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48 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Daunt
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to make fearful; intimidate
- The steepness of the mountain daunted the climbers. |
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Dearth
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lack; scarcity
- When there is a dearth of food, many people may starve. |
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Debacle
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violent breakdown; overwhelming defeat
- The political debate turned into a debacle when the candidates started screaming at each other. |
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Debauchery
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wild living; excessive
- His debauchery left him almost penniless. |
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Debilitate
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to weaken; cripple
- The football player's career was ended by a debilitating injury. |
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Decadent
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decaying, especially in terms of morals
- Hitting the bars instead of going to class is decadent. |
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Decimate
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to kill or destroy a large portion
- The army was decimated. |
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Decorous
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proper; in good taste
- The New Year's Eve party was decorous until midnight when everyone went wild. |
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Defame
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libel; slander
- She defamed his character by making false accusations. |
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Deference
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submission to another's will
- She showed deference to her father by letting him have the first piece of pie. |
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Definitive
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conclusion; last word
- She gave him a definitive answer on the loan he wanted. |
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Degenerate
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to break down; to deteriorate
- The old neighborhood degenerated into a terrible slum. |
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Deleterious
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harmful
- Smoking cigarettes is deleterious to your health. |
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Delineate
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to describe accurately; outline
- He clearly delineated his plan. |
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Delude
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deceive
- The con man deluded us into thinking he would make us rich. |
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Deluge
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flood
- The reward brought in a deluge of hot leads. |
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Demagogue
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a leader of the people
- The demagogue in the protest gave a speech to his followers. |
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Denizen
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inhabitant
- He was a denizen of the local pub. |
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Depravity
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extreme wickedness or corruption
- He exhibited depravity even in his younger years. |
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Deprecate
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to express disapproval of
- The professor deprecated the student's choice to drop out of school. |
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Deride
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ridicule
- The sports writer derided the football team. |
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Desiccate
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to dry out
- The hot wind desiccated a few grapes remaining on the vine. |
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Despondent
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extremely depressed
- The cook became despondent after the wedding cake exploded. |
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Despot
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an abosolute ruler
- Marisol was a despot; workers who disagreed with her were fired. |
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Destitute
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extremely poor
- They were left destitute after their house burned down. |
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Desultory
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without a plan or purpose
- Nothing came from her desultory attempt to start a business. |
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Dextrous
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skillful
- Donald trump is a dextrous businessman. |
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Dialectical
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relating to discussions; rules for reasoning
- The game of Twenty Questions is dialectical. |
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Dictum
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an authoritative saying
- "No pain, no gain" is the dictum of sadistic coaches everywhere. |
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Didactic
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intended to teach; morally instructive
- The priest's conversation was always didactic. |
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Diffident
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timid; lacking in self-confidence
- The diffident student never made a single comment in class. |
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Digress
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to stray from the main subject
- The teacher always digressed. |
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Dilettante
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someone with superficial knowledge of the arts
- Jill said she was a wine expert, but she was merely a dilettante. |
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Discern
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to have insight
- The writer's work demonstrated discern. |
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Discreet
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prudent; reserved
- The psychiatrist was very discreet about what was discussed behind closed doors. |
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Discrete
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unconnected; separate
- The twins were identical but their personalities were discrete. |
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Disdain
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arrogant scorn
- The millionaire looked upon the poor workers with disdain. |
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Disinterested
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not taking sides; unbiased
- The disinterested witness was allowed to leave the courtroom. |
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Disparge
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to belittle
- The mayor disparged our efforts. |
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Disparate
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different; incompatible
- The disparate groups were united only by their dislike of the candidate. |
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Disseminate
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to spread the seeds of something
- News is disseminated through many mediums. |
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Dissipate
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to thin out or dissolve
- The smoke dissipated as the day wore on. |
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Distend
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to swell
- The tire distended as it was pumped with air. |
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Docile
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easily taught; obedient
- The docile students memorized all their vocab words. |
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Doctrinaire
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inflexibly committed to a doctorine or theory without regard to its practicality
- The old medicine woman, many felt, had doctrinaire views. |
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Dogmatic
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arrogantly assertive of unproven ideas
- Andrea was very dogmatic in her strange theories. |
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Dubious
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uncertain
- We were dubious as to whether or not our group project would get a good mark. |
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Duplicity
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the act of being two-faced
- Carol, the liar, engaged in duplicity on a daily basis. |
