| phoenix |
(sometimes cap.) a beautiful bird in Egyptian mythology that lives for five hundred years, then sets itself on fire and rises alive again from the ashes. The phoenix is a symbol of immortality. |
| -phone |
a suffix that means "sound." [2 definitions] |
| phone1 |
a short form for "telephone." [2 definitions] |
| phone booth |
a small enclosed structure containing a public telephone. |
| phonetic |
relating to the method of representing speech sounds by symbols. [2 definitions] |
| phonograph |
a machine that reproduces sound that has been recorded in the grooves of a disk; record player. |
| phosphorus |
a substance that is a chemical element. One of the common forms of phosphorus is a poisonous yellow solid that glows in moist air. Phosphorus is important to living things. It is used in fertilizers to help plants grow. (symbol: P) |
| photo |
(informal) a short form for "photograph." |
| photo- |
a prefix that means "light." |
| photograph |
a picture made by using a camera that records an image on a surface that is sensitive to light. [2 definitions] |
| photographer |
a person whose job is to take photographs. |
| photography |
the art or practice of taking and making photographs. |
| photosynthesis |
the process by which a green plant uses sunlight to change water and carbon dioxide into food for itself. |
| phrase |
a part of a sentence that has meaning and grammatical order but does not have both a subject and a verb. "Wants to see" and "the horror movie" are both phrases in the sentence "Bert wants to see the horror movie again." [4 definitions] |
| physical |
of the body. [3 definitions] |
| physical education |
instruction in sports, exercise, and the care of the human body. Physical education is taught in a school. |
| physically |
in, with, or by means of the body. |
| physician |
a doctor of medicine who is qualified and licensed to treat illness and injury. |
| physicist |
a scientist who works in physics. |
| physics |
(used with a singular verb) the science that deals with matter and energy, their qualities, and the relationships between them. Physics includes the study of light, heat, sound, electricity, and force. |
| pi |
a number equal to the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. The value of pi is approximately 3.1416 or 22/7. |