passage à l'acte (fr)

(psychology) Impulsive acting out; term used by Lacan

passel (en)

(informal) a large group of people or things of indeterminate number; a pack

paterfamilias (en)

(noun) the male head of a household / (noun) the father of a family / (noun) a man who originates or is a leading figure in something (as a movement, discipline, or enterprise)

patrimonial capitalism (en)

a term coined by Thomas Piketty; a system where the economic elite mostly attain their fortunes through inheritance rather than entrepreneurship or innovation

patrimonialism (en)

a form of governance in which all power flows directly from the leader, which results in the blending of the public and private sectors; most notably defined by Max Weber in 1922

patristic (en)

(adjective) of or relating to the church fathers or their writings

patronymic (en)

denoting or relating to a name derived from the name of a father or male ancestor

patzer (en)

(noun) an inept chess player

paucity (en)

the presence of something only in small or insufficient quantities or amounts; scarcity

Paulinian (en)

referring to the Pauli exclusion principle (the assertion that no two fermions can have the same quantum number)

peace formula (en)

post-WWII formula for democratic capitalist stability: government intervention in business, state planning for growth and full employment, social redistribution; supervised by an interventionist state committed to disciplining the market in order to keep this social contract and thus maintain its legitimacy

pecuniary (en)

(adjective) consisting of or measured in money / (adjective) of or relating to money

pelagian (en)

(noun) one agreeing with Pelagius in denying original sin and consequently in holding that individuals have perfect freedom to do either right or wrong / (adjective) of or relating to Pelagians or Pelagianism

pelagic (en)

(adjective) of, relating to, or living or occurring in the open sea; oceanic

pellucid (en)

translucently clear

penumbra (en)

the partially shaded outer region of the shadow cast by an opaque object

penury (en)

(noun) a cramping and oppressive lack of resources (as money) / (noun) severe poverty / (noun) extreme and often niggardly frugality

percipience (en)

(noun) perception

Percy Lubbock (en)

an English writer whose 1921 volume The Craft of Fiction was one of the first major works of literary criticism to focus on the novel as a form

peregrinations (en)

(verb) to travel especially on foot; walk / (verb) to walk or travel over; traverse

peremptory (en)

(adjective) putting an end to or precluding a right of action, debate, or delay / (adjective) not providing an opportunity to show cause why one should not comply / (adjective) admitting of no contradiction / (adjective) expressive of urgency or command / (adjective) characterized by often imperious or arrogant self-assurance / (adjective) indicative of a peremptory attitude or nature; haughty / (noun) a challenge (as of a juror) made as of right without assigning any cause

perestroika (en)

a political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the 1980s, associated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost ("openness") policy reform

perfidy (en)

(noun) deceitfulness; untrustworthiness

perforce (en)

(adverb) by physical coercion / (adverb) by force of circumstances

Periclean (en)

of or relating to Pericles or to the period (Periclean Age) when Athens was intellectually, artistically, and materially preeminent