12-letter words containing s, p, l, a, t
- optical disc — Also, optical disc. Also called laser disk. a grooveless disk on which digital data, as text, music, or pictures, is stored as tiny pits in the surface and is read or replayed by a laser beam scanning the surface.
- optical disk — Also, optical disc. Also called laser disk. a grooveless disk on which digital data, as text, music, or pictures, is stored as tiny pits in the surface and is read or replayed by a laser beam scanning the surface.
- optimistical — disposed to take a favorable view of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome.
- optoisolator — A device that transmits a signal optically between two isolated electronic circuits.
- osteoplastic — Surgery. pertaining to osteoplasty.
- oyster plant — salsify.
- palimpsestic — a parchment or the like from which writing has been partially or completely erased to make room for another text.
- 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.
- palynologist — the study of live and fossil spores, pollen grains, and similar plant structures.
- pansexualist — someone who is pansexual
- pansexuality — Psychiatry. pertaining to the theory that all human behavior is based on sexuality.
- papal states — the temporal domain of the popes in central Italy from 756 ad until the unification of Italy in 1870
- papistically — in the manner of the Roman Catholic Church or a Roman Catholic
- paraglossate — having paraglossae
- parasitology — the branch of biology dealing with parasites and the effects of parasitism.
- parochialist — a parochial character, spirit, or tendency; excessive narrowness of interests or view; provincialism.
- particulates — very small particles of a substance, esp those that are produced when fuel is burned
- passionately — having, compelled by, or ruled by intense emotion or strong feeling; fervid: a passionate advocate of socialism.
- pastoralness — the quality or state of being pastoral or rural
- pasture land — grassland used for grazing
- patent rolls — (in Britain) the register of patents issued
- patent still — a type of still in which the distillation is continuous
- pathlessness — the state of being pathless
- 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.
- pearly gates — the entrance to heaven.
- penalty shot — a free shot at the goal defended only by the goalkeeper, awarded to an offensive player for certain defensive violations.
- penalty spot — a point within the penalty area and 12 yards (about 11 m) from the goal, from which a penalty kick may be taken
- penthesileia — the daughter of Ares and queen of the Amazons, whom she led to the aid of Troy. She was slain by Achilles
- perpetualism — a belief in the permanence of a given thing; the belief that a given thing (e.g. the world, a political system) will last forever
- perpetualist — someone who holds to any form of perpetualism
- perspectival — a technique of depicting volumes and spatial relationships on a flat surface. Compare aerial perspective, linear perspective.
- pestilential — producing or tending to produce pestilence.
- pestological — relating to pestology
- 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.
- phantasmical — pertaining to or of the nature of a phantasm; unreal; illusory; spectral: phantasmal creatures of nightmare.
- phosphatidyl — an atom or group of atoms containing one or more unpaired electrons derived from a phosphatide
- photoanalyst — a person who analyzes and interprets photographs, especially a military specialist in aerial or satellite photography.
- photoelastic — displaying photoelasticity; of or relating to photoelasticity
- 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.
- phylacteries — Judaism. either of two small, black, leather cubes containing a piece of parchment inscribed with verses 4–9 of Deut. 6, 13–21 of Deut. 11, and 1–16 of Ex. 13: one is attached with straps to the left arm and the other to the forehead during weekday morning prayers by Orthodox and Conservative Jewish men.
- 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.
- pilot signal — a signal, as a flag or light, used to request a pilot.
- piss-elegant — displaying a contrived, often pretentious, sophistication, opulence, etc.
- plagiaristic — an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work as one's own, as by not crediting the original author: It is said that he plagiarized Thoreau's plagiarism of a line written by Montaigne. Synonyms: appropriation, infringement, piracy, counterfeiting; theft, borrowing, cribbing, passing off.
- plainclothes — Plainclothes police officers wear ordinary clothes instead of a police uniform.
- plane strain — Plane strain is a two-dimensional state of strain in which all the shape changes of a material happen on a single plane.