16-letter words containing y, e, a
- parts of lindsey — an area in E England constituting a former administrative division of Lincolnshire
- 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.
- pathetic fallacy — the endowment of nature, inanimate objects, etc., with human traits and feelings, as in the smiling skies; the angry sea.
- pays de la loire — a region of W France, on the Bay of Biscay: generally low-lying, drained by the River Loire and its tributaries; agricultural
- pearly razorfish — See under razorfish.
- peegee hydrangea — a widely cultivated hydrangea, Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, having pyramidal clusters of persistent flowers that are white on opening and turn pinkish as they mature.
- periodic tenancy — the letting of a dwelling for a repeated short term, as by the week, month, or quarter, with no end date
- perpendicularity — vertical; straight up and down; upright.
- personal hygiene — bodily cleanliness
- personal liberty — the liberty of an individual to do his or her will freely except for those restraints imposed by law to safeguard the physical, moral, political, and economic welfare of others.
- personal stylist — a person employed by a rich or famous client to offer advice on clothes, hairstyles, and other aspects of personal appearance
- personality cult — deliberately cultivated adulation of a person, esp a political leader
- personality test — an instrument, as a questionnaire or series of standardized tasks, used to measure personality characteristics or to discover personality disorders.
- personality type — a cluster of personality traits commonly occurring together
- personnel agency — an agency for placing employable persons in jobs; employment agency.
- peruvian rhatany — See under rhatany (def 1).
- peter stuyvesant — Peter, 1592–1672, Dutch colonial administrator in the Americas: last governor of New Netherlands 1646–64.
- phagocytic index — the average number of bacteria ingested per phagocyte in an incubated mixture of bacteria, phagocytes, and blood serum: used in determining the opsonic index.
- phenoxybenzamine — an alpha blocker, C 1 8 H 2 2 ClNO, used to dilate vascular peripheral blood vessels in the treatment of Raynaud's disease and in pheochromocytoma.
- phenylethylamine — an amine that occurs naturally as a neurotransmitter in the brain, has properties similar to those of amphetamine, is an antidepressant, and is found in chocolate. Formula: C8H11N
- pheochromocytoma — a tumor of the sympathetic nervous system or adrenal medulla, that produces excess norepinephrine and epinephrine and causes hypertension, headaches, nausea, etc.
- philip r. bagley — (person) A pioneer of computer document retrieval. See metadata.
- phillis wheatley — Phillis [fil-is] /ˈfɪl ɪs/ (Show IPA), 1753?–84, American poet, born in Africa; probably Senegal.
- phylogenetically — the development or evolution of a particular group of organisms.
- physical address — (memory management) The address presented to a computer's main memory in a virtual memory system, in contrast to the virtual address which is the address generated by the CPU. A memory management unit translates virtual addresses into physical addresses.
- physical fitness — good physical condition
- physical science — any of the natural sciences dealing with inanimate matter or with energy, as physics, chemistry, and astronomy.
- physical therapy — the treatment or management of physical disability, malfunction, or pain by exercise, massage, hydrotherapy, etc., without the use of medicines, surgery, or radiation.
- phytoremediation — a process of decontaminating soil or water by using plants and trees to absorb or break down pollutants.
- planetary nebula — an expanding shell of thin ionized gas that is ejected from and surrounds a hot, dying star of about the same mass as the sun; the gas absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the central star and reemits it as visible light by the process of fluorescence.
- play a lone hand — to operate without assistance
- play one's cards — to carry out one's plans; take action (esp in the phrase play one's cards right)
- player character — a character in a role-playing game or video game who is controlled by the person playing the game. Abbreviation: PC. Compare nonplayer character.
- pocket secretary — a long, narrow walletlike case, usually of leather and containing pockets for credit and business cards, paper money, etc., and sometimes a notepad and pencil.
- 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.
- polycondensation — formation of a polymer by chemical condensation with the elimination of a small molecule, such as water.
- polyhedral angle — a configuration consisting of the lateral faces of a polyhedron around one of its vertices. The portion of a pyramid including one of its points is such a configuration.
- polyvinyl acetal — any of the class of thermoplastic resins derived by the condensation of an aldehyde with polyvinyl alcohol.
- poor boy sweater — a snug-fitting, pullover sweater with ribbing on both the body and sleeves, worn by girls and women.
- portrait gallery — a gallery where pictures are displayed
- potential energy — the energy of a body or a system with respect to the position of the body or the arrangement of the particles of the system.
- pragmatic theory — the theory of truth that the truth of a statement consists in its practical consequences, especially in its agreement with subsequent experience.
- prerevolutionary — of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of a revolution, or a sudden, complete, or marked change: a revolutionary junta.
- primary consumer — (in the food chain) an animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore.
- primary deviance — the violation of a norm or rule that does not result in the violator's being stigmatized as deviant.
- 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.