15-letter words containing s, y, r, o
- not necessarily — If you reply 'Not necessarily', you mean that what has just been said or suggested may not be true.
- nutty professor — a professor or academic person who is eccentric or slightly crazy or unusual
- nyquist theorem — (communications) A theorem stating that when an analogue waveform is digitised, only the frequencies in the waveform below half the sampling frequency will be recorded. In order to reconstruct (interpolate) a signal from a sequence of samples, sufficient samples must be recorded to capture the peaks and troughs of the original waveform. If a waveform is sampled at less than twice its frequency the reconstructed waveform will effectively contribute only noise. This phenomenon is called "aliasing" (the high frequencies are "under an alias"). This is why the best digital audio is sampled at 44,000 Hz - twice the average upper limit of human hearing. The Nyquist Theorem is not specific to digitised signals (represented by discrete amplitude levels) but applies to any sampled signal (represented by discrete time values), not just sound.
- observationally — of, relating to, or founded on observation, especially founded on observation rather than experiment.
- odontorhynchous — (of birds) having toothlike ridges inside the beak
- oligohydramnios — (medicine) A deficit of amniotic fluid in the amniotic sac, causing distinctive deformations of the foetus.
- onychocryptosis — a form of nail disease in which nails are ingrown
- open university — higher education by correspondence
- orangeman's day — the 12th of July, celebrated by Protestants in Northern Ireland to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne (1690)
- orangemen's day — July 12, an annual celebration in Northern Ireland and certain cities having a large Irish section, especially Liverpool, to mark both the victory of William III over James II at the Battle of the Boyne, July 1, 1690, and the Battle of Augbrim, July 12, 1690.
- ordinary seaman — a seaman insufficiently skilled to be classified as an able-bodied seaman. Abbreviation: O.D., O.S., o.s.
- ordinary shares — British. a share of common stock.
- ordnance survey — mapmaking agency
- ornithorhynchus — the platypus.
- ortega y gasset — José [haw-se] /hɔˈsɛ/ (Show IPA), 1883–1955, Spanish philosopher, journalist, and critic.
- orthopsychiatry — an approach to psychiatry concerned with the study and treatment of behavioral disorders, especially of young people.
- oscars ceremony — a formal annual event in the United States in which small gold statuettes are awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievements in films
- oversensitivity — excessively or unduly sensitive.
- ovoviviparously — in an ovoviviparous manner
- oyster mushroom — oyster cap.
- oyster toadfish — See under toadfish (def 1).
- pamprodactylous — having all four toes directed forward, as in swifts and colies.
- pastoral prayer — the main prayer in a church service.
- pay as you earn — a method of paying tax in which the tax is taken off your wages before they are paid to you
- periodic system — a system of classification of the elements based on the periodic law.
- perissosyllabic — (of a line of verse) containing more syllables than expected for the metre being used
- peroxysulphuric — as in peroxysulphuric acid
- personal injury — injury to an individual
- petty bourgeois — petit bourgeois
- phosphorylation — to introduce the phosphoryl group into (an organic compound).
- phosphorylative — of or relating to phosphorylation
- phototypesetter — a machine for phototypesetting
- physical memory — (memory management) The memory hardware (normally RAM) installed in a computer. The term is only used in contrast to virtual memory.
- physiotherapist — physical therapy.
- play favourites — to display favouritism
- please yourself — You say 'please yourself' to indicate in a rather rude way that you do not mind or care whether the person you are talking to does a particular thing or not.
- plethysmography — the tracking of changes measured in bodily volume
- polycrystalline — (of a rock or metal) composed of aggregates of individual crystals.
- polysomnography — a record of a person's sleep pattern, breathing, heart activity, and limb movements during sleep. Abbreviation: PSG.
- polyunsaturated — of or noting a class of animal or vegetable fats, especially plant oils, whose molecules consist of carbon chains with many double bonds unsaturated by hydrogen atoms and that are associated with a low cholesterol content of the blood.
- polyvinyl resin — any of the class of thermoplastic resins derived by the polymerization or copolymerization of a vinyl compound: used chiefly as adhesives, sizing agents, and coatings.
- postoperatively — occurring after a surgical operation.
- poststimulatory — following stimulation
- postsynchronize — to add sound, such as dubbing, to a film or video after shooting is completed
- prairie oysters — a raw egg, or the yolk of a raw egg, often mixed with seasonings, as salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and used as a hangover remedy.
- primary process — the generally unorganized mental activity characteristic of the unconscious and occurring in dreams, fantasies, and related processes.
- primary storage — main memory
- primrose family — the plant family Primulaceae, characterized by herbaceous plants having simple, opposite, whorled, or basal leaves, flowers with a five-lobed corolla, and capsular fruit, and including cyclamen, loosestrife of the genus Lysimachia, pimpernel, primrose, and shooting star.
- primrose yellow — primrose (def 3).
- procrastinatory — to defer action; delay: to procrastinate until an opportunity is lost.