16-letter words containing p, r, i, s
- devonshire split — a kind of yeast bun split open and served with whipped cream or butter and jam
- dew-point spread — the degrees of difference between the air temperature and the dew point
- diagonal process — a form of argument in which a new member of a set is constructed from a list of its known members by making the nth term of the new member differ from the nth term of the nth member. The new member is thus different from every member of the list
- diphosphorylated — (biochemistry) phosphorylated with two units of phosphoric acid.
- diplomatic corps — the entire body of diplomats accredited to and resident at a court or capital.
- disappearing act — magic trick
- discographically — In terms of discography.
- discussion group — group assembled to discuss sth
- disincorporation — to remove from an incorporated state or status.
- dispersal prison — a prison organized and equipped to accommodate a proportion of the most dangerous and highest security risk prisoners
- dispersing agent — a surface-active substance added to a suspension, usually a colloid, to improve the separation of particles and to prevent settling or clumping
- dispersive power — a measure of the ability of a substance to disperse light, equal to the quotient of the difference in refractive indices of the substance for two representative wavelengths divided by the difference of the refractive index for an intermediate wavelength and 1.
- displaced person — a person driven or expelled from his or her homeland by war, famine, tyranny, etc. Abbreviation: DP, D.P.
- display standard — (hardware, standard) IBM and others have introduced a bewildering plethora of graphics and text display standards for IBM PCs. The standards are mostly implemented by plugging in a video display board (or "graphics adaptor") and connecting the appropriate monitor to it. Each new standard subsumes its predecessors. For example, an EGA board can also do CGA and MDA. With the PS/2, IBM introduced the VGA standard and built it into the main system board motherboard. VGA is also available as a plug-in board for PCs from third-party vendors. Also with the PS/2, IBM introduced the 8514 high-resolution graphics standard. An 8514 adaptor board plugs into the PS/2, providing a dual-monitor capability. Graphics software had to support the major IBM graphics standards and many non-IBM, proprietary standards for displays. Either software vendors provided display drivers or display vendors provided drivers for the software package. In either case, switching software or switching display systems was fraught with compatibility problems. More colours are available from third-party vendors for some display types. See also MDA, CGA, EGA, PGA, Hercules, MCGA, VGA, SVGA, 8514, VESA.
- display terminal — Visual Display Unit
- disproportionate — not proportionate; out of proportion, as in size or number.
- disproportioning — Present participle of disproportion.
- disreputableness — The state or quality of being disreputable or disgraceful; disreputability.
- dneprodzerzhinsk — a city in the E central Ukraine, in the SW Russian Federation in Europe, on the Dnieper River.
- do sth in person — If you do something in person, you do it yourself rather than letting someone else do it for you.
- domestic partner — either member of an unmarried, cohabiting, and especially homosexual couple that seeks benefits usually available only to spouses.
- domestic prelate — an honorary distinction conferred by the Holy See upon clergy, entitling them to some of the privileges of a bishop.
- double precision — using twice the normal amount of storage, as two words rather than one, to represent a number.
- dual personality — a disorder in which an individual possesses two dissociated personalities.
- duplessis-mornay — Philippe [fee-leep] /fiˈlip/ (Show IPA), Mornay, Philippe de.
- dynamic response — The dynamic response of a machine, structure, or process is how it reacts over time to something that is done to it.
- earthly paradise — Bible: Garden of Eden
- eastern whipbird — an Australian whipbird, Psophodes olivaceus
- echocardiographs — Plural form of echocardiograph.
- eclipsing binary — a variable star whose changes in brightness are caused by periodic eclipses of two stars in a binary system.
- ectoparasiticide — Any pesticide designed to kill parasites that live on the exterior of a host.
- electrodeposited — Deposited by electrodeposition.
- electrotherapist — One who administers electrotherapy.
- entrepreneurship — The art or science of innovation and risk-taking for profit in business.
- episcopal church — an autonomous branch of the Anglican Communion in Scotland and the US
- evening primrose — flowering plant
- experimentations — Plural form of experimentation.
- expert appraisal — a valuation of property or goods by an expert
- expressionlessly — Without expression; in an expressionless way.
- federalist party — a political group that favored the adoption by the states of the Constitution.
- feline distemper — distemper1 (def 1c).
- figure of speech — any expressive use of language, as a metaphor, simile, personification, or antithesis, in which words are used in other than their literal sense, or in other than their ordinary locutions, in order to suggest a picture or image or for other special effect. Compare trope (def 1).
- file compression — (algorithm) The compression of data in a file, usually to reduce storage requirements.
- fingertip search — When the police carry out a fingertip search of a place, they examine it for evidence in a very detailed way.
- finished product — the product that emerges at the end of a manufacturing process
- finless porpoise — a porpoise Neophocaena phocaenoides of the Indian and pacific Oceans that completely lacks a dorsal fin
- firework display — a public event at which fireworks are set alight
- first four ships — the earliest settlers' ships to arrive in the Canterbury Province
- fissure eruption — the emergence of lava from a fissure in the ground rather than from a volcanic cone or vent
- follicular phase — a stage of the menstrual cycle, from onset of menstruation to ovulation.