15-letter words containing s, p, i, r, l, a
- professionalist — to give a professional character or status to; make into or establish as a profession.
- professionalize — to give a professional character or status to; make into or establish as a profession.
- profit and loss — the gain and loss arising from commercial or other transactions, applied especially to an account or statement of account in bookkeeping showing gains and losses in business.
- propositionally — the act of offering or suggesting something to be considered, accepted, adopted, or done.
- proximity talks — a diplomatic process whereby an impartial representative acts as go-between for two opposing parties who are willing to attend the same conference but unwilling to meet face to face
- pseudo-critical — inclined to find fault or to judge with severity, often too readily.
- pseudo-military — of, for, or pertaining to the army or armed forces, often as distinguished from the navy: from civilian to military life.
- pseudoparalysis — the inability to move a part of the body owing to factors, as pain, other than those causing actual paralysis.
- pseudotripteral — having an arrangement of columns suggesting a tripteral structure but without the inner colonnades.
- psychedelicware — /si:"k*-del"-ik-weir/ [UK] Synonym display hack. See also smoking clover.
- psychiatrically — the practice or science of diagnosing and treating mental disorders.
- psychographical — relating to psychographics
- pure and simple — sheer, utter
- purslane family — the plant family Portulacaceae, characterized by chiefly herbaceous plants having simple, often fleshy leaves, sometimes showy flowers, and capsular fruit, and including bitterroot, purslane, red maids, rose moss, and spring beauty.
- pyramid selling — Pyramid selling is a method of selling in which one person buys a supply of a particular product direct from the manufacturer and then sells it to a number of other people at an increased price. These people sell it on to others in a similar way, but eventually the final buyers are only able to sell the product for less than they paid for it.
- pyrocrystalline — crystallized from a molten magma or highly heated solution.
- quasi-spherical — having the form of a sphere; globular.
- radio telescope — a system consisting of an antenna, either parabolic or dipolar, used to gather radio waves emitted by celestial sources and bring them to a receiver placed in the focus.
- random sampling — a method of selecting a sample (random sample) from a statistical population in such a way that every possible sample that could be selected has a predetermined probability of being selected.
- range paralysis — Marek's disease.
- reception class — A reception class is a class that children go into when they first start school at the age of four or five.
- refuse disposal — the act of disposing of rubbish and waste
- relapsing fever — one of a group of fevers characterized by relapses, occurring in many tropical countries, and caused by several species of spirochetes transmitted by several species of lice and ticks.
- retail politics — a political strategy or campaign style of meeting and speaking directly to as many voters as possible: New Hampshire is a state where retail politics are decisive. Not every candidate is good at retail politics.
- sales promotion — the methods or techniques for creating public acceptance of or interest in a product, usually in addition to standard merchandising techniques, as advertising or personal selling, and generally consisting of the offer of free samples, gifts made to a purchaser, or the like.
- salisbury plain — a plateau in S England, N of Salisbury: the site of Stonehenge.
- saprophytically — any organism that lives on dead organic matter, as certain fungi and bacteria.
- seleucia pieria — an ancient port in Syria, on the River Orontes: the port of Antioch, of military importance during the wars between the Ptolemies and Seleucids; largely destroyed by earthquake in 526; site of present-day Samandaǧ (Turkey)
- self-absorption — preoccupation with oneself or one's own affairs.
- self-persuasion — the act of persuading or seeking to persuade.
- self-proclaimed — to announce or declare in an official or formal manner: to proclaim war.
- septentrionally — northwards; in the direction of the north
- ship's articles — a type of contract by which sailors agree to the conditions, payment, etc, for the ship in which they are going to work
- shrimp cocktail — prawns and lettuce in Mary Rose sauce
- sidereal period — the period of revolution of a body about another with respect to one or more distant stars
- simple fraction — a ratio of two integers.
- simple fracture — a fracture in which the bone does not pierce the skin.
- simple interval — an interval of an octave or less.
- simple majority — less than half of the total votes cast but more than the minimum required to win, as when there are more than two candidates or choices.
- singapore sling — a cocktail of gin, cherry brandy, sugar, and water.
- slab plastering — coarse plastering, as between the studs in a half-timbered wall.
- slumpflationary — of or relating to slumpflation
- snafu principle — /sna'foo prin'si-pl/ [WWII Army acronym for "Situation Normal: All Fucked Up"] "True communication is possible only between equals, because inferiors are more consistently rewarded for telling their superiors pleasant lies than for telling the truth." - a central tenet of Discordianism, often invoked by hackers to explain why authoritarian hierarchies screw up so reliably and systematically. The effect of the SNAFU principle is a progressive disconnection of decision-makers from reality. This lightly adapted version of a fable dating back to the early 1960s illustrates the phenomenon perfectly: In the beginning was the plan, and then the specification; And the plan was without form, and the specification was void. And darkness was on the faces of the implementors thereof; And they spake unto their leader, saying: "It is a crock of shit, and smells as of a sewer." And the leader took pity on them, and spoke to the project leader: "It is a crock of excrement, and none may abide the odor thereof." And the project leader spake unto his section head, saying: "It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide it." The section head then hurried to his department manager, and informed him thus: "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength." The department manager carried these words to his general manager, and spoke unto him saying: "It containeth that which aideth the growth of plants, and it is very strong." And so it was that the general manager rejoiced and delivered the good news unto the Vice President. "It promoteth growth, and it is very powerful." The Vice President rushed to the President's side, and joyously exclaimed: "This powerful new software product will promote the growth of the company!" And the President looked upon the product, and saw that it was very good. After the subsequent disaster, the suits protect themselves by saying "I was misinformed!", and the implementors are demoted or fired.
- snapping turtle — either of two large, edible, freshwater turtles of the family Chelydridae, of North and Central America, having a large head and powerful hooked jaws, especially the common snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina.
- socialist party — a U.S. political party advocating socialism, formed about 1900 chiefly by former members of the Social Democratic Party and the Socialist Labor Party.
- spanish trefoil — alfalfa.
- sparkling water — soda water (def 1).
- special feature — an article differing from the normal format and focusing on a particular topic
- special library — a library maintained by an organization, as a business, association, or government agency, to collect materials and provide information of special relevance to the work of the organization.
- special partner — a partner whose liability for the firm's debts is limited to the amount that partner has invested in the firm.