12-letter words containing s, o, a, p, r
- orthopterans — Plural form of orthopteran.
- 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.
- outspreading — Present participle of outspread.
- overemphasis — excessive or undue emphasis.
- overpersuade — to persuade (a person) against his or her inclination or intention: By threats and taunts they had overpersuaded him to steal the car.
- overpurchase — to acquire by the payment of money or its equivalent; buy.
- overseas cap — a soft, brimless military cap
- oyster plant — salsify.
- pachycarpous — having a thick pericarp
- pachydermous — any of the thick-skinned, nonruminant ungulates, as the elephant, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros.
- pacific rose — a large variety of eating apple from New Zealand, with sweet flesh
- 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.
- pantisocracy — a community, social group, etc, in which all have rule and everyone is equal
- papoose-root — the blue cohosh. See under cohosh.
- parachronism — a chronological error in which a person, event, etc., is assigned a date later than the actual one.
- paraglossate — having paraglossae
- paragnathous — (of certain vertebrates) having the upper and lower jaws of equal length
- paramorphism — the process by which a paramorph is formed.
- paranthropus — (sometimes initial capital letter) a member of the former genus Paranthropus.
- paraphimosis — inability to retract the penis into the prepuce as a result of narrowing of the prepuce
- parapophysis — the process of a vertebra
- parasitology — the branch of biology dealing with parasites and the effects of parasitism.
- parasol pine — stone pine (def 1).
- parasphenoid — a bone next to the sphenoid bone in the skull of some animals
- parish house — a building used by a church chiefly for administrative and social purposes.
- parkinsonian — (sometimes initial capital letter) of, related to, or resembling Parkinson's disease.
- parkinsonism — Parkinson's disease.
- 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.
- paronomastic — the use of a word in different senses or the use of words similar in sound to achieve a specific effect, as humor or a dual meaning; punning.
- parsimonious — characterized by or showing parsimony; frugal or stingy.
- parting shot — a threat, insult, condemnation, sarcastic retort, or the like, uttered upon leaving.
- pas de trois — a dance for three dancers.
- pasch flower — pasqueflower
- pasqueflower — an Old World plant, Anemone pulsatilla, of the buttercup family, having purple, crocuslike flowers blooming about Easter.
- pass through — an act of passing.
- pass-through — a windowlike opening, as one for passing food or dishes between a kitchen and a dining area.
- passage work — writing that is often extraneous to the thematic material of a work and is typically of a virtuosic or decorative character: passagework consisting of scales, arpeggios, trills, and double octaves.
- passionfruit — any edible fruit of a passionflower, as the maypop.
- pastoralness — the quality or state of being pastoral or rural
- pastry board — a flat board on which pastry is rolled
- pasture rose — a bristly-stemmed rose, Rosa carolina, of the eastern U.S., having slender, straight thorns and large, solitary, rose-pink flowers.
- 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).
- patron saint — a saint regarded as the special guardian of a person, group, trade, country, etc.
- 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
- percutaneous — administered, removed, or absorbed by way of the skin, as an injection, needle biopsy, or transdermal drug.