16-letter words containing s, u, p, r, e
- pacific sturgeon — a dark gray sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus, inhabiting marine and fresh waters along the northwestern coast of North America, valued as a food and sport fish.
- padded shoulders — (on a garment) shoulders lined, stuffed, or filled out with soft material, esp in order to give them a higher or wider shape
- paediatric nurse — a nurse who specializes in the care of children
- paint-by-numbers — formulaic; showing no original thought or creativity
- pairs tournament — an event in a sport such as tennis or darts open to pairs of competitors
- palmer peninsula — former name of Antarctic Peninsula.
- papillary muscle — one of the small bundles of muscles attached to the ventricle walls and to the chordae tendineae that tighten these tendons during ventricular contraction.
- paratuberculosis — Johne's disease.
- parkerhouse roll — a yeast roll shaped by folding over a flat, round piece of buttered dough
- partial pressure — the pressure that a gas in a mixture of gases would exert if it occupied the same volume as the mixture at the same temperature.
- paterson's curse — a purple-flowered noxious plant, Echium plantagineum, a close relative of viper's bugloss, naturalized in Australia and NZ where its harmfulness to livestock has prompted attempts to limit its spread
- peninsular state — Florida (used as a nickname).
- percussion drill — a drill that is operated by percussion
- permaculturalist — a system of cultivation intended to maintain permanent agriculture or horticulture by relying on renewable resources and a self-sustaining ecosystem.
- person of colour — a person who is not White
- personal pronoun — any one of the pronouns used to refer to the speaker, or to one or more to or about whom or which he or she is speaking, as, in English, I, we, you, he, she, it, they.
- personal tuition — private tuition
- personality cult — deliberately cultivated adulation of a person, esp a political leader
- persulfuric acid — Also called Caro's acid, permonosulfuric acid, peroxymonosulfuric acid, peroxysulfuric acid. a white, crystalline solid, H 2 SO 5 , used as an oxidizing agent for certain organic compounds.
- peter stuyvesant — Peter, 1592–1672, Dutch colonial administrator in the Americas: last governor of New Netherlands 1646–64.
- phosphor fatigue — screen saver
- phrase structure — the hierarchical arrangement of the constituent words and phrases of a sentence.
- picture postcard — postcard (def 1).
- pineal apparatus — a median outgrowth of the roof of the diencephalon in vertebrates that in some develops into the pineal eye and in others into the pineal gland.
- pleasure steamer — a boat powered by steam, used for recreational purposes
- pleasure-seeking — always looking for pleasure
- plumber's helper — plunger (def 3).
- plutarch's lives — (Parallel Lives) a collection (a.d. 105–15) by Plutarch of short biographies of the leading political figures of ancient Greece and Rome.
- poitou-charentes — a region of W central France, on the Bay of Biscay: mainly low-lying
- port authorities — the body with overall responsibility for a port
- portuguese india — a former Portuguese overseas territory on the W coast of India, consisting of the districts of Gôa, Daman, and Diu: annexed by India December 1961. Capital: Gôa.
- portuguese timor — former (1914-75) Portuguese territory in the Malay Archipelago
- postremogeniture — a system of inheritance under which the estate of a deceased person goes to his youngest son. Also called ultimogeniture. Compare primogeniture (def 2).
- pre-subscription — a sum of money given or pledged as a contribution, payment, investment, etc.
- pressure flaking — a method of manufacturing a flint tool by pressing flakes from a stone core with a pointed implement, usually of wood tipped with antler or copper.
- pressure welding — the welding together of two objects by holding them together under pressure.
- pressure-treated — (of wood) treated with a chemical or chemicals applied under pressure to reduce such problems as insect infestation, decay, and rotting.
- pressurized suit — an airtight suit that can be inflated to maintain approximately normal atmospheric pressure on a person in space or at high altitudes.
- presumptive heir — heir presumptive.
- presumptuousness — full of, characterized by, or showing presumption or readiness to presume in conduct or thought, as by saying or doing something without right or permission.
- preunderstanding — to perceive the meaning of; grasp the idea of; comprehend: to understand Spanish; I didn't understand your question.
- primary consumer — (in the food chain) an animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore.
- principal clause — the main clause.
- process industry — business of treating raw materials
- prometheus bound — a tragedy (c457 b.c.) by Aeschylus.
- promiscuous mode — (networking) Where a node on a network accepts all packets, regardless of their destination address.
- prosecution case — the case brought against someone by a legal authority
- prosthetic group — the nonprotein acid constituent of a conjugate protein, as the heme group of hemoglobin.
- proteus syndrome — a condition caused by malfunction in cell growth, in which bone and flesh tissue overgrow in localized areas of the body
- pseudo-isidorian — of or relating to the collection of documents of the 9th century a.d. that consist chiefly of the Decretals, attributed to Isidore, archbishop of Seville, a.d. 600–36, and that were rejected as spurious in the 15th century.