16-letter words containing y, s
- play one's cards — to carry out one's plans; take action (esp in the phrase play one's cards right)
- play-action pass — a pass play designed to deceive the defense by appearing to be a running play, in which the quarterback fakes a hand-off to a back before throwing a forward pass.
- 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 asylum — asylum provided by one nation to refugees, especially political refugees, from another nation.
- 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.
- polyphonic prose — prose characterized by the use of poetic devices, as alliteration, assonance, rhyme, etc., and especially by an emphasis on rhythm not strictly metered.
- poor boy sweater — a snug-fitting, pullover sweater with ribbing on both the body and sleeves, worn by girls and women.
- post-apocalyptic — of or like an apocalypse; affording a revelation or prophecy.
- postcode lottery — a situation in which the standard of medical care, education, etc, received by the public varies from area to area, depending on the funding policies of various health boards, local authorities, etc
- poverty-stricken — suffering from poverty; extremely poor: poverty-stricken refugees.
- 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.
- primary meristem — primary tissue derived from an apical meristem.
- primary syphilis — the first stage of syphilis, characterized by the formation of a chancre at the site of infection.
- prison psychosis — a state of mental confusion, transitory or permanent, brought on by incarceration or by the anticipation of imprisonment.
- proboscis monkey — a reddish, arboreal monkey, Nasalis larvatus, of Borneo, the male of which has a long, flexible nose: an endangered species.
- process industry — business of treating raw materials
- process theology — a form of theology that emphasizes the close relation of human beings, nature, and God.
- proficiency test — an exam which test how proficient or skilled someone is in a particular activity, field of study, language, etc
- progress payment — an instalment of a larger payment made to a contractor for work carried out up to a specified stage of the job
- proteus syndrome — a condition caused by malfunction in cell growth, in which bone and flesh tissue overgrow in localized areas of the body
- pseudo-dionysius — flourished c4th or 5th century a.d, author of a number of mystical works: identified, during the Middle Ages, with Dionysius the Areopagite.
- pseudoparenchyma — (in certain fungi and red algae) a compact mass of tissue, made up of interwoven hyphae or filaments, that superficially resembles plant tissue.
- psychic distance — the degree of emotional detachment maintained toward a person, group of people, event, etc.
- psychoanalytical — a systematic structure of theories concerning the relation of conscious and unconscious psychological processes.
- psychobiological — the use of biological methods to study normal and abnormal emotional and cognitive processes, as the anatomical basis of memory or neurochemical abnormalities in schizophrenia.
- psychogeriatrics — the psychology of old age.
- psychoimmunology — the branch of medicine studying the effects of psychological phenomena on the immune system; the intersection of psychology and immunology.
- psychophysiology — the branch of physiology that deals with the interrelation of mental and physical phenomena.
- psychotechnology — the body of knowledge, theories, and techniques developed for understanding and influencing individual, group, and societal behavior in specified situations.
- 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.
- public schoolboy — a boy attending a public school, or a man who attended one
- pyloric stenosis — an abnormal narrowing of the valve at the outlet from the stomach, preventing normal passage of food into the small intestine.
- quasi-compulsory — required; mandatory; obligatory: compulsory education.
- 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
- quintessentially — of the pure and essential essence of something: the quintessential Jewish delicatessen.
- radial paralysis — paralysis of a forelimb as a result of loss of function of the radial nerve, usually following traumatic injury
- 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.
- radiosymmetrical — radially symmetrical.
- raise an eyebrow — If something causes you to raise an eyebrow or to raise your eyebrows, it causes you to feel surprised or disapproving.
- ramsden eyepiece — an eyepiece consisting of two plano-convex crown-glass lenses of equal focal length, placed with the convex sides facing each other and with a separation between the lenses of about two-thirds of the focal length of each.
- raspberry sawfly — a black sawfly, Monophadnoides geniculatus, the larvae of which feed on the leaves of the raspberry and blackberry.
- 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.
- real-time system — a data-processing system in which a computer receives constantly changing data, such as information relating to air-traffic control, travel booking systems, etc, and processes it sufficiently rapidly to be able to control the source of the data
- recursion theory — (theory) The study of problems that, in principle, cannot be solved by either computers or humans.
- recycling scheme — a scheme enabling the public to recycle waste
- relative density — specific gravity.