16-letter words containing u, s, a
- 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
- punctuationalism — punctuated equilibrium.
- punitive damages — law: penalty payment
- purchase request — A purchase request is a document detailing required items, the number required and when they will be required. Once approved it becomes a purchase order.
- purchasing agent — a person who buys materials, supplies, equipment, etc., for a company.
- purchasing power — Also called buying power. the ability to purchase goods and services.
- purple sandpiper — a sandpiper, Calidris maritima, of arctic regions of the New and Old World, having in winter a slate-gray back with purplish reflections.
- put (out) to sea — to sail away from land
- put a sock in it — be quiet!
- put in mothballs — to postpone work on (a project, activity, etc)
- put in the shade — to appear better than (another); surpass
- put one's oar in — to interfere or interrupt
- put out to grass — If you say that someone is being put out to grass, you mean they are no longer being employed because they are considered to be too old or no longer useful.
- qin shi huang di — Ch'in Shih Huang Ti.
- quantitativeness — The state or quality of being quantitative.
- quantum sufficit — as much as suffices; enough.
- quarter sessions — an English court of general criminal jurisdiction for crimes less than homicide, held quarterly.
- quarter-finalist — A quarter-finalist is a person or team that is competing in a quarter-final.
- quasi-commercial — of, relating to, or characteristic of commerce.
- quasi-compulsory — required; mandatory; obligatory: compulsory education.
- quasi-democratic — pertaining to or of the nature of democracy or a democracy.
- quasi-diplomatic — of, relating to, or engaged in diplomacy: diplomatic officials.
- quasi-equivalent — equal in value, measure, force, effect, significance, etc.: His silence is equivalent to an admission of guilt.
- quasi-historical — of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events: historical records; historical research.
- quasi-legitimate — according to law; lawful: the property's legitimate owner.
- quasi-managerial — pertaining to management or a manager: managerial functions; the managerial class of society.
- quasi-scientific — of or relating to science or the sciences: scientific studies.
- quasi-stationary — a person or thing that is stationary.
- queen anne style — a style of English architecture of the early 18th cent., characterized by construction in red brick, forms modified from classical architecture, and simple, elegant, and stately ornamentation
- queen anne's war — the war (1702–13) in which England and its American colonies opposed France and its Indian allies. It constituted the American phase of the War of the Spanish Succession.
- 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.
- question of fact — a question concerning the reality of an alleged event or circumstance in a trial by jury, usually determined by the jury.
- questionableness — The state or condition of being questionable; dubiousness.
- quick as a flash — If you say that someone reacts to something quick as a flash, you mean that they react to it extremely quickly.
- quinquagenarians — Plural form of quinquagenarian.
- quintessentially — of the pure and essential essence of something: the quintessential Jewish delicatessen.
- 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.
- radius of action — the maximum distance that a ship, aircraft, or land vehicle can travel from its base and return without refuelling
- rambunctiousness — difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous: a rambunctious child.
- raster subsystem — (graphics) The part of a graphics system concerned with an image after it has been transformed and scaled to screen coordinates. It includes scan conversion and display.
- reasonable doubt — law: grounds for believing sb is innocent
- 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
- redistributional — a distribution performed again or anew.
- regular gasoline — unleaded gasoline or petrol, as for fuelling a vehicle, etc
- reinsurance pool — the grouping of insurers that provide partial or complete insurance coverage to other insurers for (a risk on which a policy has already been issued)
- religious leader — head of a church or order
- reporting clause — A reporting clause is a clause which indicates that you are talking about what someone said or thought. For example, in 'She said that she was hungry', 'She said' is a reporting clause.
- repressurization — the process or act of pressurizing.
- research quantum — the standard by which the contribution to a university of individual academics is measured and on the basis of which universities receive government funding and academics are promoted
- research student — a student studying for a doctoral award, that is, a PhD or an MPhil