15-letter words containing p, s, e, h
- openmouthedness — the state or condition of being filled with amazement and wonder
- ophthalmoscopes — Plural form of ophthalmoscope.
- organophosphate — Biochemistry. any of a variety of organic compounds that contain phosphorus and often have intense neurotoxic activity: originally developed as nerve gases, now widely used as insecticides and fire retardants.
- overemphasizing — Present participle of overemphasize.
- pachymeningitis — inflammation of the dura mater of the brain and spinal cord
- packet-switched — packet switching
- paleogeophysics — (used with a plural verb) inferred geophysical conditions or processes of designated periods of the geologic past.
- panhandle state — West Virginia (used as a nickname).
- paphian goddess — Aphrodite, worshiped in Cyprus as the goddess of sexual love.
- parasympathetic — pertaining to that part of the autonomic nervous system consisting of nerves and ganglia that arise from the cranial and sacral regions and function in opposition to the sympathetic system, as in inhibiting heartbeat or contracting the pupil of the eye.
- parish magazine — a magazine containing news and articles of interest to the people of a particular parish church or the local area
- parish register — the register of the christenings, marriages, and burials in a parish.
- parmesan cheese — of or from Parma, in northern Italy.
- parthenogenesis — development of an egg without fertilization.
- pass-the-parcel — a children's game in which a parcel with lots of wrappings is passed round while music plays; each time the music stops the person holding the parcel takes a layer of wrapping off
- passenger coach — a carriage in which passengers sit
- passport holder — a person who has a passport
- peachblow glass — an American art glass made in various pale colors and sometimes having an underlayer of milk glass.
- pedagoguishness — the quality of being pedagoguish
- penshurst place — a 14th-century mansion near Tunbridge Wells in Kent: birthplace of Sir Philip Sidney; gardens laid out from 1560
- pepin the short — ("Pepin the Short") died a.d. 768, king of the Franks 751–768 (father of Charlemagne).
- peroxysulphuric — as in peroxysulphuric acid
- personal growth — development as an individual
- phase-switching — a technique used in radio interferometry in which the signal from one of the two antennae is periodically reversed in phase before being multiplied by the signal from the other antenna
- pheasant coucal — a brown and black, red-eyed Australian bird, Centropus phasianinus, with a pheasantlike tail.
- phenakistoscope — an early form of a zoetrope in which figures are depicted in different poses around the edge of a disc. When the disc is spun, and the figures observed through the apertures around the edge of the disc, they appear to be moving
- phenomenalistic — the doctrine that phenomena are the only objects of knowledge or the only form of reality.
- phenomenologies — the study of phenomena.
- phenomenologist — the study of phenomena.
- phlebosclerosis — sclerosis, or hardening, of the walls of veins.
- phloem necrosis — a disease of the American elm caused by a mycoplasmalike organism, characterized by yellowing and necrosis of the foliage and yellowish-brown discoloration of the phloem.
- phoenix islands — a group of eight coral islands in the central Pacific: administratively part of Kiribati. Area: 28 sq km (11 sq miles). The islands and surrounding waters form the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, the world's largest marine protected area. Area: 410 500 sq km (158 500 sq miles)
- phosphate group — the group or radical obtained by removal of one or more hydrogen atoms from phosphoric acid.
- phosphocreatine — a compound, C 4 H 1 0 O 5 N 3 P, found chiefly in muscle, formed by the enzymatic interaction of an organic phosphate and creatine, the breakdown of which provides energy for muscle contraction.
- phosphor bronze — a bronze, composed of about 80 percent copper, 10 percent tin, 9 percent antimony, and 1 percent phosphorus, having great hardness and resistance to corrosion.
- phosphorescence — the property of being luminous at temperatures below incandescence, as from slow oxidation in the case of phosphorus or after exposure to light or other radiation.
- phosphorylative — of or relating to phosphorylation
- photo-secession — an association of photographers founded in New York City in 1902 by Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen that advocated the development and public recognition of photography as a fine art.
- photodissociate — to split or break up molecules as a result of the absorption of photons
- photoelasticity — the phenomenon of double refraction of polarized light by a transparent substance under elastic stress, used to measure strain in elastic, transparent materials.
- photomicroscope — a microscope having an illuminator and a camera mechanism for producing a photomicrograph.
- photosensitizer — a drug, food, or other chemical that increases sensitivity to light and other visible photons
- photosynthesize — to produce carbohydrates by photosynthesis: Plants with light green leaves don't photosynthesize as well as those with darker leaves.
- phototypesetter — a machine for phototypesetting
- phrasemongering — the act of coining memorable phrases
- physical change — a usually reversible change in the physical properties of a substance, as size or shape: Freezing a liquid is a physical change.
- physical memory — (memory management) The memory hardware (normally RAM) installed in a computer. The term is only used in contrast to virtual memory.
- physicochemical — physical and chemical: the physicochemical properties of an isomer.
- physiotherapist — physical therapy.
- pick and choose — to choose or select from among a group: to pick a contestant from the audience.