19-letter words containing p, o, s, t, f, e
- open the floodgates — If events open the floodgates to something, they make it possible for that thing to happen much more often or much more seriously than before.
- pancreatic fibrosis — cystic fibrosis.
- parting of the ways — When there is a parting of the ways, two or more people or groups of people stop working together or travelling together.
- perfect progressive — a verb form including the auxiliary have followed by been and a present participle, noting the continuation of an activity or event, its incompleteness or interruption, and its connection to the temporal point of reference, as in I've been waiting for over an hour, They had been talking about her before she came into the room, or In July, he will have been living here for two years.
- performance targets — the expected or predicted success level of an individual, company or organization
- persistent offender — a person who repeatedly breaks the law
- personal watercraft — a jet-propelled boat ridden like a motorcycle.
- phacoemulsification — the removal of a cataract by first liquefying the affected lens with ultrasonic vibrations and then extracting it by suction.
- phakoemulsification — the removal of a cataract by first liquefying the affected lens with ultrasonic vibrations and then extracting it by suction.
- pirates of penzance — an operetta (1879) by Sir William S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan.
- pistol-handle knife — a table knife, especially of the 18th century, having a slightly curved handle resembling the grip of a flintlock pistol.
- plastic deformation — In plastic deformation a material changes shape when a stress is applied to it and does not go back to its original state when the stress is removed.
- play fast and loose — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
- play footsie (with) — to touch feet or rub knees (with) in a caressing way, as under the table
- post office problem — (algorithm) Given a set of points (in N dimensions), find another point which minimises the sum of the distances from that point to each of the others.
- post-and-rail fence — a fence constructed of upright wooden posts with horizontal timber slotted through it
- potassium bisulfate — a colorless, crystalline, water-soluble solid, KHSO 4 , used chiefly in the conversion of tartrates to bitartrates.
- presumption of fact — a presumption based on experience or knowledge of the relationship between a known fact and a fact inferred from it.
- professionalization — to give a professional character or status to; make into or establish as a profession.
- put a figure on sth — When you put a figure on an amount, you say exactly how much it is.
- put one's finger on — any of the terminal members of the hand, especially one other than the thumb.
- put one's foot down — (in vertebrates) the terminal part of the leg, below the ankle joint, on which the body stands and moves.
- reflux oesophagitis — inflammation of the gullet caused by regurgitation of stomach acids, producing heartburn: may be associated with a hiatus hernia
- republic of letters — the collective body of literary people.
- respiratory failure — a condition in which the respiratory system is unable to provide an adequate supply of oxygen or to remove carbon dioxide efficiently
- sacrifice operative — a euphemistic term for a suicide bomber
- scare the pants off — to scare extremely
- self-interpretation — the act of interpreting; elucidation; explication: This writer's work demands interpretation.
- self-representation — the act of representing.
- self-responsibility — the state or fact of being responsible, answerable, or accountable for something within one's power, control, or management.
- sense of proportion — If someone has a sense of proportion, they know what is really important and what is not.
- shopping facilities — shops or other retail services
- south pacific ocean — the part of the Pacific Ocean extending S from the Equator to the Antarctic continent.
- spare a thought for — If you spare a thought for an unfortunate person, you make an effort to think sympathetically about them and their bad luck.
- specular reflection — Specular reflection is reflection of heat or light in which the angles of different parts of the surface are important.
- speculative fiction — a broad literary genre encompassing any fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements
- splinterproof glass — glass that is designed not to form sharp splinters should it be shattered
- spread oneself thin — to draw, stretch, or open out, especially over a flat surface, as something rolled or folded (often followed by out).
- step-up transformer — a device that transfers an alternating current from one circuit to one or more other circuits with an increase of voltage
- superannuation fund — a fund used for paying pensions
- teaching fellowship — a fellowship providing a student in a graduate school with free tuition and expenses and stipulating that the student assume some teaching duties in return.
- the grapes of wrath — a novel (1939) by John Steinbeck.
- to keep to yourself — If you keep to yourself, you stay on your own most of the time and do not mix socially with other people.
- to one's fingertips — entirely; altogether
- to tear a strip off — If you tear a strip off someone or if you tear them off a strip, you speak to them angrily and criticize them severely.
- wage-push inflation — an inflationary trend caused by wage increases that in turn cause rises in production costs and prices.
- whorfian hypothesis — Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.