14-letter words containing p, r, o, n
- apparent power — The apparent power of an alternating current circuit is the product of the RMS values of the voltage and the current, expressed as volt-amperes.
- apple turnover — a pastry containing apple
- appleton layer — the F region of the ionosphere
- apportionments — Plural form of apportionment.
- appreciational — gratitude; thankful recognition: They showed their appreciation by giving him a gold watch.
- appropriations — Plural form of appropriation.
- approximations — Plural form of approximation.
- approximeeting — the practice of a group of people making indefinite plans to meet and then altering those plans regularly via mobile phones according to changing circumstances
- arcado-cyprian — an ancient language group of eastern Greece.
- archencephalon — the primitive forebrain region of the embryo, anterior to the notochord, that gives rise to the midbrain and forebrain.
- armor-piercing — (of bullets, artillery shells, etc.) designed especially for piercing armor.
- armour-plating — The armour-plating on a vehicle or building is the hard metal covering which is intended to protect it from gunfire and other missiles.
- arms inspector — a person who carries out an arms inspection
- assemblyperson — a member of a legislative assembly, especially a member of the lower house of the legislature in certain states of the U.S.
- asthenospermia — (medicine) Loss or reduction in the strength or energy of sperm cells, hence infertility. Not always infertile many are subfertile.
- asthenospermic — (medicine) Characterised by or pertaining to asthenospermia, hence infertile.
- asthenospheric — relating to the asthenosphere
- at one's peril — If you say that someone does something at their peril, you are warning them that they will probably suffer as a result of doing it.
- audio response — a computer response that is audible rather than textual or graphical
- autoresponders — Plural form of autoresponder.
- autotransplant — autograft.
- banana problem — (programming, humour) From the story of the little girl who said "I know how to spell "banana", but I don't know when to stop". Not knowing where or when to bring a production to a close (compare fencepost error). One may say "there is a banana problem" of an algorithm with poorly defined or incorrect termination conditions, or in discussing the evolution of a design that may be succumbing to featuritis (see also creeping elegance, creeping featuritis).
- bancroft prize — one of a group of annual awards for literary achievement in American history and biography: administered by Columbia University.
- bare ownership — ownership of a piece of property without the right to use and derive profit from that property
- basso profundo — (esp in operatic solo singing) a singer with a very deep bass voice
- benday process — a process for adding tone or shading, as in reproducing drawings, by the overlay on the plate of patterns, as of dots
- beta-endorphin — a potent endorphin released by the anterior pituitary gland in response to pain, trauma, exercise, or other forms of stress.
- beyond compare — If you describe something as beyond compare, you mean that it is extremely good or extremely great.
- bioprospecting — searching for plant or animal species for use as a source of commercially exploitable products, such as medicinal drugs
- bipolarisation — the act of bipolarising
- bipolarization — the action of rendering something bipolar
- block printing — printing from hand engraved or carved blocks of wood or linoleum
- blood grouping — the ascertainment of a person's blood group
- blotting paper — Blotting paper is thick soft paper that you use for soaking up and drying ink on a piece of paper.
- boarding party — group of officers or sailors who board a ship
- bodice-ripping — A bodice-ripping film or novel is one which is set in the past and which includes a lot of sex scenes. You use this word especially if you do not think it is very good and is just intended to entertain people.
- bone porcelain — bone china.
- bow and scrape — to behave in an excessively deferential or obsequious way
- bowstring hemp — a hemplike fibre obtained from the sansevieria
- brachypinakoid — the side parallel to the shorter horizontal axis in a crystal
- breaking point — If something or someone has reached breaking point, they have so many problems or difficulties that they can no longer cope with them, and may soon collapse or be unable to continue.
- bronchospastic — of or relating to bronchospasms
- brownie points — a credit toward advancement or good standing gained especially by currying favor.
- bulk transport — the transport of large quantities of goods or commodities in lorries, ships, or by rail
- burn-in period — 1. (testing) A factory soak test intended to increase the chance that components that fail early due to infant mortality will fail before the system leaves the factory. 2. (jargon) When one is so intensely involved in a new project that one forgets basic needs such as food, drink and sleep. Excessive burn-in can lead to burn-out. See hack mode, larval stage.
- bursting point — the point at which normal capacity is exceeded.
- businessperson — Businesspeople are people who work in business.
- butylene group — any of four bivalent isomeric groups having the formula –C 4 H 8 –.
- camp counselor — activities supervisor
- capriciousness — subject to, led by, or indicative of a sudden, odd notion or unpredictable change; erratic: He's such a capricious boss I never know how he'll react.