some resistance plasmids are able to transfer themselves, and hence resistance, during conjugation
- resurrection plant — a desert plant, Selaginella lepidophylla, occurring from Texas to South America, having stems that curl inward when dry.
- retail price index — The retail price index is a list of the prices of typical goods which shows how much the cost of living changes from one month to the next.
- rural municipality — any lightly settled area in Canada lacking a local elected government and administered directly by a provincial government.
- sampling frequency — sample rate
- sampling statistic — any function of observed data, esp one used to estimate the corresponding parameter of the underlying distribution, such as the sample mean, sample variance, etc
- scripting language — a language that is used to write scripts, or executable sections of code that automate tasks.
- secondary syphilis — the second stage of syphilis, characterized by eruptions of the skin and mucous membrane.
- self-contemplation — the act or process of thinking about oneself or one's values, beliefs, behavior, etc.
- self-deprecatingly — in a self-deprecating manner
- self-preoccupation — the state of being preoccupied.
- self-tapping screw — a screw designed to tap its corresponding female thread as it is driven.
- sierra blanca peak — a mountain in S New Mexico: highest peak in the Sacramento Mountains. 11,997 feet (3651 meters).
- sleeping policeman — a bump built across roads, esp in housing estates, to deter motorists from speeding
- spackling compound — spackle
- special assessment — a tax levied by a local government on private property to pay the cost of local public improvements, as sidewalk construction or sewage disposal, that are of general benefit to the property taxed.
- special collection — a collection of materials segregated from a general library collection according to form, subject, age, condition, rarity, source, or value.
- spherical triangle — a triangle formed by arcs of great circles of a sphere.
- stepping-off place — jumping-off place (def 2).
- surgical appliance — a specialized device used by somebody to relieve a particular medical condition
- talent competition — a contest in which people compete by showcasing their talents, for example in singing, dancing, acrobatics, etc
- television company — a company that broadcasts programmes by television
- the general public — the people in a society; people in general
- to fall into place — If things fall into place, events happen naturally to produce a situation you want.
- to lick into shape — If you lick, knock, or whip someone or something into shape, you use whatever methods are necessary to change or improve them so that they are in the condition that you want them to be in.
- to scrape a living — If you say that someone scrapes a living or scratches a living, you mean that they manage to earn enough to live on, but it is very difficult. In American English, you say they scrape out a living or scratch out a living.