- overwrought: extremely agitated, histerical
- ovoid: egg shaped
- paancea: cure all
- pachyderm: thick skinned animal
- pacifist: one opposed to force, antimilitarist
- pacify: soothe
- painstaking: showing hard work, taking great care
- palatable: agreeable, pleasing to taste
- palate: roof of the mouth, sense of taste
- palatial: magnificent
- paleontology: study of prehistoric life
- palette: board on which painter mixes pigments
- palimpest: parchment used for second time after original writing has been erased
- pall: grow tiresome
- pallet: small bed
- palliate: ease pain
- pallid: pale, wan
- palpable: tangible, easily perceptible
- palpitate: throb, flutter
- paltry: insignificant, petty
- pan: criticize harshly
- panache: flair, flamboyance
- pandemic: widespread
- pandemonium: wild tumult
- pander: cater to the low desires of others
- panegyric: formal praise
- panoramic: denoting an unobstructed and comprehensive view
- pantomime: acting without dialogue
- papyrus: ancient paoper
- parable: short simple story with a moral
- paradigm: model, example
- paradox: contradictory in nature
- paragon: model of perfection
- parallelism: similarity
- parameter: limit
- paramount: supreme
- paramour: ilicity lover
- paranoia: pyschosis marked by delusions of grandeur
- paraphernalia: equipment, odds and ends
- paraphrase: restate a passage in one's own words
- parasite: animal or plant living on another body
- parched: extremely dry
- pariach: social outcast
- parity: equality
- parlance: language, idiom
- parley: conference
- parochial: narrow in outlook, provincial
- parody: spoof
- paroxysm: fit of attack or pain
- parquet: flood made of wood strips
- parry: ward off a blow, deflect
- parsimony: miserliness
- partial: incomplete
- partiallity: inclination, bias
- partisan: one sided
- partition: divided into parts
- passe: old fashioned, past
- passive: not active
- pastiche: imitation of anonther's style in music or writing
- pastoral: rural
- patent: open for public to read, obvious
- pathetic: causing sadness, pity
- pathological: pretaining to disease
- pathos: tender sorry pity, quality in art or literature that produces these feelings
- patina: green crust on old bronze works
- patois: local or provincial dialect
- patriarch: father or ruler of a family
- patrician: noble, aristrocratic
- patronize: support
- paucity: scarcity
- pauper: very poor person
- pean: song or praise or joy
- pecadillo: slight offense