12-letter words containing r, o, s, a, l
- oracularness — the state of being oracular
- oral history — information of historical or sociological importance obtained usually by tape-recorded interviews with persons whose experiences and memories are representative or whose lives have been of special significance.
- oral society — a society that has not developed literacy
- oral surgery — the branch of dentistry or of surgery dealing with the surgical treatment or repair of various conditions of the mouth or jaws.
- orchestrally — In an orchestral manner.
- orichalceous — relating to or resembling orichalc
- original sin — Theology. a depravity, or tendency to evil, held to be innate in humankind and transmitted from Adam to all humans in consequence of his sin. inclination to evil, inherent in human nature.
- orthoclastic — (of a crystal) having cleavages at right angles to each other.
- oscillograms — Plural form of oscillogram.
- oscillograph — a device for recording the wave-forms of changing currents, voltages, or any other quantity that can be translated into electric energy, as sound waves.
- outrageously — In an outrageous manner; to an outrageous degree.
- over-jealous — feeling resentment against someone because of that person's rivalry, success, or advantages (often followed by of): He was jealous of his rich brother.
- overanalysis — the separating of any material or abstract entity into its constituent elements (opposed to synthesis).
- overbalances — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of overbalance.
- overclassify — to classify to excess
- oyster plant — salsify.
- palindromist — a word, line, verse, number, sentence, etc., reading the same backward as forward, as Madam, I'm Adam or Poor Dan is in a droop.
- paraglossate — having paraglossae
- parasitology — the branch of biology dealing with parasites and the effects of parasitism.
- parasol pine — stone pine (def 1).
- parlor house — (especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries) a brothel with a comfortable, often elaborately decorated parlor for the reception of clients.
- parochialise — to make parochial.
- parochialism — a parochial character, spirit, or tendency; excessive narrowness of interests or view; provincialism.
- parochialist — a parochial character, spirit, or tendency; excessive narrowness of interests or view; provincialism.
- pasch flower — pasqueflower
- pasqueflower — an Old World plant, Anemone pulsatilla, of the buttercup family, having purple, crocuslike flowers blooming about Easter.
- pastoralness — the quality or state of being pastoral or rural
- patent rolls — (in Britain) the register of patents issued
- patroclinous — inheritance in which the traits of the offspring are derived primarily from the paternal parent (opposed to matrocliny).
- pearl oyster — any of several marine bivalve mollusks of the family Pteriidae, some of which form pearls of great value, inhabiting waters of eastern Asia and off the coasts of Panama and Baja California.
- percussional — of or relating to percussion
- perez galdos — Benito [buh-nee-toh;; Spanish be-nee-taw] /bəˈni toʊ;; Spanish bɛˈni tɔ/ (Show IPA), 1843–1920, Spanish journalist, dramatist, and novelist.
- personalised — to have marked with one's initials, name, or monogram: to personalize stationery.
- personalized — customized
- personalness — of, relating to, or coming as from a particular person; individual; private: a personal opinion.
- petaliferous — bearing or having petals.
- petrodollars — Petrodollars are a unit of money used to calculate how much a country has earned by exporting petroleum or natural gas.
- photorealism — a style of painting flourishing in the 1970s, especially in the U.S., England, and France, and depicting commonplace scenes or ordinary people, with a meticulously detailed realism, flat images, and barely discernible brushwork that suggests and often is based on or incorporates an actual photograph.
- phragmoplast — the cytoplasmic structure that forms at the equator of the spindle after the chromosomes have divided during the anaphase of plant mitosis, and that initiates cell division.
- pictorialism — Fine Arts. the creation or use of pictures or visual images, especially of recognizable or realistic representations.
- pictorialist — Fine Arts. the creation or use of pictures or visual images, especially of recognizable or realistic representations.
- plasma torch — an electrical device for converting a gas into a plasma, used for melting metal
- plasterboard — a material used for insulating or covering walls, or as a lath, consisting of paper-covered sheets of gypsum and felt.
- polar lights — the aurora borealis in the Northern Hemisphere or the aurora australis in the Southern Hemisphere.
- polariscopic — relating to a polariscope
- policymakers — a person responsible for making policy, especially in government.
- politicaster — an ill-suited or disliked politician
- polygraphist — an instrument for receiving and recording simultaneously tracings of variations in certain body activities.
- polyomavirus — any of a genus (Polyomavirus) of papovaviruses that naturally infect wild and laboratory mice, and that cause tumors when injected into newborn mice
- polysaprobic — flourishing in a body of water having a heavy load of decomposed organic matter and almost no free oxygen