19-letter words containing r, i, s
- pseudo-aristocratic — of or relating to government by an aristocracy.
- pseudo-biographical — of or relating to a person's life: He's gathering biographical data for his book on Milton.
- pseudo-conservative — disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
- pseudo-experimental — pertaining to, derived from, or founded on experiment: an experimental science.
- pseudo-hieroglyphic — noting or pertaining to a script dating from the second millennium b.c. that appears to be syllabic and to represent the Phoenician language and that is inscribed on objects found at Byblos.
- pseudo-intransitive — denoting an occurrence of a normally transitive verb in which a direct object is not explicitly stated or forms the subject of the sentence, as in Margaret is cooking or these apples cook well
- pseudo-professional — following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder.
- pseudohermaphrodite — an individual having internal reproductive organs of one sex and external sexual characteristics resembling those of the other sex or being ambiguous in nature. Compare hermaphrodite (def 1).
- psychic determinism — the theory that all aspects of a person's psychological makeup arise from specific causes or forces, as previous experiences or instinctual drives, which may be conscious or unconscious.
- psychoendocrinology — the study of the relationship between the endocrine system and various symptoms or types of mental illness.
- psychrometric chart — a chart for calculating values of relative humidity, absolute humidity, and dew point from psychrometer readings.
- public-interest law — a branch of law that often utilizes class-action suits to protect the interest of a large group or of the public at large, as in matters relating to racial discrimination, air pollution, etc.
- puerperal psychosis — a mental disorder sometimes occurring in women after childbirth, characterized by deep depression, delusions of the child's death, and homicidal feelings towards the child
- pull in one's horns — one of the bony, permanent, hollow paired growths, often curved and pointed, that project from the upper part of the head of certain ungulate mammals, as cattle, sheep, goats, or antelopes.
- purse-string suture — a suture for a circular opening, stitched around the edge, that closes it when pulled.
- put a figure on sth — When you put a figure on an amount, you say exactly how much it is.
- put one's finger on — any of the terminal members of the hand, especially one other than the thumb.
- put the skids under — a plank, bar, log, or the like, especially one of a pair, on which something heavy may be slid or rolled along.
- pyorrhea alveolaris — a chronic periodontitis of the gums and tooth sockets, characterized by the formation of pus and, usually, by loosening of the teeth
- pyorrhea-alveolaris — Pathology. a discharge of pus.
- pyrenees-orientales — a department in S France. 1600 sq. mi. (4145 sq. km). Capital: Perpignan.
- pyrophosphoric acid — a crystalline, water-soluble powder, H 4 P 2 O 7 , formed by the union of one molecule of phosphorus pentoxide with two molecules of water.
- quantum electronics — the application of quantum mechanics and quantum optics to the study and design of electronic devices
- queen's regulations — (in Britain and certain other Commonwealth countries when the sovereign is female) the code of conduct for members of the armed forces
- quick-change artist — a person adept at changing from one thing to another, as an entertainer who changes costumes quickly during a performance.
- radius of curvature — the absolute value of the reciprocal of the curvature at a point on a curve.
- raise one's hackles — one of the long, slender feathers on the neck or saddle of certain birds, as the domestic rooster, much used in making artificial flies for anglers.
- rayleigh scattering — the scattering of light by particles that are very small in relation to the wavelength of the light, and in which the intensity of the scattered light varies inversely with the fourth power of the wavelength.
- reactive depression — depression occurring in response to some situational stress, as loss of one's job.
- rebus sic stantibus — (of the duration of the binding force treaty) for as long as the relevant facts and circumstances remain basically the same.
- recessional moraine — a moraine marking a temporary halt in the general retreat of a glacier.
- recording secretary — an officer charged with keeping the minutes of meetings and responsible for the records.
- redbrick university — any new or little-known university, especially one built since World War II to educate students in industrial regions, emphasizing technical subjects rather than the classics, and often partially supported by government funds.
- reef whitetip shark — whitetip shark (def 1).
- reflux oesophagitis — inflammation of the gullet caused by regurgitation of stomach acids, producing heartburn: may be associated with a hiatus hernia
- refreshable display — braille display
- register allocation — (compiler, algorithm) The phase of a compiler that determines which values will be placed in registers. Register allocation may be combined with register assignment. This problem can be shown to be isomorphic to graph colouring by relating values to nodes in the graph and registers to colours. Values (nodes) which must be valid simultaneously are linked by edges and cannot be stored in the same register (coloured the same). See also register dancing and register spilling.
- register assignment — (compiler, algorithm) The phase of a compiler that determines which register to use for each program value selected during register allocation.
- registered disabled — on a local authority register under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970
- registration number — number on vehicle licence plate
- regression analysis — Statistics. a procedure for determining a relationship between a dependent variable, as predicted success in college, and an independent variable, as a score on a scholastic aptitude test, for a given population. The relationship is expressed as an equation for a line (regres·sion·line) or curve (regres·sion·curve) in which any coefficient (regression coefficient) of the independent variable in the equation has been determined from a sample population.
- regular icosahedron — an icosahedron in which each of the faces is an equilateral triangle
- reindustrialization — the revitalization of an industry or industrial society through government aid and tax incentives, modernization of factories and machinery, etc.
- relational calculus — (database) An operational methodolgy, founded on predicate calculus, dealing with descripitive expressions that are equivalent to the operations of relational algebra. Codd's reduction algorithm can convert from relational calculus to relational algebra. Two forms of the relational calculus exist: the tuple calculus and the domain calculus.
- relational database — an electronic database comprising multiple files of related information, usually stored in tables of rows (records) and columns (fields), and allowing a link to be established between separate files that have a matching field, as a column of invoice numbers, so that the two files can be queried simultaneously by the user.
- releasing mechanism — a hypothetical control complex in the central nervous system of animals that triggers the appropriate behavioral response to a releaser.
- religious education — religion as school subject
- relocation expenses — Relocation expenses are a sum of money that a company pays to someone who moves to a new area in order to work for the company. The money is to help them pay for moving house.
- removable hard disk — (storage) A type of magnetic disk, or possibly magneto-optical disk which is not permanently attached to the disk drive (not a fixed disk) but which can be taken out and replaced, allowing many disks to be used in the same drive. The term "removable disk" would seem to be applicable to floppy disks but is generally reserved for hard disks in suitable cartridges such as those made by Syquest, Iomega and others. Removable disk packs were common on minicomputers such as the PDP-11 in use in the 1970s except that the drives were the size of washing machines and the disk packs as big as car wheels. Removable disks became popular on microcomputers in the 1990s as a cheap way of expanding disk space, transporting large amounts of data between computers and storing backups. Large, cheap fixed hard disks and USB memory sticks have made removable disks less attractive.
- renaissance revival — a mid-Victorian architectural style adapting the classical forms of 15th- and 16th-century Italian architecture, especially palace architecture, usually characterized by blocklike massing, with refined classicized decorative detail around regularly organized windows.