16-letter words containing t, e, m
- pietermaritzburg — a province in the E part of the Republic of South Africa. 35,284 sq. mi. (91,886 sq. km). Capital: Pietermaritzburg.
- pigeon guillemot — a black or brown-speckled seabird of the genus Cepphus, of northern seas, having a sharply pointed black bill, red legs, and white wing patches, as C. grylle (black guillemot) of the North Atlantic and the similar C. columba (pigeon guillemot) of the North Pacific.
- pincers movement — a military maneuver in which both flanks of an enemy force are attacked with the aim of attaining complete encirclement.
- placement office — an office in a university that offers students careers advice and help to find employment
- plainclothes man — a detective or police officer who wears civilian clothes while on duty
- platform-balance — a scale with a platform for holding the items to be weighed.
- pleasure steamer — a boat powered by steam, used for recreational purposes
- pneumatic trough — a trough filled with liquid, especially water, for collecting gases in bell jars or the like by displacement.
- point estimation — the process of determining a single estimated value (point estimate) of a parameter of a given population.
- policy committee — a group of people who provide ideas or plans that are used by an organization or government as a basis for making decisions
- policy statement — a declaration of the plans and intentions of an organization or government
- political system — a coordinated set of principles, laws, ideas, and procedures relating to a particular form of government, or the form of government itself: Democracy is a political system in which citizens govern themselves.
- portable airtime — (communications, wireless) A wireless, digital communications system enabling user-to-user voice communication, "quicknotes", and alphanumeric messaging.
- portmanteau word — a case or bag to carry clothing in while traveling, especially a leather trunk or suitcase that opens into two halves.
- portuguese timor — former (1914-75) Portuguese territory in the Malay Archipelago
- post-reformation — the act of reforming; state of being reformed.
- 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).
- potassium iodide — a white, crystalline, water-soluble powder, KI, having a bitter saline taste: used chiefly in the manufacture of photographic emulsions, as a laboratory reagent, in the preparation of Gram's solution for biological staining, and in medicine as an expectorant and to treat thyroid conditions.
- potato tuberworm — the larva of the potato moth.
- potemkin village — a pretentiously showy or imposing façade intended to mask or divert attention from an embarrassing or shabby fact or condition.
- powerpc platform — (architecture, standard) (PPCP, PReP - PowerPC Reference Platform, formerly CHRP - Common Hardware Reference Platform) An open system standard, designed by IBM, intended to ensure compatibility among PowerPC-based systems built by different companies. The PReP standard specifies the PCI bus, but will also support ISA, MicroChannel and PCMCIA. PReP-compliant systems will be able to run the Macintosh OS, OS/2, WorkplaceOS, AIX, Solaris, Taligent and Windows NT. IBM systems will (of course) be PReP-compliant. Apple's first PowerPC Macintoshes will not be compliant, but future ones may be.
- poynting theorem — the theorem that the rate of flow of electromagnetic energy through unit area is equal to the Poynting vector, i.e. the cross product of the electric and magnetic field intensities
- practice manager — the manager of a business such as a medical practice, dental practice, or legal practice
- pragmatic theory — the theory of truth that the truth of a statement consists in its practical consequences, especially in its agreement with subsequent experience.
- pre-emancipation — the act of emancipating.
- precontemplation — the act of contemplating; thoughtful observation.
- predetermination — to settle or decide in advance: He had predetermined his answer to the offer.
- preemptive right — a privilege given to an existing shareholder to buy a portion of a new stock issue at the offering price on a pro-rata per-share basis.
- 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.
- primary election — primary (def 15a).
- primary electron — in thermionics, any of the electrons falling on a body, distinguished from those emitted by it
- primary meristem — primary tissue derived from an apical meristem.
- primitive church — the early Christian church, especially in reference to its earliest form and organization.
- private judgment — personal opinion formed independently of the expressed position of an institution, as in matters of religion or politics.
- privet andromeda — a spreading shrub, Lyonia ligustrina, of the eastern U.S., having leafless, white flowers in terminal clusters.
- proenvironmental — the aggregate of surrounding things, conditions, or influences; surroundings; milieu.
- program director — a chief executive responsible for selecting and scheduling programs.
- programme editor — someone responsible for editing, overseeing and selecting the content of radio or television programmes
- progress payment — an instalment of a larger payment made to a contractor for work carried out up to a specified stage of the job
- prometheus bound — a tragedy (c457 b.c.) by Aeschylus.
- promotional code — A promotional code is a code offered by retailers to customers who can use it to receive a discounted price when buying products online.
- property company — a business that makes money by buying, selling, and renting out land and houses
- proprietary name — a name of a product or service that is protected by a patent, copyright, or trademark and cannot be used by another party for commercial purposes without permission of the registered owner or licensee.
- protection money — law: criminal fee
- proteus syndrome — a condition caused by malfunction in cell growth, in which bone and flesh tissue overgrow in localized areas of the body
- proxima centauri — the nearest star to the sun at a distance of 4.3 light-years, part of the Alpha Centauri triple-star system located in the constellation Centaurus.
- proxime accessit — the person coming next after the winner in a competitive examination or an academic prize giving; runner-up
- 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.
- pulmonary artery — an artery conveying venous blood from the right ventricle of the heart to the lungs.