17-letter words containing p, r, e, t, y, a
- parcplace systems — (company) A company spun-off from Xerox PARC that developed the original version of VisualWorks.
- parents anonymous — (in Britain) an association of local voluntary self-help groups offering help through an anonymous telephone service to parents who fear they will injure their children, or who have other problems in managing their children
- parliamentary law — the body of rules, usages, and precedents that governs proceedings of legislative and deliberative assemblies.
- partially sighted — unable to see properly so that even with corrective aids normal activities are prevented or seriously hindered
- particle velocity — the velocity of a point in a medium that is undergoing wave motion.
- past life therapy — a form of hypnosis or meditation based on the belief that an individual's present problems are rooted in events that occurred before birth in this life
- pastoral theology — the branch of theology dealing with the responsibilities of members of the clergy to the people under their care.
- paternalistically — the system, principle, or practice of managing or governing individuals, businesses, nations, etc., in the manner of a father dealing benevolently and often intrusively with his children: The employees objected to the paternalism of the old president.
- paymaster general — a government minister responsible for making payments by government departments
- peacock butterfly — a European nymphalid butterfly, Inachis io, having reddish-brown wings each marked with a purple eyespot
- pentylenetetrazol — a white, crystalline, bitter-tasting, water-soluble powder, C 6 H 1 0 N 4 , used as a respiratory and circulatory stimulant, especially in the treatment of barbiturate poisoning, and to induce a convulsive state in the treatment of certain mental diseases.
- personal property — an estate or property consisting of movable articles both corporeal, as furniture or jewelry, or incorporeal, as stocks or bonds (distinguished from real property).
- personality clash — friction between two people who have different personalities or points of view
- phantom pregnancy — the occurrence of signs of pregnancy, such as enlarged abdomen and absence of menstruation, when no embryo is present, due to hormonal imbalance
- pinckney's treaty — an agreement in 1795 between Spain and the U.S. by which Spain recognized the 31st parallel as the southern boundary of the U.S. and permitted free navigation of the Mississippi to American ships.
- pituitary extract — a preparation of the pituitary gland, used in medicine for the therapeutic effects of its hormones
- pocket dictionary — a small portable dictionary
- point reyes lilac — a prostrate shrub, Ceanothus gloriosus, of southern California, having leathery, roundish leaves and purplish or deep-blue flowers.
- political liberty — the right to express oneself freely and effectually regarding the conduct, makeup, and principles of the government under which one lives.
- polyacrylonitrile — a polymer of acrylonitrile used in the manufacture of Orlon and other synthetic textiles.
- popular etymology — folk etymology.
- positive polarity — the grammatical characteristic of a word or phrase, such as delicious or rather, that may normally only be used in a semantically or syntactically positive or affirmative context
- postal stationery — an envelope, postal card, wrapper, or aérogramme, with the stamp printed directly on the paper.
- powder metallurgy — the art or science of manufacturing useful articles by compacting metal and other powders in a die, followed by sintering.
- power of attorney — a written document given by one person or party to another authorizing the latter to act for the former.
- pre-revolutionary — of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of a revolution, or a sudden, complete, or marked change: a revolutionary junta.
- predatory pricing — If a company practises predatory pricing, it charges a much lower price for its products or services than its competitors in order to force them out of the market.
- presentation copy — a copy of a book given by the publisher or author
- primary dentition — the deciduous dentition
- primary education — junior, elementary schooling
- primary intention — Logic. See under intention (def 5a).
- primary qualities — any of the qualities inherent in an object, namely quantity, extent, figure, solidity, and motion or rest.
- primary structure — Biochemistry. the basic sequence of amino acids in a polypeptide or protein.
- primary-intention — an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result.
- private secretary — a person who attends to the individual or confidential correspondence, files, etc., of a business executive, official, or the like.
- probability curve — a curve that describes the distribution of probability over the values of a random variable.
- progressive party — a political party formed in 1912 under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, advocating popular control of government, direct primaries, the initiative, the referendum, woman suffrage, etc.
- proprietary brand — a brand of product that is privately owned and controlled
- protocol analyser — (communications, hardware, networking, testing, tool) Any device that captures and interprets the network traffic between two or more connected computer systems. The traffic can then be decoded so that it is possible to see what processes are occurring. By examining the flow of traffic, protocol analysers can be used to find out where problems (such as bottlenecks or the failure of a network device) are on a LAN. Advanced protocol analysers can also provide statistics on the traffic that can help to identify trends that may in future lead to further problems with the network.
- psychotherapeutic — psychotherapy.
- pythagorean scale — the major scale as derived acoustically by Pythagoras from the perfect fifth.
- quality newspaper — a more serious newspaper which gives detailed accounts of world events, as well as reports on business, culture, and society
- quality paperback — a softbound book that is usually larger and more expensive than a mass market paperback and is sold primarily in bookstores as a trade book.
- radial (ply) tire — a motor vehicle tire having a foundation of plies of rubberized cords running at right angles to the center line of the tread: it provides better handling, etc. than a bias ply tire
- radiation therapy — x-rays used as treatment
- reality principle — the motivating force or mechanism by which the child, who has previously sought immediate gratification of all wishes, realizes that gratification must sometimes be deferred or forgone.
- refractory period — a short period after a nerve or muscle cell fires during which the cell cannot respond to additional stimulation.
- repertory catalog — a catalog containing bibliographic records that indicate locations of materials in more than one library or in several units of one library.
- repertory company — repertory (def 2).
- repertory theater — repertory (def 2).