16-letter words containing p, r, i, s
- phalansterianism — a system by which society would be reorganized into units comprising their own social and industrial elements; Fourierism.
- phantasmagorical — having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination.
- pharmacodynamics — the branch of pharmacology dealing with the course of action, effect, and breakdown of drugs within the body.
- pharmacogenetics — the branch of pharmacology that examines the relation of genetic factors to variations in response to drugs.
- pharmacogenomics — the study of human genetic variability in relation to drug action and its application to medical treatment
- pharmacokinetics — the branch of pharmacology that studies the fate of pharmacological substances in the body, as their absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination.
- phase difference — the difference between two sinusoidally varying quantities that have the same frequency, measured either as an angle or a time
- phase microscope — a microscope that utilizes the phase differences of light rays transmitted by different portions of an object to create an image in which the details of the object are distinct despite their near-uniformity of refractive index.
- philanthropistic — a person who practices philanthropy.
- philosopher king — the Platonic ideal of a ruler, philosophically trained and enlightened.
- philosopher-king — the Platonic ideal of a ruler, philosophically trained and enlightened.
- phlebothrombosis — the presence of a thrombus in a vein.
- phosphor fatigue — screen saver
- phosphorous acid — a colorless, crystalline, water-soluble acid of phosphorus, H 3 PO 3 , from which phosphites are derived.
- photorespiration — the oxidation of carbohydrates in many higher plants in which they get oxygen from light and then release carbon dioxide, somewhat different from photosynthesis.
- physical address — (memory management) The address presented to a computer's main memory in a virtual memory system, in contrast to the virtual address which is the address generated by the CPU. A memory management unit translates virtual addresses into physical addresses.
- physical therapy — the treatment or management of physical disability, malfunction, or pain by exercise, massage, hydrotherapy, etc., without the use of medicines, surgery, or radiation.
- phytosuccivorous — feeding on sap, as certain sucking insects.
- picture postcard — postcard (def 1).
- pierce's disease — a disease of grapes caused by a rickettsialike organism, characterized by dwarfing of vines, mottling of woody tissues, and plant death.
- pincers movement — a military maneuver in which both flanks of an enemy force are attacked with the aim of attaining complete encirclement.
- pineal apparatus — a median outgrowth of the roof of the diencephalon in vertebrates that in some develops into the pineal eye and in others into the pineal gland.
- piscis austrinus — a small constellation in the S hemisphere lying between Aquarius and Grus and containing the first-magnitude star Fomalhaut
- place of worship — religious house: church, temple
- plaster of paris — calcined gypsum in white, powdery form, used as a base for gypsum plasters, as an additive of lime plasters, and as a material for making fine and ornamental casts: characterized by its ability to set rapidly when mixed with water.
- pleasure-seeking — always looking for pleasure
- plutarch's lives — (Parallel Lives) a collection (a.d. 105–15) by Plutarch of short biographies of the leading political figures of ancient Greece and Rome.
- pocket billiards — pool2 (def 1).
- poitou-charentes — a region of W central France, on the Bay of Biscay: mainly low-lying
- polar opposition — the relation between a pair of antonyms that denote relatively higher and lower degrees of a quality with respect to an explicit or implicit norm rather than absolute values, as the relation between tall and short or light and dark, but not between true and false.
- police inspector — rank of police officer in the UK
- polyphonic prose — prose characterized by the use of poetic devices, as alliteration, assonance, rhyme, etc., and especially by an emphasis on rhythm not strictly metered.
- ponderosa (pine) — a yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa) of W North America, valued for its timber
- poor white trash — white trash.
- pork scratchings — small pieces of crisply cooked pork crackling, eaten cold as an appetizer with drinks
- port authorities — the body with overall responsibility for a port
- portuguese india — a former Portuguese overseas territory on the W coast of India, consisting of the districts of Gôa, Daman, and Diu: annexed by India December 1961. Capital: Gôa.
- portuguese timor — former (1914-75) Portuguese territory in the Malay Archipelago
- posigrade rocket — an auxiliary rocket used to separate the sections of a multistage rocket, fired in the direction of flight.
- possession order — (in Britain) a court order that entitles a landlord legally to evict a tenant or squatter and regain possession of the property
- post-reformation — the act of reforming; state of being reformed.
- post-renaissance — the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.
- post-romanticism — romantic spirit or tendency.
- postremogeniture — a system of inheritance under which the estate of a deceased person goes to his youngest son. Also called ultimogeniture. Compare primogeniture (def 2).
- postscript point — (unit, text) The variant of the point used by Postscript, equal to 0.3527777778 mm, or 1/72 inch.
- poverty-stricken — suffering from poverty; extremely poor: poverty-stricken refugees.
- practical reason — (in Kantian ethics) reason applied to the problem of action and choice, especially in ethical matters.
- practice session — a period of training that takes place over a set period of time, for example an hour or several hours
- prairie schooner — a type of covered wagon, similar to but smaller than the Conestoga wagon, used by pioneers in crossing the prairies and plains of North America.
- pre-conversation — informal interchange of thoughts, information, etc., by spoken words; oral communication between persons; talk; colloquy.