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Glossary · Nouns · P

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TermTypeDefinitionClassificationsUpdated
PrincipalnounAn entity whose identity can be authenticated.IdentityMay 9, 2026
Principal Accrediting AuthoritynounMWESenior official with authority and responsibility for all intelligence systems within an agency.RoleRestrictedCUIMay 9, 2026
Principal AxisnounMWEa line that passes through the center of curvature of a lens so that light is neither reflected nor refractedverifiedMay 18, 2026
Principal Certification AuthoritynounMWEThe Principal Certification Authority is a CA designated by an agency to interoperate with the FBCA. An agency may designate multiple Principal CAs to interoperate with the FBCA.IdentityRegulatedCUIMay 9, 2026
Principal DiagonalnounMWEthe diagonal of a square matrix running from the upper left entry to the lower right entryverifiedMay 18, 2026
Principal InvestigatornounMWEthe scientist in charge of an experiment or research projectverifiedMay 18, 2026
Principal SumnounMWEcapital as contrasted with the income derived from itverifiedMay 18, 2026
Principalitynounterritory ruled by a princeverifiedMay 18, 2026
Principalshipnounthe post of principalverifiedMay 18, 2026
Principlenoun(law) an explanation of the fundamental reasons (especially an explanation of the working of some device in terms of laws of nature)verifiedMay 18, 2026
Principle of EquivalencenounMWE(physics) the principle that an observer has no way of distinguishing whether his laboratory is in a uniform gravitational field or is in an accelerated frame of referenceverifiedMay 18, 2026
Principle of least privilegenounMWEThe security objective of granting users only the access needed to perform official duties.RequirementMay 12, 2026
Principle of least privilege/accessnounMWEControls used to allow the least privilege access needed to complete a taskControlMay 9, 2026
Principle of Liquid DisplacementnounMWE(hydrostatics) the volume of a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the volume of the displaced fluidverifiedMay 18, 2026
Principle of ParsimonynounMWEthe principle that entities should not be multiplied needlesslyverifiedMay 18, 2026
Principle of RelativitynounMWE(physics) a universal law that states that the laws of mechanics are not affected by a uniform rectilinear motion of the system of coordinates to which they are referredverifiedMay 18, 2026
Principle of SuperpositionnounMWEthe displacement of any point due to the superposition of wave systems is equal to the sum of the displacements of the individual waves at that pointverifiedMay 18, 2026
Print BuffernounMWEa buffer that stores data until the printer is readyverifiedMay 18, 2026
Print MedianounMWEa medium that disseminates printed matterverifiedMay 18, 2026
Print RunnounMWEthe period that presses run to produce an issue of a newspaperverifiedMay 18, 2026
Print SellernounMWEsomeone who sells etchings and engravings etc.verifiedMay 18, 2026
Print ShopnounMWEa workplace where printing is doneverifiedMay 18, 2026
Print SuppressionnounMWEEliminating the display of characters in order to preserve their secrecy.ControlRegulatedMay 12, 2026
Printed CircuitnounMWEcomputer circuit consisting of an electronic sub-assemblyverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printed SymbolnounMWEa written or printed symbolverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printernoun(computer science) an output device that prints the results of data processingverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printer CablenounMWEa cable between a computer and a printerverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printer's DevilnounMWEan apprentice in a printing establishmentverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printer's InknounMWEa semisolid quick drying ink made especially for use in printingverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printingnounthe business of producing printed material for sale or distributionverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printing BusinessnounMWEa company that does commercial printingverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printing CompanynounMWEa company that does commercial printingverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printing ConcernnounMWEa company that does commercial printingverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printing InknounMWEa semisolid quick drying ink made especially for use in printingverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printing OperationnounMWEan operation that controls the printing or display of informationverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printing PressnounMWEa machine used for printingverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printing ProcessnounMWEreproduction by applying ink to paper as for publicationverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printing ShopnounMWEa workplace where printing is doneverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printing UnitnounMWEa unit of measurement for printingverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printmakernounan artist who designs and makes printsverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printmakingnounartistic design and manufacture of prints as woodcuts or silkscreensverifiedMay 18, 2026
Printoutnounthe output of a computer in printed formverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prionnoun(microbiology) an infectious protein particle similar to a virus but lacking nucleic acidverifiedMay 18, 2026
priornounExisting or coming before in time, order, or importance.candidateMay 9, 2026
prior tonounMWEThis limits a Control or Mandate's secondary verb to be put into play before the event takes place.RequirementRegulatedMay 12, 2026
Prioressnounthe superior of a group of nunsverifiedMay 18, 2026
prioritynounA category based on impact and urgency used to identify the relative importance of an incident, problem, or change and the required time for action to be taken. For example, the SLA may state that priority 2 incidents must be resolved within 12 hours.MetricMay 9, 2026
Priority ProcessingnounMWEAny operation or set of operations performed on personal data, whether or not by automated meansverifiedMay 18, 2026
Priorshipnounthe office of priorverifiedMay 18, 2026
Priorynounreligious residence in a monastery governed by a prior or a convent governed by a prioressverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prismnouna polyhedron with two congruent and parallel faces and whose lateral faces are parallelogramsverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prism SpectroscopenounMWEan optical instrument for spectrographic analysisverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prismatoidnouna polyhedron whose vertices all lie in one or the other of two parallel planesverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prismoidnouna prismatoid whose bases are polygons having the same number of sides and whose other faces are trapezoids or parallelogramsverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prisonnouna correctional institution where persons are confined while on trial or for punishmentverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prison CampnounMWEa camp for trustworthy prisoners employed in government projectsverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prison CellnounMWEa room where a prisoner is keptverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prison ChaplainnounMWEa chaplain in a prisonverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prison FarmnounMWEa camp for trustworthy prisoners employed in government projectsverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prison GuardnounMWEsomeone who guards prisonersverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prison HousenounMWEa correctional institution where persons are confined while on trial or for punishmentverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prison TermnounMWEthe period of time a prisoner is imprisonedverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prison-Breakingnounan escape from jailverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prisonbreaknounan escape from jailverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prisonernouna person who is confinedverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prisoner of WarnounMWEa person who surrenders to or is taken by an enemy in a time of warverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prisoner of War CampnounMWEa camp for prisoners of warverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prisoner of War CensorshipnounMWEmilitary censorship of communication to and from prisoners of war and civilian internees held by the armed forcesverifiedMay 18, 2026
Prisoner's BasenounMWEa children's gameverifiedMay 18, 2026
PrivacynounRestricting access to subscriber or Relying Party information in accordance with federal law and agency policy.RequirementMay 13, 2026
Privacy Impact AssessmentnounMWEAn analysis of how information is handled: 1) to ensure handling conforms to applicable legal, regulatory, and policy requirements regarding privacy; 2) to determine the risks and effects of collecting, maintaining, and disseminating information in identifiable form in an electronic information system; and 3) to examine and evaluate protections and alternative processes for handling information to mitigate potential privacy risks.ArtifactConfidentialPIIMay 12, 2026
Privacy SystemnounMWECommercial encryption system that affords telecommunications limited protection to deter a casual listener, but cannot withstand a technically competent cryptanalytic attack.SystemRegulatedMay 12, 2026
Privacy-By-DesignnounEmbedding privacy measures and privacy enhancing technologies directly into the design of information technologies and systems.ControlRegulatedMay 18, 2026
Privacy-Enhancing TechnologynounMWEA coherent system of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) measures that protects privacy by eliminating or reducing personal data or by preventing unnecessary and/or undesired processing of personal data, all without losing the functionality of the information system.CapabilityRegulatedPIIMay 18, 2026
Private AddressingnounMWEIANA has set aside three address ranges for use by private or non-Internet connected networks. This is referred to as Private Address Space and is defined in RFC 1918. The reserved address blocks are: 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 (10/8 prefix) 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255 (172.16/12 prefix) 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix)NetworkMay 12, 2026
Private branch exchange (PBX)nounMWEA telephone system within an enterprise that switches calls between enterprise users on local lines while allowing all users to share a certain number of external phone lines.SystemMay 12, 2026
Private CitizennounMWEa citizen who does not hold any official or public positionverifiedMay 18, 2026
Private CorporationnounMWEa corporation owned by a few peopleverifiedMay 18, 2026
Private DetectivenounMWEsomeone who can be employed as a detective to collect informationverifiedMay 18, 2026
Private EnterprisenounMWEan economy that relies chiefly on market forces to allocate goods and resources and to determine pricesverifiedMay 18, 2026
Private EyenounMWEsomeone who can be employed as a detective to collect informationverifiedMay 18, 2026
Private FoundationnounMWEa charity that does not receive a major part of its support from the publicverifiedMay 18, 2026
Private InstructornounMWEa person who gives private instruction (as in singing, acting, etc.)verifiedMay 18, 2026
Private InvestigatornounMWEsomeone who can be employed as a detective to collect informationverifiedMay 18, 2026
private keynounMWEA cryptographic key, used with a public key cryptographic algorithm, that is uniquely associated with an entity and is not made public. In an asymmetric (public) cryptosystem, the private key is associated with a public key. Depending on the algorithm, the private key may be used, for example, to: 1) Compute the corresponding public key, 2) Compute a digital signature that may be verified by the corresponding public key, 3) Decrypt keys that were encrypted by the corresponding public key, or 4) Compute a shared secret during a key-agreement transaction.CredentialMay 9, 2026
Private key infrastructure (PKI)nounMWEThe use of public key cryptography in which each customer has a key pair (e.g., a unique electronic value called a public key and a mathematically-related private key). The private key is used to encrypt (sign) a message that can only be decrypted by the cor-responding public key or to decrypt a message previously encrypted with the public key. The public key is used to decrypt a message previously encrypted (signed) using an individual's private key or to encrypt a message so that it can only be decrypted (read) using the intended recipient's private key.CredentialMay 9, 2026
Private label cardnounMWESee "Store Card".DataRegulatedPCIMay 9, 2026
Private LinenounMWEa telephone line serving a single subscriberverifiedMay 18, 2026
Private NuisancenounMWEa nuisance that interferes with your interest in and private use and enjoyment of your landverifiedMay 18, 2026
Private PartsnounMWEexternal sex organverifiedMay 18, 2026
Private PracticenounMWEthe practice of a profession independently and not as an employeeverifiedMay 18, 2026
Private PropertynounMWEmovable property (as distinguished from real estate)verifiedMay 18, 2026
Private RoadnounMWEa road leading up to a private houseverifiedMay 18, 2026
Private SchoolnounMWEa school established and controlled privately and supported by endowment and tuitionverifiedMay 18, 2026
Private Security ForcenounMWEa privately employed group hired to protect the security of a business or industryverifiedMay 18, 2026
Private TreatynounMWEa sale of property at a price agreed on by the seller and buyer without an intervening agencyverifiedMay 18, 2026
Privateernouna privately owned warship commissioned to prey on the commercial shipping or warships of an enemy nationverifiedMay 18, 2026
Privateersmannounan officer or crew member of a privateerverifiedMay 18, 2026
Privately Held CorporationnounMWEa corporation owned by a few peopleverifiedMay 18, 2026
Privatenessnounthe quality of being secluded from the presence or view of othersverifiedMay 18, 2026