17-letter words containing s, p, i, r, o
- precision casting — investment casting.
- prefect apostolic — the administrator, usually below the rank of bishop, in charge of a prefecture apostolic.
- preferential shop — a shop in which union members are preferred, usually by agreement of an employer with a union.
- premonstratensian — a member of a religious order founded at Prémontré in N France in 1120 by St Norbert (about 1080–1134)
- prescription drug — medication available only on doctor's instruction
- presentation copy — a copy of a book given by the publisher or author
- presentationalism — a style of production in which the audience is addressed directly with songs, skits, exposition, etc., and no attempt is made at realism.
- presiding officer — the person who presides over the Scottish Parliament or Welsh Assembly
- press association — an organization formed for the purpose of gathering news for transmittal to its members. Compare news agency.
- previous question — a move that a vote be taken at once on a main question, used especially as a means of cutting off further debate.
- primary processes — the generally unorganized mental activity characteristic of the unconscious and occurring in dreams, fantasies, and related processes.
- prismatic compass — a hand compass equipped with sights and prisms to permit aiming the instrument at a point and at the same time reading the compass direction of the point.
- prison population — all the people who are confined in prison
- private ownership — the fact of being owned by a private individual or organization, rather than by the state or a public body
- procurator fiscal — In the Scottish legal system, the procurator fiscal is a public official who puts people on trial.
- production string — A production string is the series of pipes through which the oil or gas is brought up from the reservoir.
- 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
- professional army — an army of trained soldiers
- professional foul — In football, if a player commits a professional foul, they deliberately do something which is against the rules in order to prevent another player from scoring a goal.
- progressive party — a political party formed in 1912 under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, advocating popular control of government, direct primaries, the initiative, the referendum, woman suffrage, etc.
- property mistress — a female member of the stage crew in charge of the stage properties
- prosperity gospel — a modern version or, according to some, perversion of the gospel according to which the full blessings of God available to those who approach Him in faith and obedience include wealth, health and power
- 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).
- protein synthesis — the process by which amino acids are linearly arranged into proteins through the involvement of ribosomal RNA, transfer RNA, messenger RNA, and various enzymes.
- proton microscope — a powerful type of microscope that uses a beam of protons, giving high resolution and sharp contrast
- prusso-danish war — a war of 1864 between Prussia and Denmark by which Denmark lost Schleswig-Holstein.
- pseudo-aggressive — characterized by or tending toward unprovoked offensives, attacks, invasions, or the like; militantly forward or menacing: aggressive acts against a neighboring country.
- 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.
- psychographically — Psychology. a graph indicating the relative strength of the personality traits of an individual.
- psychometric test — a test designed to test a person's mental state, personality and thought processes
- psychoprophylaxis — Lamaze method.
- psychotherapeutic — psychotherapy.
- pterygoid process — either of two long bony plates extending downwards from each side of the sphenoid bone within the skull
- 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.
- pyrosulfuric acid — a strong, crystalline acid, H2S2O7, prepared commercially as a heavy, oily, fuming liquid: used in making explosives and dyes, as a sulfating agent, etc.
- radio-transparent — transparent to radiation; invisible in x-ray photographs and under fluoroscopy (opposed to radiopaque).
- recoil escapement — anchor escapement.
- recovery position — a position in which an unconscious person can be lain on the floor, which minimises them from further risk
- reformed spelling — a revised orthography intended to simplify the spelling of English words, especially to eliminate unpronounced letters, as by substituting thru for through, tho for though, slo for slow, etc.
- rehospitalization — the act, process, or state of being hospitalized.
- repertory society — a group that supports amateur performances of plays by its members
- reported question — A reported question is a question which is reported using a clause beginning with a word such as 'why' or 'whether', as in 'I asked her why she'd done it'.
- res ipsa loquitur — the rule that an injury is due to the defendant's negligence when that which caused it was under his or her control or management and the injury would not have happened had proper management been observed.