16-letter words containing p, r, o, f, a
- land-poor farmer — a farmer who owns much unprofitable land and lacks the money to maintain its fertility or improve it
- law of parsimony — a principle according to which an explanation of a thing or event is made with the fewest possible assumptions.
- make a pitch for — to give verbal support to
- mallowpuff māori — a Māori who is considered to behave like a white person
- matthew of paris — c1200–59, English chronicler.
- multiple factors — polygene.
- newspaper office — an office where the editorial and production staff of a newspaper work
- nonprofessionals — Plural form of nonprofessional.
- nonproliferation — the action or practice of curbing or controlling an excessive, rapid spread: nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.
- north plainfield — a city in NE New Jersey.
- operating profit — the profit of a company, etc, after it deducts its operating costs or the costs necessary to conduct the business
- outboard profile — an exterior side elevation of a vessel, showing all deck structures, rigging, fittings, etc.
- pacific sturgeon — a dark gray sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus, inhabiting marine and fresh waters along the northwestern coast of North America, valued as a food and sport fish.
- packing fraction — Physics. a measure of the stability of an atomic nucleus, equal to 10 4 multiplied by the mass defect and divided by the mass number.
- pair of scissors — two-bladed cutting tool
- paraformaldehyde — a white, crystalline polymer of formaldehyde, (HCOH) n , from which it is obtained by evaporation of the aqueous solution: used chiefly as an antiseptic.
- parallel fortran — (language) (Pfortran) Extensions to Fortran by Ridgway Scott <[email protected]> of Houston University. Pfortran provides a shared memory SIMD model on message passing computers. It was under development in 1994.
- paraprofessional — a person trained to assist a doctor, lawyer, teacher, or other professional, but not licensed to practice in the profession.
- parrot's-feather — a South American water milfoil, Myriophyllum aquaticum, having hairlike pinnate leaves, widely cultivated as an aquarium plant.
- partial fraction — one of the fractions into which a given fraction can be resolved, the sum of such simpler fractions being equal to the given fraction: Partial fractions of 5/(x2−x) are 5/(x−1) and −5/x.
- partial function — A function which is not defined for all arguments of its input type. E.g. f(x) = 1/x if x /= 0. The opposite of a total function. In denotational semantics, a partial function f : D -> C may be represented as a total function ft : D' -> lift(C) where D' is a superset of D and ft x = f x if x in D ft x = bottom otherwise where lift(C) = C U bottom. Bottom (LaTeX \perp) denotes "undefined".
- parts of lindsey — an area in E England constituting a former administrative division of Lincolnshire
- peace conference — a conference where representatives of warring governments or countries sign a treaty to end conflict
- pearls of wisdom — good advice, wise words
- pearly razorfish — See under razorfish.
- peregrine falcon — a globally distributed falcon, Falco peregrinus, much used in falconry because of its swift flight: several subspecies are endangered.
- perforated ulcer — an ulcer that bursts through the stomach wall and leaks food and gastric juices into the abdominal cavity
- performance bond — contract bond.
- performance test — a test requiring little or no use of language, the test materials being designed to elicit manual or behavioral responses rather than verbal ones.
- permafrost table — the variable surface constituting the upper limit of permafrost. Compare frostline (def 2).
- personal effects — belongings
- phosphor fatigue — screen saver
- 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.
- platform-balance — a scale with a platform for holding the items to be weighed.
- polyvinyl formal — a colorless, water-insoluble, polyvinyl acetal produced from partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl acetate and formaldehyde, used chiefly in the manufacture of lacquers.
- post-reformation — the act of reforming; state of being reformed.
- powerpc platform — (architecture, standard) (PPCP, PReP - PowerPC Reference Platform, formerly CHRP - Common Hardware Reference Platform) An open system standard, designed by IBM, intended to ensure compatibility among PowerPC-based systems built by different companies. The PReP standard specifies the PCI bus, but will also support ISA, MicroChannel and PCMCIA. PReP-compliant systems will be able to run the Macintosh OS, OS/2, WorkplaceOS, AIX, Solaris, Taligent and Windows NT. IBM systems will (of course) be PReP-compliant. Apple's first PowerPC Macintoshes will not be compliant, but future ones may be.
- prespecification — the act of specifying.
- pribilof islands — a group of islands in the Bering Sea, off SW Alaska, belonging to the US: the breeding ground of the northern fur seal. Area: about 168 sq km (65 sq miles)
- professionalisms — professional character, spirit, or methods.
- proof of postage — a document, such as a receipt, etc, that proves that you have posted or mailed something
- put a foot wrong — to make a mistake
- racial profiling — the use of personal characteristics or behavior patterns to make generalizations about a person, as in gender profiling.
- ramen profitable — If a startup business is ramen profitable, it is barely profitable, just enough to allow the founder to live on the cheapest diet.
- rape of the lock — a mock-epic poem (1712) by Alexander Pope.
- reflection plane — a plane through a crystal that divides the crystal into two halves that are mirror images of each other.
- seal of approval — royal stamp of endorsement
- self-approbation — approval; commendation.
- self-deprecation — belittling or undervaluing oneself; excessively modest.