16-letter words containing s, p, l, i
- principal clause — the main clause.
- print journalism — journalism as practiced in newspapers and magazines.
- prismatic colors — the colors of the visible spectrum produced by passing white light through a prism; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet
- prisoner of bill — (humour) (PoB) A derisory term, in use generally among Unix users, for anyone who uses Microsoft products either because they don't know there is anything better (i.e. Unix) or because they would be incapable of working anything more complex (i.e. Unix). The interesting and widespread presumption among users of the term is that (at least at the time of writing, 1998) using anything other than Unix or a Microsoft OS (whether VMS, Macintosh, Amiga) is so eccentric a choice as to be at least somewhat praiseworthy.
- pro-abolitionist — (especially prior to the Civil War) a person who advocated or supported the abolition of slavery in the U.S.
- processing plant — a factory where raw materials are treated or prepared by a special method, esp one where food is treated in order to preserve it
- professionalisms — professional character, spirit, or methods.
- progressive lens — a multifocal eyeglass lens that provides a continuous range of focal power between near and far distances.
- proposal writing — Extension of Fortran for proposal writing.
- protective slope — a slope given to a yard or the like to drain surface water away from a building.
- pseudo-political — of, relating to, or concerned with politics: political writers.
- pseudo-realistic — interested in, concerned with, or based on what is real or practical: a realistic estimate of costs; a realistic planner.
- pseudo-religious — of, relating to, or concerned with religion: a religious holiday.
- pseudo-spiritual — of, relating to, or consisting of spirit; incorporeal.
- pseudocopulation — pollination of plants, esp orchids, by male insects while attempting to mate with flowers that resemble the female insect
- pseudohemophilia — a clotting disorder caused by abnormal factor VIII activity, and characterized by a prolonged bleeding time but without the delayed coagulation time of hemophilia.
- pseudohistorical — of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events: historical records; historical research.
- pseudoperipteral — having a freestanding colonnade at each end, with engaged columns at the sides.
- psychoanalytical — a systematic structure of theories concerning the relation of conscious and unconscious psychological processes.
- psychobiological — the use of biological methods to study normal and abnormal emotional and cognitive processes, as the anatomical basis of memory or neurochemical abnormalities in schizophrenia.
- psychoimmunology — the branch of medicine studying the effects of psychological phenomena on the immune system; the intersection of psychology and immunology.
- psychophysiology — the branch of physiology that deals with the interrelation of mental and physical phenomena.
- ptolemaic system — a system elaborated by Ptolemy and subsequently modified by others, according to which the earth was the fixed center of the universe, with the heavenly bodies moving about it.
- public ownership — ownership by the state; nationalization
- public relations — (used with a plural verb) the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc.
- public schoolboy — a boy attending a public school, or a man who attended one
- public transport — fare-paying travel
- publishing house — a company that publishes books, pamphlets, engravings, or the like: a venerable publishing house in Boston.
- pull the strings — be in control
- pullorum disease — a highly contagious, frequently fatal disease of young poultry caused by the bacterium Salmonella gallinarum (pullorum), transmitted by the infected hen during egg production, and characterized by weakness, loss of appetite, and diarrhea.
- pulse modulation — a type of modulation in which a train of pulses is used as the carrier wave, one or more of its parameters, such as amplitude, being modulated or modified in order to carry information
- punctuationalism — punctuated equilibrium.
- purple sandpiper — a sandpiper, Calidris maritima, of arctic regions of the New and Old World, having in winter a slate-gray back with purplish reflections.
- put in mothballs — to postpone work on (a project, activity, etc)
- pyloric stenosis — an abnormal narrowing of the valve at the outlet from the stomach, preventing normal passage of food into the small intestine.
- quasi-compulsory — required; mandatory; obligatory: compulsory education.
- quasi-diplomatic — of, relating to, or engaged in diplomacy: diplomatic officials.
- radial paralysis — paralysis of a forelimb as a result of loss of function of the radial nerve, usually following traumatic injury
- real-time pascal — (language) A later name for Pascal-80 by RC International, Denmark.
- reinsurance pool — the grouping of insurers that provide partial or complete insurance coverage to other insurers for (a risk on which a policy has already been issued)
- reporting clause — A reporting clause is a clause which indicates that you are talking about what someone said or thought. For example, in 'She said that she was hungry', 'She said' is a reporting clause.
- representational — of or relating to representation.
- representatively — a person or thing that represents another or others.
- responsibilities — the state or fact of being responsible, answerable, or accountable for something within one's power, control, or management.
- restriction play — a limited number of opening moves that are predetermined by their chance selection from an accepted list.
- robin's plantain — the rattlesnake weed, Hieracium venosum.
- sailmaker's palm — palm1 (def 4).
- sapodilla family — the plant family Sapotaceae, characterized by chiefly tropical trees and shrubs having milky juice, simple leaves, small flowers, and fruit in the form of a berry, and including the buckthorn (genus Bumelia), sapodilla, star apple, and trees that are the source of gutta-percha and balata.
- schaumburg-lippe — a former state in NW Germany.
- school inspector — an official whose job is to inspect schools and to report on their quality and conditions