 | Term | Definition |
| |
oversee |
To superintend. |
| |
overseer |
A supervisor. |
| |
overshadow |
To cast into the shade or render insignificant by comparison. |
| |
overstride |
To step beyond. |
| |
overthrow |
To vanquish an established ruler or government. |
| |
overtone |
A harmonic. |
| |
overture |
An instrumental prelude to an opera, oratorio, or ballet. |
| |
overweight |
Preponderance. |
| |
pacify |
To bring into a peaceful state. |
| |
packet |
A bundle, as of letters. |
| |
pact |
A covenant. |
| |
pagan |
A worshiper of false gods. |
| |
pageant |
A dramatic representation, especially a spectacular one. |
| |
palate |
The roof of the mouth. |
| |
palatial |
Magnificent. |
| |
paleontology |
The branch of biology that treats of ancient life and fossil organisms. |
| |
palette |
A thin tablet, with a hole for the thumb, upon which artists lay their colors for painting. |
| |
palinode |
A retraction. |
| |
pall |
To make dull by satiety. |
| |
palliate |
To cause to appear less guilty. |
| |
pallid |
Of a pale or wan appearance. |
| |
palpable |
perceptible by feeling or touch. |
| |
palsy |
Paralysis. |
| |
paly |
Lacking color or brilliancy. |
| |
pamphlet |
A brief treatise or essay, usually on a subject of current interest. |
| |
pamphleteer |
To compose or issue pamphlets, especially controversial ones. |
| |
panacea |
A remedy or medicine proposed for or professing to cure all diseases. |
| |
Pan-American |
Including or pertaining to the whole of America, both North and South. |
| |
pandemic |
Affecting a whole people or all classes, as a disease. |
| |
pandemonium |
A fiendish or riotous uproar. |
| |
panegyric |
A formal and elaborate eulogy, written or spoken, of a person or of an act. |
| |
panel |
A rectangular piece set in or as in a frame. |
| |
panic |
A sudden, unreasonable, overpowering fear. |
| |
panoply |
A full set of armor. |
| |
panorama |
A series of large pictures representing a continuous scene. |
| |
pantheism |
The worship of nature for itself or its beauty. |
| |
Pantheon |
A circular temple at Rome with a fine Corinthian portico and a great domed roof. |
| |
pantomime |
Sign-language. |
| |
pantoscope |
A very wide-angled photographic lens. |
| |
papacy |
The official head of the Roman Catholic Church. |
| |
papyrus |
The writing-paper of the ancient Egyptians, and later of the Romans. |
| |
parable |
A brief narrative founded on real scenes or events usually with a moral. |
| |
paradox |
A statement or doctrine seemingly in contradiction to the received belief. |
| |
paragon |
A model of excellence. |
| |
parallel |
To cause to correspond or lie in the same direction and equidistant in all parts. |
| |
parallelism |
Essential likeness. |
| |
paralysis |
Loss of the power of contractility in the voluntary or involuntary muscles. |
| |
paralyze |
To deprive of the power to act. |
| |
paramount |
Supreme in authority. |
| |
paramour |
One who is unlawfully and immorally a lover or a mistress. |
