Word origins

• deliminateTo delimit.
• delimitateTo delimit, especially in the computing sense.
• DelobelA surname from French.
• delopeTo fire a gun into the air in order to end a duel.
• DeloshA surname from French.
• DelpuechA surname from French [in turn from Occitan].
• delvauxiteA yellow or brown amorphous mineral, sometimes forming a botryoidal mass or stalactites.
• demandantOne who demands
• DemarayA surname from French.
• demarchThe chief magistrate of a deme.
• démarcheA diplomatic maneuver; one handled with finesse.
• DeMaryA surname from French.
• demibastionA half bastion, or the part of a bastion consisting of one face and one flank.
• demibrigadehalf a brigade.
• demicadenceA half cadence.
• demi-caractèreWhich, in the historical French nomenclature, was halfway between serious (sérieux) and comic (comique); typically, where the protagonists or the plot were not noble enough compared to those derived from mythology or history, but could still convey serious emotions (see for example the 1886 Camille Bellaigue quotation about Bizet's opera Carmen under French demi-caractère)
• demicircleA semicircle.
• demiglaceA rich brown sauce in French cuisine, typically made from veal stock and espagnole sauce, used by itself or as a base for other sauces.
• demigorgeHalf the gorge, or entrance into a bastion, taken from the angle of the flank to the centre of the bastion.
• demijohnA large bottle with a short neck, sometimes with two small handles at the neck, sometimes encased in wickerwork.
• demimondaineA sexually promiscuous woman (of the demimonde).
• demimondeA class of women maintained by wealthy protectors; female courtesans or prostitutes as a group.
• demineTo remove explosive mines (landmines or naval mines) from.
• demireliefdemi-rilievo
• demi-secMedium dry (of wines).
• demissionResignation; abdication.
• demitazzaA small cup of Greek coffee or espresso, typically about 40-60 ml/2–3 fl oz capacity.
• demitintThat part of a painting, engraving etc. which is neither fully dark nor fully light.
• demiworldSynonym of demimonde (“class or group”).
• démodéOutdated, old-fashioned.
• demonetizationThe act or process of demonetizing (withdrawing as legal tender).
• DemontA surname from French.
• DemoryA surname from French.
• denationalizeTo transfer the control and ownership of an industry from government to private hands; to privatize.
• denivelationthe difference in level (depth) between two parts of a cave system, usually the highest and lowest known point. depth is the distance between the cave entrance and the lowest known point reached. denivelation is less than or equal to depth
• dénouementThe conclusion or resolution of a plot; unravelling.
• denticuleA small tooth or toothlike structure.
• d'EntremontA surname from French, variant of Entremont
• DentremontA surname from French, variant of Entremont
• Dents du MidiA three-kilometre-long mountain range in the Chablais Alps in the canton of Valais, Switzerland.
• départementAn administrative unit in various French-speaking countries, smaller than a région, similar to an English county.
• départementalOf or relating to a département.
• De PassA surname from French.
• depeachTo discharge or dispatch
• dephlegmationThe operation of separating water from spirits and acids, by evaporation or repeated distillation; concentration.
• dephlogisticateTo take away the phlogiston, i.e. ability to burn, which is now understood to be chemically impossible
• deplaceTo displace.
• depliageA surrealist method in which one removes the staples from a staple-bound magazine, making into one "page" what had previously been more or less widely-separated pages; the resulting "page" can either be kept as is or used as the basis for a collage.
• deplumeTo strip of feathers or plumage.
• DepreyA surname from French.
• depucelageThe loss of a girl or woman's virginity.
• depucelateTo take (someone's) virginity.
• depurativePurifying the blood or humours; depuratory.
• depureto depurate; to purify
• deracinateTo pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate.
• deracineHaving been uprooted.
• derangeTo cause (someone) to go insane or become deranged.
• DeranqueA surname from French.
• de rigueurNecessary according to etiquette, protocol or fashion.
• dériveA revolutionary strategy proposed in 1956 by Guy Debord: a mode of experimental behaviour linked to the conditions of urban society, in which participants drop their everyday relations and enter into spontaneous encounters and interactions.
• dermabraseTo perform dermabrasion.
• dernier criThe latest sensation; the last word, the newest or ultimate expression or example (of something).
• dernyA motorized bicycle for paced cycling events such as keirin.
• derobementAn avoidance of the opponent's attempt to take the blade or beat, performed with a straight sword arm.
• derouineAn expedition made to First Nations camps or villages for trade rather than waiting for the natives to come to the forts, often involving wintering in the camps.
• DerousseA surname from French.
• derrièreBottom, bum, backside.
• DeruelleA surname from French.
• DerushaA surname from French.
• DescemetA surname from French.
• desertriceA female deserter.
• deshabilleThe state of being partially clothed.
• DeshawA surname from French.
• DeshonA surname from French.
• DeShongA surname from French.
• desinenceA suffix used as an inflection; an ending; inflectional suffix.
• désintéressementNeutrality; renunciation of involvement or (especially territorial) ambitions.
• DésiréA female given name from French.
• DésiréeA kind of red-skinned, yellow-fleshed potato originally bred in the Netherlands.
• désoeuvréUnemployed; unoccupied, idle.
• de son tortWithout authority or right (to do something).
• DespatieA surname from French
• DesperA surname from French.
• despotatThe government or domain of a despot.
• DespretA surname from French.
• DespretsA surname from French.
• dessin d'enfantA type of graph embedding used to study Riemann surfaces and to provide combinatorial invariants for the action of the absolute Galois group of the rational numbers.
• DesvarieuxA surname from French.
• détenteRelaxing of tension, especially between countries; (countable) an instance of this.
• detergeTo clean (especially a wound) of undesirable material.
• detonableAble or liable to detonate.
• detournementThe reuse of elements of mainstream media to produce a subversive message.
• détraquéSomeone who is dangerously deranged; a madman, a psychopath.
• detrempeA batter similar to that used in tempura or in puff pastry
• de tropexcessive or superfluous
• développéA movement in which the leg is lifted to cou-de-pied or retiré and then fully extended outward, passing through attitude.
• de VilliersA surname from French
• Devil's IslandFormer name of Bermuda: an archipelago of North America in the Atlantic.
• devissageA technique introduced by Alexander Grothendieck for comparing invariants about coherent sheaves on noetherian systems.
• devoréA fabric technique particularly used on velvets, where a mixed-fibre material undergoes a chemical process to dissolve the cellulose fibres to create a semi-transparent pattern against more solidly woven fabric.