16-letter words containing u, n, m, i
- palmer peninsula — former name of Antarctic Peninsula.
- palomar mountain — mountain in SW Calif., near San Diego: site of an astronomical observatory: 6,140 ft (1,871 m)
- passive immunity — immunity resulting from the injection of antibodies or sensitized lymphocytes from another organism or, in infants, from the transfer of antibodies through the placenta or from colostrum.
- patent ambiguity — uncertainty of meaning created by the obscure or ambiguous language appearing on the face of a written instrument.
- pentothal sodium — thiopental sodium
- people smuggling — People smuggling or people trafficking is the practice of bringing immigrants into a country illegally.
- perpetual motion — the motion of a theoretical mechanism that, without any losses due to friction or other forms of dissipation of energy, would continue to operate indefinitely at the same rate without any external energy being applied to it.
- phase modulation — radio transmission in which the carrier wave is modulated by changing its phase to transmit the amplitude and pitch of the signal.
- photoluminescent — luminescence induced by the absorption of infrared radiation, visible light, or ultraviolet radiation.
- picture moulding — the edge around a framed picture
- 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.
- platinum-iridium — (standard) A standard, against which all others of the same category are measured. Usage: silly. The notion is that one of whatever it is has actually been cast in platinum-iridium alloy and placed in the vault beside the Standard Kilogram at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris, as the bar defining the standard metre once was. "This garbage collection algorithm has been tested against the platinum-iridium cons cell in Paris." Compare golden.
- pneumatic trough — a trough filled with liquid, especially water, for collecting gases in bell jars or the like by displacement.
- pneumonic plague — a form of plague characterized by lung involvement.
- pneumonoconiosis — pneumoconiosis.
- pocono mountains — ridge of the Appalachians, in E Pa.: resort area: c. 2,000 ft (610 m) high
- 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).
- primary consumer — (in the food chain) an animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore.
- primary industry — an industry, as agriculture, forestry, or fishing, that deals in obtaining natural materials.
- print journalism — journalism as practiced in newspapers and magazines.
- private judgment — personal opinion formed independently of the expressed position of an institution, as in matters of religion or politics.
- 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.
- psychoimmunology — the branch of medicine studying the effects of psychological phenomena on the immune system; the intersection of psychology and immunology.
- 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
- punctuation mark — any of a group of conventional marks or characters used in punctuation, as the period, comma, semicolon, question mark, or dash.
- punctuationalism — punctuated equilibrium.
- punitive damages — law: penalty payment
- put in mothballs — to postpone work on (a project, activity, etc)
- put someone wise — having the power of discerning and judging properly as to what is true or right; possessing discernment, judgment, or discretion.
- quadrimillennial — Occurring every four thousand years.
- quantum sufficit — as much as suffices; enough.
- quasi-managerial — pertaining to management or a manager: managerial functions; the managerial class of society.
- queen's champion — a hereditary official at British coronations, representing the king (King's Champion) or the queen (Queen's Champion) who is being crowned, and having originally the function of challenging to mortal combat any person disputing the right of the new sovereign to rule.
- radioimmunoassay — a test procedure that integrates immunologic and radiolabeling techniques to measure minute quantities of a substance, as a protein, hormone, or drug, in a given sample of body fluid or tissue.
- radium emanation — (formerly) radon.
- rambunctiousness — difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous: a rambunctious child.
- rating community — an online community based around a website that allows members to rate each other's photographs, qualifications, etc, as well as those of applicants, and which only those approved by existing members are allowed to join
- rectus abdominis — a long flat muscle that extends along the whole length of both sides of the abdomen. It flexes the vertebral column, particularly the lumbar portion; it also tenses the anterior abdominal wall and assists in compressing the abdominal contents
- redemption value — the price at which the issuing company may choose to repurchase a security before its maturity date
- relative minimum — minimum (def 5a).
- romeo and juliet — a tragedy (produced between 1591 and 1596) by Shakespeare.
- rooting compound — a substance, usually a powder, containing auxins in which plant cuttings are dipped in order to promote root growth
- rumour-mongering — the act of spreading rumours
- run-time library — (operating system, programming, library) A file containing routines which are linked with a program at run time rather than at compile-time. The advantage of such dynamic linking is that only one copy of the library needs to be stored, rather than a copy being included with each executable that refers to it. This can greatly reduce the disk space occupied by programs. Furthermore, it means that all programs immediately benefit from changes (e.g. bug fixes) to the single copy of the library without requiring recompilation. Since the library code is normally classified as read-only to the memory management system, it is possible for a single copy of the library to be loaded into memory and shared by all active programs, thus reducing RAM and virtual memory requirements and program load time.
- run-time support — run-time system
- saint-ulmo-light — St. Elmo's fire.
- sales automation — Sales Force Automation
- sauce americaine — a sauce prepared with tomatoes, garlic, wine, shallots, and herbs. See also à l’américaine.
- secular humanism — any set of beliefs that promotes human values without specific allusion to religious doctrines.
- security manager — The security manager of a store is the person responsible for organizing all security in the store and to whom security guards report.