All articles starting with P
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Preamble
Preamble: the introductory statement of a constitution stating its history, sovereignty source, goals, and national identity; 74 percent of 50 sampled democracies have one; legal status ranges from ceremonial to substantive.
Preamble to the Constitution of India
The Preamble to the Constitution of India, drafted under B.R. Ambedkar from Nehru's Objectives Resolution and adopted 26 November 1949, declares popular sovereignty and the goals of justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity; amended in 1976 to add socialist, secular, and integrity.
Preamble to the United States Constitution
The Preamble to the United States Constitution, opening "We the People of the United States," states six goals of the 1787 Constitution. Drafted largely by Gouverneur Morris, it grants little direct legal force but guides interpretation.
Preamplifier
A preamplifier, or preamp, is an electronic amplifier that raises a weak signal to a noise-tolerant level, feeding a power amplifier and loudspeaker in an audio system.
Preanesthetic Medication
Preanesthetic medication (premedication) is drug administration before anesthesia induction, historically opioids and anticholinergics like scopolamine and morphine, now individualized anxiolysis, antisialagogues, and adjuncts such as midazolam and dexmedetomidine, with evidence questioning routine sedative use.
Prebiotic (nutrition)
Prebiotic (nutrition): non-digestible substrates, mainly fibers like inulin, FOS, and GOS, selectively utilized by gut microorganisms to confer health benefits; defined by ISAPP in 2017, coined by Gibson and Roberfroid in 1995.
Preboot Execution Environment
The Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) is an industry-standard method for booting a computer over a network without local boot media, defined by Intel in the 1990s.
Precalculus
Precalculus, also known as pre-calc or Advanced Algebra and Trigonometry, is the secondary and early college mathematics course covering algebra, trigonometry, and function theory, typically ending with limits, to prepare students for calculus.
Precambrian
The Precambrian is the supereon of geologic time from Earth's formation about 4.6 billion years ago to the start of the Cambrian, 538.8 million years ago.
PRECANU study
PRECANU (NCT05684432) is a Danish prospective observational study of acute radiation-induced diarrhoea during curative pelvic EBRT for prostate and rectal cancer; its 40-patient prostate cohort found patient stool diaries captured Grade 2/3 diarrhoea that CTCAE clinician grading missed entirely.
Precariat
The precariat is a sociological category for people in insecure work, first named by French sociologists in the 1980s and popularized by Guy Standing in 2011.
Precast concrete
Precast concrete is concrete cast and cured in a controlled factory environment using reusable forms, then transported to a construction site as a finished component, unlike cast-in-place concrete.
Precast concrete pavement
Precast concrete pavement (PCP) is a pavement construction method in which concrete slabs are fabricated in a plant and installed overnight for rapid, long-lasting repair of roads, ramps, and intersections.
Precast segmental construction
Precast segmental construction is a bridge-building method in which concrete segments cast in a plant are joined into a continuous span by post-tensioning, first used in Europe in the 1950s.
Precausa
Precausa was an ancient town and Christian bishopric in the Roman province of Byzacena, in modern Tunisia, now a Catholic titular see established in 1933.
Precautionary principle
The precautionary principle is a risk-management rule allowing protective action against possible serious harm despite scientific uncertainty. Key forms: EU Article 191 TFEU, Rio Declaration 1992, Wingspread 1998 burden-shifting.
Precautionary saving
Precautionary saving is extra saving undertaken because the future is uncertain: a household spends less today so it can absorb income losses or unexpected expenses later.
PRECEDE-PROCEED model
The PRECEDE-PROCEED model, also known as the PRECEDE model, is an eight-phase framework for planning, implementing, and evaluating community health promotion programs, developed by Lawrence W. Green in 1974.
Precedence effect
The precedence effect, also known as the Haas effect or law of the first wavefront, is an auditory phenomenon in which listeners localize a sound by its first-arriving wavefront, fusing echoes that follow within milliseconds.
Precedent
Precedent: prior judicial decisions followed by courts under stare decisis ("to stand by things decided"), with binding vertical and horizontal force in common law systems and persuasive or jurisprudence constante roles in civil law systems.
Precedent transaction analysis
Precedent transaction analysis, also called transaction comps, values a company using multiples paid for comparable companies in prior M&A transactions, typically to set a sale price range in an acquisition.
Precession
Precession is the gradual change in the direction of a rotation axis, which sweeps around a second axis in a cone, as in spinning tops and gyroscopes.
Precession electron diffraction
Precession electron diffraction (PED) is a transmission electron microscopy technique, introduced by Vincent and Midgley in 1994, that makes diffraction intensities more suitable for crystal structure solution.
PRECEYES Surgical System
The PRECEYES Surgical System is a telemanipulated robot for vitreoretinal surgery developed by Preceyes B.V. in Eindhoven, first used inside a human eye in 2016 and CE-marked in 2019.
Precinct of Amun-Re
The Precinct of Amun-Re, also written Precinct of Amon-Re, is the principal and largest precinct of the Karnak temple complex at Thebes, near modern Luxor, Egypt.
Precinct of Montu
The Precinct of Montu is the temple enclosure of the god Montu at northern Karnak, Thebes (modern Luxor, Egypt), founded by Amenhotep III and rebuilt under Taharka.
Precinct of Mut
The Precinct of Mut is the temple precinct of the goddess Mut at South Karnak in Thebes, Egypt, her main cult center and home to hundreds of Sekhmet statues.
Préciosité
Préciosité was a French social and literary movement of the 17th century, centered on Parisian salons, where précieuses cultivated refined manners, feelings, and language until Molière mocked it.
Precious (film)
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire is Lee Daniels' 2009 drama adapted from Sapphire's 1996 novel Push, starring Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique; it won Sundance's Grand Jury Prize and two Oscars.
Precious Achiuwa
Precious Achiuwa, Nigerian NBA forward (born 1999), 6'8"; Memphis one-and-done, 20th pick in 2020 by Miami, later Toronto, New York, and Sacramento; career-best 10.1 points per game in 2025-26.