defend, v. guard, protect, shield, secure, screen, shelter, fortify, garrison, preserve, harbor, countenance; uphold, espouse, vindicate, advocate, plead, justify, maintain.
defender, n. defendant, vindicator, advocate, champion, pleader, asserter, upholder, guardian.
defense, n. protection, defending, maintenance; guard, protection, palisade, rampart, bulwark, fortress, blockhouse, fortification, earthwork, breastwork, shield, armor, stockade, buckler, redoubt, remblai, palladium, garrison, ravelin, reliance, muniment, machicolation; vindication, advocacy, plea, excuse. Antonyms: betrayal, exposure, surrender, abandonment, capitulation.
defiance, n. challenge, provocation; opposition, insubmission, contumacy, contempt, insubordination, insurgency, mutiny, rebellion, recalcitration.
defiant, a. disobedient, insubmissive, contumacious, bellicose, rebellious, contumelious, refractory, cockahoop, mutinous. Antonyms: obedient, tractable, submissive.
deficiency, n. inadequacy, insufficiency, shortage, meagreness.
deficient, a. defective, imperfect, meagre, scanty, inadequate, insufficient.
defile, v. contaminate, pollute, soil, befoul, vitiate, taint, corrupt, infect, sully.
defilement, n. contamination, pollution, vitiation, corruption.
definite, a. positive, specific, express, explicit, specified, exact, precise. Antonyms: See indefinite.
definition, n. explanation, description; lexigraphy.
deformed, a. misshapen, disfigured, crippled.
deformity, n. malformation, disfigurement, unshapeliness distortion. Associated words: orthopedy, orthopraxy, orthopedic, orthopedist.
defraud, v. See cheat.
deft, a. dexterous, adroit, expert, skillful, apt, clever.
defy, v. challenge, dare; spurn, flout, scorn.
degeneracy, n. decline, degeneration, retrogression, deterioration.
degenerate, v. deteriorate, retrograde, decline.
degeneration, n. deterioration, decline, retrogradation, degeneracy, vitiation.
degradation, n. abasement, debasement, disgrace, humiliation.
degrade, v. abase, debase, disgrace, pervert, humiliate, dishonor.
degraded, a. debased, low, shameful.
deiflcation, n. apotheosis.
deify, v. apotheosize.
deign, v. condescend, vouchsafe.
delay, n. deferring, deferment, procrastination, postponement, respite, reprieve; retardation, retention, obstruction; dawdling, lingering, dalliance. Antonyms: dispatch, promptness, expedition, haste.
delay, v. postpone, defer, procrastinate, suspend, reprieve, retard, impede, hinder, obstruct; linger, tarry, dawdle, dally. Antonyms: dispatch, hasten, expedite, facilitate.
delegate, v. depute, commission.
delegate, n. deputy, proxy, vicar, commissioner, legate, envoy, appointee, surrogate.
deleterious, a. hurtful, noxious, pernicious.
deliberate, a. intentional, premeditated, prepense, done on purpose. Antonyms: accidental, unconscious, unpremeditated, unintentional.
deliberation, n. consideration, discussion, consultation.
delicacy, n. daintiness, fineness, frailty, refinement, fastidiousness, discrimination, sensitiveness; dainty, tidbit, junket. Antonyms: indelicacy, coarseness, indiscrimination.
delicate, a. graceful, fine, exquisite, minute, slender; refined, sensitive, fastidious, dainty; critical, ticklish. Antonyms: See indelicate.
delicious, a. luscious, palatable, savory, exquisite, delightful. Antonyms: unpalatable, nauseous, distasteful fulsome.
delighted, a. charmed, overjoyed, enraptured.
delightful, a. charming, enchanting, rapturous, beatific, ravishing, delectable, pleasurable, delicious, congenial, enjoyable.
delirious, a. irrational. Antonyms: rational, lucid, sane.
delirium tremens. mania a potu, œnomania, the horrors (Colloq.).
deliverance, n. rescue, salvation, redemption; extrication, acquittance.
delivery, n. rescue, release, liberation, deliverance, extrication; surrender, conveyance, transfer, transmission.
delusion, n. illusion, deception, phantasm, hallucination, mockery, ruse. Antonyms: disillusionment, disenchantment, reality, actuality, fact.
demand, n. exaction, requisition, requirement, order, request.
demeanor, n. deportment, carriage, behavior, bearing, mien.
demerit, n. fault, wrongdoing, misconduct, delinquency.
demolish, v. See destroy.
demon, n. devil, fiend, Mara. Associated words: demoniac, demonocracy, pandemonium, demonology, sabbat, demonophobia, polydemonism, demonism, exorcise, exorcism, exorcist.
demon worship. demonolatry.
demoralize, v. deprave, debase, corrupt, vitiate.
demure, a. sedate, sober, staid, decorous.
den, n. cavern, cave, lair; retreat, haunt, squalid resort.
denial, n. negation, rejection, disclaimer, disavowal, controverting, abjuration, disacknowledgment, refusal, abnegation, renunciation. Antonyms: affirmation, acceptance, avowal, confession.
denote, v. signify, imply, indicate, betoken.
denouncing, n. denunciation.
dent, n. indentation.--v. indent.
denunciation, n. condemnation, arraignment, accusation, fulmination, malediction, stigmatizing.
denunciatory, a. condemnatory, comminatory, fulminatory
deny, v. gainsay, contradict; disavow, disown, abjure, renounce, abnegate.
department, n. division, section, part, category; district, precinct, branch, province; station, sphere, capacity.
departure, n. deviation; retirement, withdrawal.
dependable, a. trustworthy, trusty, reliable. Antonyms: untrustworthy, unreliable.
dependant, n. retainer, vassal, minion, subject, feudatory, adherent, satellite; corollary, consequence, concomitant.
dependence, n. suspension, dependency; reliance, trust; mainstay, support; contingency.
dependent, a. conditioned, contingent. Antonyms: independent, unconditioned.
depict, v. portray, delineate, describe, picture.
depiction, n. portrayal, delineation, description, picture.
deplore, v. lament, deprecate, bewail, regret, rue, bemoan.
deportment, n. behavior, conduct, demeanor.
deposit, n, deposition, sediment, precipitate, alluvium, alluvion, diluvium. Associated words: alluvial, diluvial.
depositary, n. trustee, guardian, fiduciary.
depository, n. storehouse, magazine, depot, warehouse, promptuary.
depot, n. depository, warehouse; station.
depredation, n. pillage, sacking, rapine, spoliation, plunder.
depredator, n. plunderer, pillager, despoiler, robber.
depressed, a. dejected, dispirited.
depression, n. cavity, hollow, indentation, concavity, dent; dejection, discouragement, despondency, vapors, gloom; inactivity, dullness.
deprive, v. dispossess, strip, divest, despoil.
depth, n. profundity; extent, measure, intensity; deep, abyss; astuteness, shrewdness, acumen, discernment. Associated words: bathometer, bathymetry, bathymetric.
derelict, a. abandoned, forsaken; lost, adrift; careless, negligent, remiss, delinquent.
deride, v. scoff, ridicule, mock, taunt, jeer, scout, jibe.
derision, n. ridicule, mockery, jeering.
derogatory, a. disparaging, detracting.
descendants, n. pl. progeny, posterity, offspring.
descent, n. descension; incursion, raid, foray; derivation, lineage, extraction, parentage, birth; declivity, slope, decline; dismounting; bathos; escarpment, scarp.
describe, v. delineate, depict.
description, n. delineation, depiction, portrayal; class, species, sort, character.
desecrate, v. profane, pollute, secularize.
desecration, n. profanation, secularization.
desert, n. wilderness, wild. Associated words: oasis, mirage, caravan, caravansary, eremic.
desert, a. waste, unproductive, barren, desolate, infertile, inarable. Antonyms: fertile, arable.
desert, v. forsake, abandon, leave, run away from.
deserted, a. forsaken, desolate, abandoned, derelict.
deserter, n. renegade, turncoat, delinquent, backslider, apostate, recreant, poltroon, rat, traitor.
desertion, n. abandonment. Antonyms: See faithfulness.
desert wind. simoon.
deserve, v. merit.
deserved, a. merited, condign. Antonyms: undeserved, unmerited.
deserving, a. meritprious, worthy, meedful. Antonyms: undeserving, unworthy.
design, n. sketch, draught, outline, plan; scheme, intention, purpose, project, intent, aim. Associated words: teleology, teleologist, teleological.
designing, n. artful, wily, crafty, subtle, politic, Machiavelian disingenuous. Antonyms: See undesigning.
desire, n. longing, craving, will, aspiration, hankering, appetency, cupidity, impulse; request, petition, quest, entreaty; velleity; pruriency. Antonyms: apathy, antipathy, aversion, inappetency. Associated words: desiderative, desideratum, orectic, optative.
desire, v. want, crave, long for, lust, covet, yearn, aspire, request.
desolate, a. dreary, waste; broken-hearted, inconsolable, solitary; devastated.
desolate, v. devastate, depredate, despoil, sack, lay waste.
despair, n. hopelessness, desperation, inconsolableness.
desperate, a. irretrievable, hopeless, incurable, remediless, outrageous, atrocious, monstrous, heinous.
desperation, n. despair, hopelessness, recklessness.
despicable, a. contemptible, abject.
despise, v. contemn, disdain.
despiteful, a. malicious, spiteful, resentful.
despondency, n. melancholy, depression, dejection.
despondent, a. disheartened, discouraged, dejected, depressed.
despot, n. tyrant, autocrat.
despotic, a. autocratic, tyrannical, absolute, despotical.
despotism, n. absolutism, autocracy, tyranny.
destìne, v. doom, preordain, appoint, foredoom.
destiny, n. fate, doom, lot, fortune.
destitute, a. devoid, deficient, lacking; needy, very poor.
destitution, n. privation, need, want, poverty, deficiency, indigence.
destroy, v. annihilate, undo, demolish, raze, desolate, devour, sack, dismantle, eradicate, exterminate, ruin. Antonyms: conserve, preserve, perpetuate, spare.
destroyer, n. iconoclast, annihilator, vandal, hun, destructionist, Apollyon.
destruction, n. annihilation, demolition, eradication, ruin, perdition, havoc, vandalism, subversion, desolation, devastation, iconoclasm. Antonyms: conservation preservation, perpetuation.
destructive, a. ruinous, iconoclastic, vandal, vandalic, internecine, deleterious, pernicious, annihilative.
desultory, a. fitful, irregular, cursory, unsystematic.
detach, v. disconnect, disjoin, sever, disunite, isolate, segregate.
detachment, n. disconnection, separation, disunion, isolation, segregation.
detail, v. particularize, enumerate.
details, n. pl. minutiæ, particulars.
detention, n. restraint, custody, confinement, arrest.
deter, v. hinder, prevent, dissuade, restrain.
deteriorate, v. decline, degenerate, retrograde; corrupt, vitiate, debase, degrade.
deterioration, n. decline, degeneration, retrogression; vitiation, corruption, debasement.
detest, v. loathe, despise, abominate, abhor, hate, execrate.
detestable, a. abominable, loathsome, execrable, abhorrent.
detestation, n. abomination, execration, loathing, abhorrence, antipathy.
deuced, a. (Low) devilish, excessive, extreme.
devastate, v. desolate, sack, despoil, ravage, plunder.
devastation, n. desolation, sacking, despoliation, ravage, havoc.
develop, v. mature, evolve; unfold, disentangle, unravel. Antonyms: atrophy, blast, blight.