17-letter words containing p, o, r, i, s
- implosion therapy — a form of behavior therapy involving intensive recollection and review of anxiety-producing situations or events in a patient's life in an attempt to develop more appropriate responses to similar situations in the future.
- implosive-therapy — a form of behavior therapy involving intensive recollection and review of anxiety-producing situations or events in a patient's life in an attempt to develop more appropriate responses to similar situations in the future.
- impossible figure — a picture of an object that at first sight looks three-dimensional but cannot be a two-dimensional projection of a real three-dimensional object, for example a picture of a staircase that re-enters itself while appearing to ascend continuously
- impressionability — easily impressed or influenced; susceptible: an impressionable youngster.
- improvisationally — In an improvisational way.
- in forma pauperis — as a poor person; i.e. without paying court costs
- in the process of — If you are in the process of doing something, you have started to do it and are still doing it.
- in/into disrepair — If something is in disrepair or is in a state of disrepair, it is broken or in bad condition.
- inappropriateness — not appropriate; not proper or suitable: an inappropriate dress for the occasion.
- incomprehensively — In an incomprehensive manner.
- incompressibility — The quality of being incompressible, of not compressing under pressure.
- indecent exposure — the intentional exposure of one's body's privates in a manner that gives offense against accepted or prescribed behavior.
- indicator species — See at indicator (def 6).
- inspector general — a comedy (1836) by Gogol.
- inspector-general — a comedy (1836) by Gogol.
- insupportableness — The state of being insupportable; insufferableness.
- insurance company — company that sells insurance policies
- integer specratio — SPECint92
- integrated optics — an assembly of miniature optical elements of a size comparable to those used in electronic integrated circuits.
- interprofessional — following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder.
- interrelationship — reciprocal relation.
- introspectiveness — characterized by introspection, the act or process of looking into oneself.
- inversion therapy — a method used to stretch and align the body, especially the lower back, by suspending the entire body upside down from an apparatus that grips or supports the feet or knees.
- invisible exports — services sold to a foreign country or countries
- invisible imports — imports of services rather than goods
- isoelectric point — the pH at which a substance is electrically neutral or at which it is at its minimum ionization.
- isomorphism class — (mathematics) A collection of all the objects isomorphic to a given object. Talking about the isomorphism class (of a poset, say) ensures that we will only consider its properties as a poset, and will not consider other incidental properties it happens to have.
- isopropyl alcohol — a colorless, flammable, water-soluble liquid, C 3 H 8 O, produced from propylene by the action of sulfuric acid and hydrolysis: used chiefly in the manufacture of antifreeze and rubbing alcohol and as a solvent.
- judgment of paris — the decision by Paris to award Aphrodite the golden apple of discord competed for by Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera.
- jus primae noctis — droit du seigneur.
- karitane hospital — a hospital for young babies and their mothers
- l'hospital's rule — the theorem that for the quotient of two functions satisfying certain conditions on a given closed interval, each having infinite limit or zero as limit at a given point, the limit of the quotient at the given point is equal to the limit of the quotient of the derivatives of each function.
- la perouse strait — a strait between S Sakhalin Island, Russia and N Hokkaido Island, Japan connecting the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan. 25 miles (40 km) wide.
- lambda expression — (mathematics) A term in the lambda-calculus denoting an unnamed function (a "lambda abstraction"), a variable or a constant. The pure lambda-calculus has only functions and no constants.
- larmor precession — the precession of charged particles, as electrons, placed in a magnetic field, the frequency of the precession (Larmor frequency) being equal to the electronic charge times the strength of the magnetic field divided by 4π times the mass.
- legal proceedings — court case
- lepidopterologist — One who studies lepidopterology.
- let something rip — If you let something rip, you do it as quickly or as forcefully as possible. You can say 'let it rip' or 'let her rip' to someone when you want them to make a vehicle go as fast as it possibly can.
- liberty of speech — freedom of speech.
- life imprisonment — long-term prison sentence
- lighthouse keeper — a person who mans a lighthouse and makes sure that the light is working properly
- lincoln's sparrow — a North American sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, having a buff breast with black streaks.
- lipopolysaccaride — a molecule, consisting of lipid and polysaccharide components, that is the main constituent of the cell walls of Gram-negative bacteria
- lithostratigraphy — the study or character of stratified rocks based solely on their physical and petrographic features.
- loco supra citato — l.s.c.
- m-expression lisp — (MLISP) The original "meta-language" syntax of Lisp, designed by John McCarthy in 1962. MLISP was intended for external use in place of the parenthesised S-expression syntax.
- mariner's compass — a compass used for navigational purposes, consisting of a pivoted compass card in a gimbal-mounted, nonferrous metal bowl.
- meissen porcelain — Dresden china.
- mercury poisoning — illness caused by exposure to mercury
- metalloproteinase — (enzyme) Any of several proteinases that have a metal atom (often zinc) at their active centre.