17-letter words containing p, l, a
- catholic epistles — the epistles of James, I and II Peter, I John, and Jude, which were addressed to the universal Church rather than to an individual or a particular church
- causality paradox — the hypothetical cause-and-effect of time travel and making changes in the past that would affect current actions.
- cellophane noodle — a stringlike, transparent noodle used esp. in East Asian cooking
- centripetal force — a force that acts inwards on any body that rotates or moves along a curved path and is directed towards the centre of curvature of the path or the axis of rotation
- chadless keypunch — (hardware) A card punch which cut little U-shapes in punched cards, rather than punching out a circle or rectangle. The U's made a hole when folded back. One of the Jargon File's correspondents believed that the term "chad" derived from the Chadless keypunch. Obviously, if the Chadless keypunch didn't make them, then the stuff that other keypunches made had to be "chad". The assertion that the keypunch was named after its inventor is not supported by any record in US or UK patents or surname references.
- checkable deposit — a checking account
- chelsea pensioner — an old ex-soldier resident in the Chelsea Royal Hospital
- chemical property — Chemistry. a property or characteristic of a substance that is observed during a reaction in which the chemical composition or identity of the substance is changed: Combustibility is an important chemical property to consider when choosing building materials.
- chemopallidectomy — an operation for treating Parkinson's disease and certain other diseases characterized by muscular rigidity, consisting of destroying a specific part of the corpus striatum by injecting it with a chemical, usually alcohol.
- child pornography — pornography using a child or children as the subject.
- chinagraph pencil — a coloured pencil used for writing on china, glass, etc
- chloracetophenone — chloroacetophenone.
- chloronaphthalene — either of two isomeric naphthalene compounds containing one chlorine atom.
- choreographically — As if choreographed.
- chromolithographs — Plural form of chromolithograph.
- chromolithography — the process of making coloured prints by lithography
- chronographically — a timepiece fitted with a recording device, as a stylus and rotating drum, used to mark the exact instant of an occurrence, especially in astronomy.
- chukchi peninsula — a peninsula in the extreme NE of Russia, in NE Siberia: mainly tundra
- civil partnership — A civil partnership is a legal relationship between two people of the same sex that is similar to marriage.
- class-a amplifier — an electronic amplifier in which the output current flows for the whole of the input signal cycle
- class-b amplifier — an electronic amplifier in which the output flows for half of the input signal cycle
- class-c amplifier — an electronic amplifier in which the output current flows for less than half of the input cycle
- classical pathway — the activation of complement by an antigen-antibody reaction. Compare alternative pathway.
- clifden nonpareil — a handsome nocturnal moth, Catocala fraxini, that is brown with bluish patches on the hindwings: related to the red underwing
- clinicopathologic — of or relating to the combined study of disease symptoms and pathology.
- clipperton island — an uninhabited atoll in the E Pacific SW of Mexico, under French administration. Area: 6 sq km (2.3 sq miles)
- close corporation — a small private limited company
- close parenthesis — right parenthesis
- close punctuation — punctuation in which many commas, full stops, etc, are used
- closed-captioning — (of a television program, film, or video) distributed with synchronized transcription of speech and written descriptions of other relevant audio elements, as for the hearing-impaired, that are visible only when the option to display them is selected. Abbreviation: CC.
- clumber (spaniel) — a short-legged spaniel with a heavy body and a thick coat of straight, white hair marked with yellow or orange
- color temperature — a temperature defined in terms of the temperature of a black body at which it emits light of a specified spectral distribution: used to specify the color of a light source.
- colour photograph — a photograph that is developed and printed in colour
- colour separation — the division of a coloured original into cyan, magenta, yellow, and black so that plates may be made for print reproduction. Separation may be achieved by electronic scanning or by photographic techniques using filters to isolate each colour
- combe-capelle man — a skeleton of the early Upper Paleolithic Perigordian culture in France.
- commuter airplane — air taxi.
- companionableness — The state or quality of being companionable.
- compartmentalised — Simple past tense and past participle of compartmentalise.
- compartmentalized — separated into several discrete areas
- compartmentalizes — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of compartmentalize.
- compilation album — a musical recording consisting of works chosen for a particular purpose or theme
- complement clause — a subordinate clause that functions as the subject, direct object, or prepositional object of a verb, as that you like it in I'm surprised that you like it.
- complementariness — forming a complement; completing.
- complementarities — Plural form of complementarity.
- complementary dna — a form of DNA artificially synthesized from a messenger RNA template and used in genetic engineering to produce gene clones
- complete fracture — a bone fracture in which the bone is split completely across.
- complex conjugate — the complex number whose imaginary part is the negative of that of a given complex number, the real parts of both numbers being equal
- complex-conjugate — one of a group of conjugate words.
- complimentariness — The state or quality of being complimentary.
- composite volcano — a large, steep volcano built up of alternating layers of lava and ash or cinders.