19-letter words starting with p
- performance anxiety — the stage fright that a person feels when they are about to perform (a play, piece of music etc) in front of an audience
- performance figures — the statistics that indicate how well or badly a company or organization has performed
- performance targets — the expected or predicted success level of an individual, company or organization
- peridental membrane — periodontal membrane.
- periodontal disease — any of various mixed bacterial infections that affect the soft tissues and bones supporting the teeth.
- peritoneal dialysis — a form of dialysis in which the peritoneum is used as an autogenous semipermeable membrane
- permanent secretary — the senior civil servant responsible for running a government ministry
- peroxysulfuric acid — persulfuric acid (def 1).
- perpetual adoration — uninterrupted adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
- perpetual debenture — a bond or debenture that can either never be redeemed or cannot be redeemed on demand
- perpetual inventory — a form of stock control in which running records are kept of all acquisitions and disposals
- persecution complex — an acute irrational fear that other people are plotting one's downfall and that they are responsible for one's failures
- persian gulf states — group of Arab sheikdoms along the Persian Gulf: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, & United Arab Emirates
- persistent offender — a person who repeatedly breaks the law
- personal belongings — possessions; things that belong to someone
- personal stationery — headed notepaper
- personal watercraft — a jet-propelled boat ridden like a motorcycle.
- phacoemulsification — the removal of a cataract by first liquefying the affected lens with ultrasonic vibrations and then extracting it by suction.
- phakoemulsification — the removal of a cataract by first liquefying the affected lens with ultrasonic vibrations and then extracting it by suction.
- phenanthrenequinone — a yellowish-orange, crystalline, water-insoluble solid, C 1 4 H 8 O 2 , used chiefly in organic synthesis and the manufacture of dyes.
- phenylethyl alcohol — phenethyl alcohol.
- phenylpropanolamine — a substance, C 9 H 1 3 NO, related to ephedrine and amphetamine, available in various popular nonprescription diet aids as an appetite suppressant.
- phenylthiocarbamide — a crystalline, slightly water-soluble solid, C 6 H 5 NHCSNH 2 , that is either tasteless or bitter, depending upon the heredity of the taster, and is used in medical genetics and as a diagnostic.
- philadelphia lawyer — a lawyer of outstanding ability at exploiting legal fine points and technicalities.
- philippine mahogany — any of several Philippine trees of the genus Shorea and related genera, having brown or reddish wood used as lumber and in cabinetry.
- philosopher's stone — a substance sought by alchemists that would be capable of transmuting baser metals into gold or silver and of prolonging life.
- philosophers' stone — a substance sought by alchemists that would be capable of transmuting baser metals into gold or silver and of prolonging life.
- philosophical logic — the branch of philosophy that studies the relationship between formal logic and ordinary language, esp the extent to which the former can be held accurately to represent the latter
- photodisintegration — the disintegration of a nucleus, induced by its absorption of a photon.
- photoelectric meter — an exposure meter using a photocell for the measurement of light intensity.
- photographic memory — total recall
- photopolymerization — polymerization induced by light.
- photoreconnaissance — reconnaissance using aerial photography.
- photovoltaic effect — the phenomenon in which the incidence of light or other electromagnetic radiation upon the junction of two dissimilar materials, as a metal and a semiconductor, induces the generation of an electromotive force.
- phthalocyanine blue — a pigment used in painting, derived from copper phthalocyanine and characterized chiefly by its brilliant, dark-blue color and by permanence.
- physical addressing — (networking) The low level addressing scheme used on Ethernet. The 48-bit destination Ethernet address in a packet is compared with the receiving node's Ethernet address. Compare IP address.
- physical impairment — A physical impairment is a condition in which a part of a person's body is damaged or is not working properly.
- physical sequential — (file format) (PS, QSAM, Queued Sequential Access Method) The simplest data set on an IBM mainframe. Sequential files can only be read or written from the beginning: they do not support random access.
- physically impaired — with reduced or weakened physical capacity
- physician assistant — a person trained and certified to perform various medical procedures under the supervision of a physician
- pidgin sign english — an auxiliary language formed by using the signs and fingerspelling, but not the grammar, of American Sign Language in the word order of English, often used in communication between deaf signers and speakers of English. Abbreviation: PSE.
- piece de resistance — the principal dish of a meal.
- piece of the action — the process or state of acting or of being active: The machine is not in action now.
- pied-de-biche spoon — a spoon having a handle with a trifid end.
- piggy-in-the-middle — Piggy-in-the-middle or pig-in-the-middle is a game in which two children throw a ball to each other and a child standing between them tries to catch it.
- piggyback investing — Piggyback investing is a situation in which a broker repeats a trade on his own behalf immediately after trading for an investor, because he thinks the investor may have inside information.
- pileated woodpecker — a large, black-and-white American woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus, having a prominent red crest.
- pilgrimage of grace — a rebellion in 1536 in N England against the Reformation and Henry VIII's government
- pillars of hercules — the two promontories at the E end of the Strait of Gibraltar: the Rock of Gibraltar on the European side and the Jebel Musa on the African side; according to legend, formed by Hercules
- pinwheel escapement — a clock escapement in which two pallets, usually of unequal length, alternately engage and release pins set on the escape wheel perpendicular to its plane of rotation.