17-letter words containing s, c, i, r, e
- primary processes — the generally unorganized mental activity characteristic of the unconscious and occurring in dreams, fantasies, and related processes.
- primary structure — Biochemistry. the basic sequence of amino acids in a polypeptide or protein.
- private secretary — a person who attends to the individual or confidential correspondence, files, etc., of a business executive, official, or the like.
- production system — (programming) A production system consists of a collection of productions (rules), a working memory of facts and an algorithm, known as forward chaining, for producing new facts from old. A rule becomes eligible to "fire" when its conditions match some set of elements currently in working memory. A conflict resolution strategy determines which of several eligible rules (the conflict set) fires next. A condition is a list of symbols which represent constants, which must be matched exactly; variables which bind to the thing they match and "<> symbol" which matches a field not equal to symbol. Example production systems are OPS5, CLIPS, flex.
- production values — the quality of a media production (such as a film) in regards to elements such as colours, quality, style, etc
- prostatic utricle — a small pouch near the prostate gland that opens into the urethra.
- protected species — a species of animal or plant which it is forbidden by law to harm or destroy
- protective system — protectionism (def 1).
- proton microscope — a powerful type of microscope that uses a beam of protons, giving high resolution and sharp contrast
- pseudepigraphical — certain writings (other than the canonical books and the Apocrypha) professing to be Biblical in character.
- pseudo-democratic — pertaining to or of the nature of democracy or a democracy.
- pseudo-historical — of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events: historical records; historical research.
- pseudo-moralistic — a person who teaches or inculcates morality.
- psychic energizer — Pharmacology. antidepressant (def 2).
- psychometric test — a test designed to test a person's mental state, personality and thought processes
- psychotherapeutic — psychotherapy.
- pterygoid process — either of two long bony plates extending downwards from each side of the sphenoid bone within the skull
- public enterprise — economic activity by governmental organizations
- public prosecutor — an officer charged with the conduct of criminal prosecution in the interest of the public.
- purple of cassius — a purple pigment precipitated as a sol by the interaction of gold chloride and a solution of stannic acid and stannous chloride: used chiefly in the manufacture of ruby glass, ceramic glazes, and enamels.
- pyroligneous acid — a yellowish, acidic, water-soluble liquid, containing about 10 percent acetic acid, obtained by the destructive distillation of wood: used for smoking meats.
- quadratic residue — a number x that is relatively prime to a given integer y and for which a number z exists whose square gives the same remainder as x when divided by y.
- quality assurance — a system for ensuring a desired level of quality in the development, production, or delivery of products and services: Quality assurance for nursing homes begins with a set of standards. Abbreviation: QA.
- quantum chemistry — the application of quantum mechanics to the study of chemical phenomena.
- quatercentenaries — Plural form of quatercentenary.
- racial harassment — persecution on the basis of race
- rack one's brains — to strain in mental effort, esp to remember something or to find the solution to a problem
- radioactive waste — the radioactive by-products from the operation of a nuclear reactor or from the reprocessing of depleted nuclear fuel.
- radioluminescence — luminescence induced by nuclear radiation.
- received standard — the form of educated English spoken originally in southern England and having Received Pronunciation as a chief distinguishing feature.
- recoil escapement — anchor escapement.
- reconstructionism — a 20th-century movement among U.S. Jews, founded by Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, advocating that Judaism, being a culture and way of life as well as a religion, is in sum a religious civilization requiring constant adaptation to contemporary conditions so that Jews can identify more readily and meaningfully with the Jewish community.
- reconstructionist — an advocate or supporter of Reconstruction or Reconstructionism.
- recording session — a period of time devoted to recording music in a studio
- recovery position — a position in which an unconscious person can be lain on the floor, which minimises them from further risk
- recreationalist's — recreationist.
- recrystallization — to become crystallized again.
- rectangle slinger — polygon pusher
- recursion formula — a formula for determining the next term of a sequence from one or more of the preceding terms.
- recursive acronym — (convention) A hackish (and especially MIT) tradition is to choose acronyms and abbreviations that refer humorously to themselves or to other acronyms or abbreviations. The classic examples were two MIT editors called EINE ("EINE Is Not Emacs") and ZWEI ("ZWEI Was EINE Initially"). More recently, there is a Scheme compiler called LIAR (Liar Imitates Apply Recursively), and GNU stands for "GNU's Not Unix!" - and a company with the name CYGNUS, which expands to "Cygnus, Your GNU Support". See also mung.
- red-backed shrike — a common Eurasian shrike, Lanius collurio, the male of which has a grey crown and rump, brown wings and back, and a black-and-white face
- reduce to silence — If someone or something reduces you to silence, they make you feel so upset or confused that you cannot speak.
- refuse collection — the collection of rubbish and waste, usually in a rubbish or refuse truck, before final disposal
- registered office — official business address
- registered stocks — stocks officially registered to the name of the owner
- relativistic mass — the mass of a body in motion relative to the observer: it is equal to the rest mass multiplied by a factor that is greater than 1 and that increases as the magnitude of the velocity increases.
- renaissance woman — a woman who has acquired profound knowledge or proficiency in more than one field.
- repertory society — a group that supports amateur performances of plays by its members
- rescue operations — operations or organized procedures to bring people or a person out of danger, attack, harm, etc
- respiratory chain — a series of mitochondrial proteins that transport electrons of hydrogen, released in the Krebs cycle, from acetyl coenzyme A to inhaled oxygen to form H 2 O: the energy released in the process is conserved as ATP.