12-letter words containing s, p, r, o
- postcardware — Shareware that borders on freeware, in that the author requests only that satisfied users send a postcard of their home town or something. (This practice, silly as it might seem, serves to remind users that they are otherwise getting something for nothing, and may also be psychologically related to real estate "sales" in which $1 changes hands just to keep the transaction from being a gift.)
- postconsumer — noting or pertaining to a product after it has been used and recycled: a chair made of postconsumer plastic.
- postcoronary — of, relating to, or occurring after a heart attack
- postdelivery — of, relating to, or occurring after a delivery
- postdoctoral — of or relating to study or professional work undertaken after the receipt of a doctorate: postdoctoral courses.
- poster board — a thick, fairly stiff cardboard composed of layers of paper or paper pulp compressed together and typically used to support displays.
- poster child — a child appearing on a poster for a charitable organization.
- poster color — poster paint.
- poster paint — an opaque, water-based, typically bright-colored paint with a glue-size or gum binder, that is suitable for use on posters and is usually packaged in jars.
- posteriority — the state or quality of being posterior.
- posteruptive — occurring after a volcanic eruption
- postexercise — bodily or mental exertion, especially for the sake of training or improvement of health: Walking is good exercise.
- postexposure — occurring after a photo or image has been taken
- postfracture — taking place after a fracture
- postgraduate — of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or consisting of post-graduates: a postgraduate seminar.
- postimperial — of, relating to, or designating the period after an empire
- postliminary — of or relating to postliminy
- postliterate — of or relating to a (hypothetical) time or stage in society when literacy is no longer necessary or valued
- postmeridian — of or relating to the afternoon.
- postmistress — a woman in charge of a post office.
- postorgasmic — of or relating to the period after an orgasm
- postprandial — after a meal, especially after dinner: postprandial oratory; a postprandial brandy.
- postromantic — of or relating to the period after Romanticism
- postsurgical — pertaining to or involving surgery or surgeons.
- postworkshop — occurring after a workshop
- potato crisp — potato chip.
- powder chest — a small wooden box containing a charge of powder, old nails, scrap iron, etc., formerly secured over the side of a ship and exploded on the attempt of an enemy to board.
- powder flask — a small flask of gunpowder formerly carried by soldiers and hunters.
- power assist — a procedure for supplementing or replacing the manual effort needed to operate a device or system, often by hydraulic, electrical, or mechanical means.
- power series — an infinite series in which the terms are coefficients times successive powers of a given variable, or times products of powers of two or more variables.
- power shovel — any self-propelled shovel for excavating earth, ore, or coal with a dipper that is powered by a diesel engine or electric motor. Compare shovel (def 2).
- power shower — a shower (device for washing yourself) that incorporates a device that increases water pressure to create a more powerful spray
- power supply — power supply unit
- power-stream — to stream and watch (multiple videos, episodes of a TV show, etc.) in one sitting or over a short period of time.
- powerfulness — having or exerting great power or force.
- prairie rose — a climbing rose, Rosa setigera, of the central U.S., having pinkish to white flowers: the state flower of North Dakota.
- prairie soil — a soil that forms in subhumid, temperate regions with tall grass as native vegetation.
- praiseworthy — deserving of praise; laudable: a praiseworthy motive.
- praseodymium — a rare-earth, metallic, trivalent element, named from its green salts. Symbol: Pr; atomic weight: 140.91; atomic number: 59; specific gravity: 6.77 at 20°C.
- pratincolous — living in a meadow.
- praxinoscope — a toy in which a sequence of images, depicted on the inner surface of a cylinder and reflected in a series of mirrors, gives the illusion of motion as the cylinder rotates
- pre-discount — to deduct a certain amount from (a bill, charge, etc.): All bills that are paid promptly will be discounted at two percent.
- pre-position — to position in advance or beforehand: to preposition troops in anticipated trouble spots.
- pre-socratic — of or relating to the philosophers or philosophical systems of the period before the Socratic period.
- preadmission — (in a reciprocating engine) admission of steam or the like to the head of the cylinder near the end of the stroke, as to cushion the force of the stroke or to allow full pressure at the beginning of the return stroke.
- precancerous — showing pathological changes that may be preliminary to malignancy.
- precariously — dependent on circumstances beyond one's control; uncertain; unstable; insecure: a precarious livelihood.
- precessional — the act or fact of preceding; precedence.
- preciousness — of high price or great value; very valuable or costly: precious metals.
- precisionism — (sometimes initial capital letter) a style of painting developed to its fullest in the U.S. in the 1920s, associated especially with Charles Demuth, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Charles Sheeler, and characterized by clinically precise, simple, and clean-edged rendering of architectural, industrial, or urban scenes usually devoid of human activity or presence.