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20-letter words containing p, o, l, i, t

  • peroxyacetyl nitrate — an unstable nitrogen compound, found in certain types of smog, that is an irritant, esp. to the eyes and to plants
  • perpendicular gothic — the style of Gothic architecture in England during the 14th and 15th centuries, characterized by tracery having vertical lines, a four-centred arch, and fan vaulting
  • personality disorder — any of a group of mental disorders characterized by deeply ingrained maladaptive patterns of behavior and personality style, which are usually recognizable as early as adolescence and are often lifelong in duration.
  • pest control officer — a person who gets rid of pests such as rats and mice
  • phenyldiethanolamine — a white, crystalline, slightly water-soluble substance, C 1 0 H 1 5 NO 2 , used in the manufacture of dyes and in organic synthesis.
  • philoprogenitiveness — producing offspring, especially abundantly; prolific.
  • photoconductive cell — Electronics. a photocell whose resistance varies according to the intensity of light falling on it.
  • photoelectric effect — the phenomenon in which the absorption of electromagnetic radiation, as light, of sufficiently high frequency by a surface, usually metallic, induces the emission of electrons from the surface.
  • photogelatin process — collotype (def 1).
  • photophosphorylation — phosphorylation that utilizes light as a source of energy, as in the formation of ATP from ADP and phosphorus during photosynthesis.
  • phthalocyanine green — a pigment used in painting, derived from chlorinated copper phthalocyanine and characterized chiefly by its intense green color and permanence.
  • physical double star — two stars that appear as one if not viewed through a telescope with adequate magnification, such as two stars that are separated by a great distance but are nearly in line with each other and an observer (optical double star) or those that are relatively close together and comprise a single physical system (physical double star)
  • physical examination — an examination, usually by a physician, of a person's body in order to determine his or her state of health or physical fitness, as for military service or participation in a sport.
  • physical meteorology — the branch of meteorology dealing with the study of optical, electrical, acoustical, and thermodynamic phenomena in the atmosphere, including the physics of clouds and precipitation.
  • piezoelectric effect — the property exhibited by some nonconducting crystals of becoming electrically polarized when mechanically strained and of becoming mechanically strained when an electric field is applied.
  • planetary precession — the small component of the precession of the equinoxes contributed by the motion of the ecliptic, the change in orientation of the plane of the earth's orbit being produced by the gravitational attraction of the planets.
  • planning application — In Britain, a planning application is a formal request to a local authority for permission to build something new or to add something to an existing building.
  • pleased with oneself — If someone seems very satisfied with something they have done, you can say that they are pleased with themselves, especially if you think they are more satisfied than they should be.
  • political convention — a meeting of a political party, esp to select party candidates
  • polyanthus narcissus — a Eurasian amaryllidaceous plant, Narcissus tazetta, having clusters of small yellow or white fragrant flowers
  • polyconic projection — a conic projection in which the parallels are arcs of circles that are not concentric but are equally spaced along the central straight meridian, all other meridians being curves equally spaced along the parallels.
  • polymorphic function — a function in a computer program that can deal with a number of different types of data
  • population explosion — the rapid increase in numbers of a particular species, especially in the world's human population since the end of World War II, attributed to an accelerating birthrate, a decrease in infant mortality, and an increase in life expectancy.
  • population inversion — a condition of matter in which more electrons are in a high energy state than in a lower energy state, as is required for the operation of a laser.
  • population parameter — a quantity or statistical measure that, for a given population, is fixed and that is used as the value of a variable in some general distribution or frequency function to make it descriptive of that population: The mean and variance of a population are population parameters.
  • portfolio employment — the practice of working for several employers simultaneously rather than working full-time for a single employer
  • positive electricity — the electricity present in a body or substance that has a deficiency of electrons, as the electricity developed on glass when rubbed with silk.
  • post office protocol — (messaging, protocol)   (POP) A protocol designed to allow single-user computers to retrieve electronic mail from a POP server via TCP/IP. The default port is 110. The POP server might be a computer with a permanent Internet connection whereas its clients might only connect to it occasionally, e.g. by modem. There are (in 1994) three versions: POP, POP2, and POP3. Later versions are NOT compatible with earlier ones.
  • postal delivery zone — zone (def 10).
  • postnatal depression — a form of clinical depression that occurs in mothers after the birth of a baby
  • potassium binoxalate — a white, crystalline, hygroscopic, poisonous solid, KHC 2 O 4 , that is usually hydrated: used chiefly for removing ink stains, cleaning metal and wood, and in photography.
  • potential difference — voltage
  • prefecture apostolic — a territory in the early stage of missionary development.
  • premenstrual tension — Premenstrual tension is the same as premenstrual syndrome. The abbreviation PMT is often used.
  • prepositional phrase — a phrase consisting of a preposition, its object, which is usually a noun or a pronoun, and any modifiers of the object, as in the gray desk I use.
  • prescription glasses — corrective spectacles
  • primary optical area — a point in or toward the upper left-hand corner of a printed page, advertisement, or the like, looked at first in reading. Abbreviation: POA.
  • primitive polynomial — a polynomial that has content equal to 1. Compare content1 (def 11a).
  • probability function — the function the values of which are probabilities of the distinct outcomes of a discrete random variable
  • property speculation — the buying or selling of property in the hope of deriving capital gains
  • proportional counter — a radiation counter in which the strength of each electric pulse generated per count is proportional to the energy of the particle or photon producing the pulse, alpha particles producing a different electric pulse from beta rays.
  • proportional spacing — a feature of some typewriters and other output devices whereby the space allotted to each character is determined by the width of the character
  • psychiatric hospital — institution treating mental disorders
  • psychological moment — the proper or critical time for achieving a desired result: She found the right psychological moment to make her request.
  • psychomotor epilepsy — temporal-lobe epilepsy.
  • public administrator — an official of a city, county, or state government.
  • punch a (time) clock — to insert a timecard into a time clock when coming to or going from work
  • read-eval-print loop — (language, LISP, programming)   (REPL) A programming structure within LISP which repeatedly reads a form from the user, evaluates it, and displays the result. A read-eval-print loop forms the basis of the Top-Level shell that programmers of the LISP family of languages interact with. In many dialects of LISP a very simple REPL could be implemented as: (loop (print (eval (read)))). (2003-06-23)
  • real-time processing — data-processing by a computer which receives constantly changing data, such as information relating to air-traffic control, travel booking systems, etc, and processes it sufficiently rapidly to be able to control the source of the data
  • recreational therapy — therapy by means of recreational activities engaged in by the patient
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