| Words | Parts of Speech | Meaning/Definition/Similar Words |
|---|---|---|
| pearlaceous | adjective | Resembling pearl or mother-of-pearl; pearly in quality or appearance. |
| pear-shaped | adjective | Of the form of a pear. |
| peasantlike | adjective | Rude; clownish; illiterate. |
| pebblestone | A pebble; also, pebbles collectively. | |
| peccability | noun | The state or quality of being peccable; lability to sin. |
| peccadillos | plural | of Peccadillo |
| pectinately | adverb | In a pectinate manner. |
| pectination | noun | The state of being pectinated; that which is pectinated., The act of combing; the combing of the head., Comblike toothing. |
| pectiniform | adjective | Comblike in form. |
| pectostraca | noun pl. | A degenerate order of Crustacea, including the Rhizocephala and Cirripedia. |
| peculiarity | noun | The quality or state of being peculiar; individuality; singularity., That which is peculiar; a special and distinctive characteristic or habit; particularity., Exclusive possession or right. |
| pecularized | imp. & past participle | of Peculiarize |
| peculiarize | verb t. | To make peculiar; to set appart or assign, as an exclusive possession. |
| pecuniarily | adverb | In a pecuniary manner; as regards money. |
| pedagogical | adjective | Of or pertaining to a pedagogue; suited to, or characteristic of, a pedagogue. |
| pedestrious | adjective | Going on foot; not winged. |
| pedetentous | adjective | Proceeding step by step; advancing cautiously. |
| pedicellate | adjective | Having a pedicel; supported by a pedicel. |
| pedicellina | noun | A genus of Bryozoa, of the order Entoprocta, having a bell-shaped body supported on a slender pedicel. See Illust. under Entoprocta. |
| pedipalpous | adjective | Pertaining to, or resembling, the pedipalps. |
| pedobaptism | noun | The baptism of infants or of small children. |
| pedobaptist | noun | One who advocates or practices infant baptism. |
| pedunculata | noun pl. | A division of Cirripedia, including the stalked or goose barnacles. |
| pedunculate | adjective | Alt. of Pedunculated |
| peepul tree | A sacred tree (Ficus religiosa) of the Buddhists, a kind of fig tree which attains great size and venerable age. See Bo tree. | |
| peevishness | noun | The quality of being peevish; disposition to murmur; sourness of temper. |
| pelagianism | noun | The doctrines of Pelagius. |
| pelargonium | noun | A large genus of plants of the order Geraniaceae, differing from Geranium in having a spurred calyx and an irregular corolla. |
| pellucidity | noun | Alt. of Pellucidness |
| penanceless | adjective | Free from penance. |
| pencillated | adjective | Shaped like a pencil; penicillate. |
| pendulosity | noun | The state or quality of being pendulous. |
| pendulously | adverb | In a pendulous manner. |
| penetrating | present participle & vb. noun | of Penetrate, Having the power of entering, piercing, or pervading; sharp; subtile; penetrative; as, a penetrating odor., Acute; discerning; sagacious; quick to discover; as, a penetrating mind. |
| penetration | noun | The act or process of penetrating, piercing, or entering; also, the act of mentally penetrating into, or comprehending, anything difficult., Acuteness; insight; sharp discoverment; sagacity; as, a person of singular penetration. |
| penetrative | adjective | Tending to penetrate; of a penetrating quality; piercing; as, the penetrative sun., Having the power to affect or impress the mind or heart; impressive; as, penetrative shame., Acute; discerning; sagacious; as, penetrative wisdom. |
| penicillate | adjective | Having the form of a pencil; furnished with a pencil of fine hairs; ending in a tuft of hairs like a camel’s-hair brush, as the stigmas of some grasses. |
| peninsulate | verb t. | To form into a peninsula. |
| penitential | adjective | Of or pertaining to penitence, or to penance; expressing penitence; of the nature of penance; as, the penitential book; penitential tears., A book formerly used by priests hearing confessions, containing rules for the imposition of penances; — called also penitential book. |
| pennigerous | adjective | Bearing feathers or quills. |
| penninerved | adjective | Pinnately veined or nerved. |
| pennipotent | adjective | Strong of wing; strong on the wing. |
| pennoncelle | noun | See Pencel. |
| pennyweight | noun | A troy weight containing twenty-four grains, or the twentieth part of an ounce; as, a pennyweight of gold or of arsenic. It was anciently the weight of a silver penny, whence the name. |
| penological | adjective | Of or pertaining to penology. |
| pensileness | noun | State or quality of being pensile; pendulousness. |
| pensiveness | noun | The state of being pensive; serious thoughtfulness; seriousness. |
| pentaconter | noun | See Penteconter. |
| pentacrinin | noun | A red and purple pigment found in certain crinoids of the genus Pentacrinus. |
| pentacrinus | noun | A genus of large, stalked crinoids, of which several species occur in deep water among the West Indies and elsewhere. |
| pentadactyl | adjective | Alt. of Pentadactyle |
| pentadecane | noun | A hydrocarbon of the paraffin series, (C15H32) found in petroleum, tar oil, etc., and obtained as a colorless liquid; — so called from the fifteen carbon atoms in the molecule. |
| pentagonous | adjective | Pentagonal. |
| pentagynian | adjective | Alt. of Pentagynous |
| pentagynous | adjective | Of or pertaining to plants of the order Pentagyna; having five styles. |
| pentahedral | adjective | Having five sides; as, a pentahedral figure. |
| pentahedron | noun | A solid figure having five sides. |
| pentamerous | adjective | Divided into, or consisting of, five parts; also, arranged in sets, with five parts in each set, as a flower with five sepals, five petals, five, or twice five, stamens, and five pistils., Belonging to the Pentamera. |
| pentandrian | adjective | Alt. of Pentandrous |
| pentandrous | adjective | Of or pertaining to the class Pentadria; having five stamens. |
| pentangular | adjective | Having five corners or angles. |
| pentavalent | adjective | Having a valence of five; — said of certain atoms and radicals. |
| penteconter | noun | A Grecian vessel with fifty oars. |
| pentecostal | adjective | Of or pertaining to Pentecost or to Whitsuntide. |
| pentecoster | noun | An officer in the Spartan army commanding fifty men. |
| pentremites | noun | A genus of crinoids belonging to the Blastoidea. They have five petal-like ambulacra. |
| penultimate | adjective | Last but one; as, the penultimate syllable, the last syllable but one of a word., The penult. |
| pepperbrand | noun | See 1st Bunt. |
| peppergrass | noun | Any herb of the cruciferous genus Lepidium, especially the garden peppergrass, or garden cress, Lepidium sativum; — called also pepperwort. All the species have a pungent flavor., The common pillwort of Europe (Pilularia globulifera). See Pillwort. |
| peptogenous | adjective | Capable of yielding, or being converted into, peptone. |
| peptotoxine | noun | A toxic alkaloid found occasionally associated with the peptones formed from fibrin by pepsinhydrochloric acid. |
| peragration | noun | The act or state of passing through any space; as, the peragration of the moon in her monthly revolution. |
| perambulate | verb t. | To walk through or over; especially, to travel over for the purpose of surveying or examining; to inspect by traversing; specifically, to inspect officially the boundaries of, as of a town or parish, by walking over the whole line., To walk about; to ramble; to stroll; as, he perambulated in the park. |
| percarburet | noun | A percarbide. |
| perceivable | adjective | Capable of being perceived; perceptible. |
| perceivance | noun | Power of perceiving. |
| perceptible | adjective | Capable of being perceived; cognizable; discernible; perceivable. |
| perchlorate | noun | A salt of perchloric acid. |
| perchloride | noun | A chloride having a higher proportion of chlorine than any other chloride of the same substance or series. |
| perciformes | noun pl. | An extensive tribe or suborder of fishes, including the true perches (Percidae); the pondfishes (Centrarchidae); the sciaenoids (Sciaenidae); the sparoids (Sparidae); the serranoids (Serranidae), and some other related families. |
| percipience | noun | Alt. of Percipiency |
| percipiency | noun | The faculty, act or power of perceiving; perception. |
| percolating | present participle & vb. noun | of Percolate |
| percolation | noun | The act or process of percolating, or filtering; filtration; straining. Specifically (Pharm.), the process of exhausting the virtues of a powdered drug by letting a liquid filter slowly through it. |
| percomorphi | noun pl. | A division of fishes including the perches and related kinds. |
| perduellion | noun | Treason. |
| perduration | noun | Long continuance. |
| peregrinate | verb i. | To travel from place to place, or from one country to another; hence, to sojourn in foreign countries., Having traveled; foreign. |
| peregrinity | noun | Foreignness; strangeness., Travel; wandering. |
| perennially | adverb | In a perennial manner. |
| pererration | noun | A wandering, or rambling, through various places. |
| perfectible | adjective | Capable of becoming, or being made, perfect. |
| perfectness | noun | The quality or state of being perfect; perfection. |
| perforating | present participle & vb. noun | of Perforate |
| perforation | noun | The act of perforating, or of boring or piercing through., A hole made by boring or piercing; an aperture. |
| perforative | adjective | Having power to perforate or pierce. |
| performable | adjective | Admitting of being performed, done, or executed; practicable. |
| performance | noun | The act of performing; the carrying into execution or action; execution; achievement; accomplishment; representation by action; as, the performance of an undertaking of a duty., That which is performed or accomplished; a thing done or carried through; an achievement; a deed; an act; a feat; esp., an action of an elaborate or public character. |
| perfumatory | adjective | Emitting perfume; perfuming. |
| perfunctory | adjective | Done merely to get rid of a duty; performed mechanically and as a thing of rote; done in a careless and superficial manner; characterized by indifference; as, perfunctory admonitions., Hence: Mechanical; indifferent; listless; careless. |
| pergamenous | adjective | Alt. of Pergamentaceous |
| perianthium | noun | The perianth. |
| pericambium | noun | A layer of thin-walled young cells in a growing stem, in which layer certain new vessels originate. |
| pericardiac | adjective | Alt. of Pericardial |
| pericardial | adjective | Of or pertaining to pericardium; situated around the heart. |
| pericardian | adjective | Pericardiac. |
| pericardium | noun | The double baglike fold of serous membrane which incloses the heart. |
| pericarpial | adjective | Alt. of Pericarpic |
| perichaetia | plural | of Perichaetium |
| perichordal | adjective | Around the notochord; as, a perichordal column. See Epichordal. |
| periclasite | noun | A grayish or dark green mineral, consisting essentially of magnesia (magnesium oxide), occurring in granular forms or in isometric crystals. |
| periclinium | noun | The involucre which surrounds the common receptacle in composite flowers. |
| periclitate | verb t. | To endanger. |
| pericranial | adjective | Of or pertaining to the pericranium. |
| pericranium | noun | The periosteum which covers the cranium externally; the region around the cranium. |
| perienteron | noun | The primitive perivisceral cavity. |
| perigastric | adjective | Surrounding the stomach; — applied to the body cavity of Bryozoa and various other Invertebrata. |
| perigenesis | noun | A theory which explains inheritance by the transmission of the type of growth force possessed by one generation to another. |
| perigenetic | adjective | Of or pertaining to perigenesis. |
| perineurial | adjective | Surrounding nerves or nerve fibers; of or pertaining to the perineurium. |
| perineurium | noun | The connective tissue sheath which surrounds a bundle of nerve fibers. See Epineurium, and Neurilemma. |
| perinuclear | adjective | Of or pertaining to a nucleus; situated around a nucleus; as, the perinuclear protoplasm. |
| periodicity | noun | The quality or state of being periodical, or regularly recurrent; as, the periodicity in the vital phenomena of plants. |
| periodontal | adjective | Surrounding the teeth. |
| perioecians | noun pl. | Those who live on the same parallel of latitude but on opposite meridians, so that it is noon in one place when it is midnight in the other. Compare Antoeci. |
| periostitis | noun | Inflammation of the periosteum. |
| periostraca | plural | of Periostracum |
| peripatetic | adjective | Walking about; itinerant., Of or pertaining to the philosophy taught by Aristotle (who gave his instructions while walking in the Lyceum at Athens), or to his followers., One who walks about; a pedestrian; an itinerant., A disciple of Aristotle; an Aristotelian. |
| peripheries | plural | of Periphery |
| periphrased | imp. & past participle | of Periphrase |
| periphrases | plural | of Periphrasis |
| periphrasis | noun | See Periphrase. |
| peripterous | adjective | Peripteral., Feathered all around. |
| perispheric | adjective | Alt. of Perispherical |
| perispomena | plural | of Perispomenon |
| perissology | noun | Superfluity of words. |
| peristalsis | noun | Peristaltic contraction or action. |
| peristaltic | adjective | Applied to the peculiar wormlike wave motion of the intestines and other similar structures, produced by the successive contraction of the muscular fibers of their walls, forcing their contents onwards; as, peristaltic movement. |
| peristerion | noun | The herb vervain (Verbena officinalis). |
| peristerite | noun | A variety of albite, whitish and slightly iridescent like a pigeon’s neck. |
| peristomata | plural | of Peristoma |
| peristomial | adjective | Of or pertaining to a peristome. |
| peristomium | noun | Same as Peristome. |
| perisystole | noun | The interval between the diastole and systole of the heart. It is perceptible only in the dying. |
| perithecium | noun | An organ in certain fungi and lichens, surrounding and enveloping the masses of fructification. |
| peritonaeum | noun | Same as Peritoneum. |
| peritonitis | noun | Inflammation of the peritoneum. |
| peritropous | adjective | Peritropal. |
| periuterine | adjective | Surrounding the uterus. |
| permanently | adverb | In a permanent manner. |
| permanganic | adjective | Pertaining to, or designating, one of the higher acids of manganese, HMnO4, which forms salts called permanganates. |
| permiscible | adjective | Capable of being mixed. |
| permissible | adjective | That may be permitted; allowable; admissible. |
| permittance | noun | The act of permitting; allowance; permission; leave. |
| permutation | noun | The act of permuting; exchange of the thing for another; mutual transference; interchange., The arrangement of any determinate number of things, as units, objects, letters, etc., in all possible orders, one after the other; — called also alternation. Cf. Combination, n., 4., Any one of such possible arrangements., Barter; exchange. |
| pernyi moth | A silk-producing moth (Attacus Pernyi) which feeds upon the oak. It has been introduced into Europe and America from China. | |
| peroxidized | imp. & past participle | of Peroxidize |
| perpendicle | noun | Something hanging straight down; a plumb line. |
| perpetrable | adjective | Capable of being perpetrated. |
| perpetrated | imp. & past participle | of Perpetrate |
| perpetrator | noun | One who perpetrates; esp., one who commits an offense or crime. |
| perpetuable | adjective | Capable of being perpetuated or continued. |
| perpetually | adverb | In a perpetual manner; constantly; continually. |
| perpetualty | noun | The state or condition of being perpetual. |
| perpetuance | noun | Perpetuity. |
| perpetuated | imp. & past participle | of Perpetuate |
| perpotation | noun | The act of drinking excessively; a drinking bout. |
| perquisited | adjective | Supplied with perquisites. |
| persecuting | present participle & vb. noun | of Persecute |
| persecution | noun | The act or practice of persecuting; especially, the infliction of loss, pain, or death for adherence to a particular creed or mode of worship., The state or condition of being persecuted., A carrying on; prosecution. |
| persecutrix | noun | A woman who persecutes. |
| perseverant | adjective | Persevering. |
| persevering | present participle & vb. noun | of Persevere, Characterized by perseverance; persistent. |
| persistence | noun | Alt. of Persistency |
| persistency | noun | The quality or state of being persistent; staying or continuing quality; hence, in an unfavorable sense, doggedness; obstinacy., The continuance of an effect after the cause which first gave rise to it is removed, The persistence of motion., Visual persistence, or persistence of the visual impression; auditory persistence, etc. |
| personalism | noun | The quality or state of being personal; personality. |
| personality | noun | That which constitutes distinction of person; individuality., Something said or written which refers to the person, conduct, etc., of some individual, especially something of a disparaging or offensive nature; personal remarks; as, indulgence in personalities., That quality of a law which concerns the condition, state, and capacity of persons. |
| personalize | verb t. | To make personal. |
| personating | present participle & vb. noun | of Personate |
| personation | noun | The act of personating, or conterfeiting the person or character of another. |
| personifier | noun | One who personifies. |
| personified | imp. & past participle | of Personify |
| perspective | noun | Of or pertaining to the science of vision; optical., Pertaining to the art, or in accordance with the laws, of perspective., A glass through which objects are viewed., That which is seen through an opening; a view; a vista., The effect of distance upon the appearance of objects, by means of which the eye recognized them as being at a more or less measurable distance. Hence, aerial perspective, the assumed greater vagueness or uncertainty of outline in distant objects., The art and the science of so delineating objects that they shall seem to grow smaller as they recede from the eye; — called also linear perspective., A drawing in linear perspective. |
| perspicable | adjective | Discernible. |
| perspicuity | noun | The quality or state of being transparent or translucent., The quality of being perspicuous to the understanding; clearness of expression or thought., Sagacity; perspicacity. |
| perspicuous | adjective | Capable of being through; transparent; translucent; not opaque., Clear to the understanding; capable of being clearly understood; clear in thought or in expression; not obscure or ambiguous; as, a perspicuous writer; perspicuous statements. |
| perspirable | adjective | Capable of being perspired., Emitting perspiration; perspiring. |
| persuadable | adjective | That may be persuaded. |
| persuasible | adjective | Capable of being persuaded; persuadable., Persuasive. |
| persulphate | noun | A sulphate of the peroxide of any base. |
| persulphide | noun | A sulphide containing more sulphur than some other compound of the same elements; as, iron pyrites is a persulphide; — formerly called persulphuret. |
| pertinacity | noun | The quality or state of being pertinacious; obstinacy; perseverance; persistency. |
| pertinately | adverb | Pertinaciously. |
| perturbable | adjective | Liable to be perturbed or agitated; liable to be disturbed or disquieted. |
| perturbance | noun | Disturbance; perturbation. |
| perturbator | noun | A perturber. |
| perversedly | adverb | Perversely. |
| pervertible | adjective | Capable of being perverted. |
| pervicacity | noun | Obstinacy; pervicaciousness. |
| pessimistic | adjective | Of or pertaining to pessimism; characterized by pessimism; gloomy; foreboding. |
| pestiferous | adjective | Pest-bearing; pestilential; noxious to health; malignant; infectious; contagious; as, pestiferous bodies., Noxious to peace, to morals, or to society; vicious; hurtful; destructive; as, a pestiferous demagogue. |
| pestilently | adverb | In a pestilent manner; mischievously; destructively. |
| pestilation | noun | The act of pounding and bruising with a pestle in a mortar. |
| petiolulate | adjective | Supported by its own petiolule. |
| petitioning | present participle & vb. noun | of Petition, The act of presenting apetition; a supplication. |
| petitionary | adjective | Supplicatory; making a petition., Containing a petition; of the nature of a petition; as, a petitionary epistle. |
| petrescence | noun | The process of changing into stone; petrification. |
| petrificate | verb t. | To petrify. |
| petroglyphy | noun | The art or operation of carving figures or inscriptions on rock or stone. |
| petrography | noun | The art of writing on stone., The scientific description of rocks; that department of science which investigates the constitution of rocks; petrology. |
| petrologist | noun | One who is versed in petrology. |
| petromyzont | noun | A lamprey. |
| pettifogged | imp. & past participle | of Pettifog |
| pettifogger | noun | A lawyer who deals in petty cases; an attorney whose methods are mean and tricky; an inferior lawyer. |