<B>desman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-mans.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> either of two molelike, aquatic, insect-eating mammals of Russia and southwestern Europe. They secrete musk. </DL>
<A NAME="desmas">
<B>Desmas, </B>noun. =Dismas.</DL>
<A NAME="desmid">
<B>desmid, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a large group of microscopic, single-celled, freshwater, green algae of widely varying form. The cell is typically divided into distinct halves by a constriction. </DL>
<A NAME="desmidian">
<B>desmidian, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with the desmids. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>=desmid.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="desmogen">
<B>desmogen, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the embryonic tissue of plants. </DL>
<A NAME="desmoid">
<B>desmoid, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>(Anatomy.) resembling a ligament. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Medicine.) interwoven in bundles; fibrous. <BR> <I>Ex. a desmoid tumor.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> (Medicine.) a desmoid tumor. </DL>
<A NAME="desmosine">
<B>desmosine, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an amino acid that serves as a cross-link for molecules of elastin. <BR> <I>Ex. Desmosine [is] probably largely responsible for the elasticity and stability of elastin, the main protein of the aortic wall (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="desmosome">
<B>desmosome, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an adhesive part of an epithelial cell by which it adheres to adjoining cells. <BR> <I>Ex. The epithelial cells ... are attached to one another at sites called desmosomes, each of which is somewhat like a spot weld (Scientific American)</I> </DL>
<A NAME="desocialization">
<B>desocialization, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>removal from society or from a social environment. <BR> <I>Ex. Worse even than locked doors was the intimate desocialization and dehumanization of the patients (Time).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the removal of the principles or practice of socialism from an industry, government, etc.. <BR> <I>Ex. If desocialization of steel isn't finished by then, a victorious Labor Party could more easily carry out its ... threat to reimpose state ownership on steel (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="desocialize">
<B>desocialize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to subject to desocialization. <BR> <I>Ex. Darkness isolates and desocializes the citizen (Harper's).</I> noun <B>desocializer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="desoeuvrement">
<B>desoeuvrement, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) idleness; lack of occupation. <BR> <I>Ex. I have nothing to write you, and write ... from mere desoeuvrement (Longfellow).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="desolate">
<B>desolate, </B>adjective, verb, <B>-lated,</B> <B>-lating.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>not producing anything; laid waste; devastated; barren. <BR> <I>Ex. desolate land.</I> (SYN) ravaged. <DD><B> 2. </B>not lived in; deserted. <BR> <I>Ex. a desolate house.</I> (SYN) uninhabited. <DD><B> 3. </B>unhappy; forlorn; wretched. <BR> <I>Ex. The hungry child looked desolate. The unemployed, by and large, are not the desolate-looking or acting lot of the 1930's (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>left alone; solitary; lonely. <BR> <I>Ex. No one so utterly desolate, But some heart, though unknown, Responds unto his own (Longfellow).</I> (SYN) forsaken. <DD><B> 5. </B>dreary; dismal. <BR> <I>Ex. a desolate life.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to make unfit to live in; lay waste. <BR> <I>Ex. The Vikings desolated the lands they attacked.</I> (SYN) devastate. <DD><B> 2. </B>to make unhappy or forlorn. <BR> <I>Ex. We are desolated to hear that you are going away.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to deprive of inhabitants. (SYN) depopulate. adv. <B>desolately.</B> noun <B>desolateness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="desolater">
<B>desolater, </B>noun. =desolator.</DL>
<A NAME="desolation">
<B>desolation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act of making desolate. <BR> <I>Ex. the desolation of the country by an invading army.</I> (SYN) devastation. <DD><B> 2. </B>a ruined, lonely, or deserted condition. <BR> <I>Ex. After the fire the forest land was in complete desolation. He described the utter desolation of the American Indians. Yon dreary plain ... the seat of desolation (Milton).</I> (SYN) ruin, barrenness. <DD><B> 3. </B>a desolate place. <BR> <I>Ex. The old prospector lived in the desolation of the California hills.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>sadness; lonely sorrow. <BR> <I>Ex. desolation at the loss of loved ones.</I> (SYN) grief. </DL>
<A NAME="desolator">
<B>desolator, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person or thing that desolates. </DL>
<A NAME="desorb">
<B>desorb, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to release (a gas or other substance) from a condition of being adsorbed or absorbed. <BR> <I>Ex. The gas removed from a leak-tight vessel at low pressures is that desorbed from the walls of the apparatus and the materials held in the vacuum (New Scientist).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to be or become desorbed. </DL>
<A NAME="desoriente">
<B>desoriente, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) having lost one's bearings; disoriented. </DL>
<A NAME="desorption">
<B>desorption, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the process of desorbing. <BR> <I>Ex. Even after the most careful preparation, desorption from the walls of the system constitutes a major source of the residual gas that keeps dribbling into an ultra-high-vacuum system (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<B>despair, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the loss of hope; state of being without hope; a dreadful feeling that nothing good can happen. <BR> <I>Ex. Despair seized us as we felt the boat sinking under us.</I> (SYN) hopelessness. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person or thing that causes despair. <BR> <I>Ex. Her temper tantrums were the despair of her parents.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to lose hope; be without hope. <BR> <I>Ex. The doctors despaired of saving the sick man's life.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> (Archaic.) to give up hope of. noun <B>despairer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="despairful">
<B>despairful, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> full of despair; despairing. adv. <B>despairfully.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="despairing">
<B>despairing, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> feeling, showing, or expressing despair; hopeless. <BR> <I>Ex. a despairing cry.</I> adv. <B>despairingly.</B> noun <B>despairingness.</B> </DL>
<B>desperado, </B>noun, pl. <B>-does</B> or <B>-dos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a bold, reckless criminal; dangerous outlaw. <BR> <I>Ex. Billy the Kid and Jesse James were two famous desperadoes of the Wild West.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="desperate">
<B>desperate, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>not caring what happens because hope is gone; reckless because of despair; violent. <BR> <I>Ex. Suicide is a desperate act.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>ready to run any risk. <BR> <I>Ex. a desperate robber.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>having little chance for hope or cure; very dangerous or serious. <BR> <I>Ex. a desperate illness.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>extremely bad; extreme; excessive. <BR> <I>Ex. The poor farmer lived in desperate circumstances.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>hopeless. <BR> <I>Ex. Lying is the last desperate resort of fools.</I> adv. <B>desperately.</B> noun <B>desperateness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="desperation">
<B>desperation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a hopeless or reckless feeling; readiness to run any risk. <BR> <I>Ex. They jumped out of the window in desperation when they saw that the stairs were on fire.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the act or fact of despairing. </DL>
<A NAME="despicability">
<B>despicability, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a being despicable. </DL>
<A NAME="despicable">
<B>despicable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> to be despised; contemptible. <BR> <I>Ex. Cowards and liars are despicable. It is despicable to go away and leave a cat behind to starve.</I> (SYN) vile, base. noun <B>despicableness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="despicably">
<B>despicably, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a despicable manner; contemptibly. </DL>
<B>despin, </B>transitive verb, intransitive verb, <B>-spun,</B> <B>-spinning.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to neutralize the effect of revolving motion by revolving an attached object in the opposite direction at the same speed. <BR> <I>Ex. To maintain permanent radio illumination of the Earth the horn aerial mounted at one axis is mechanically despun in the opposite direction to spin stabilization (Science Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="despiritualize">
<B>despiritualize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to deprive of spiritual character; affect with worldliness or materialism. <BR> <I>Ex. to despiritualize religion.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="despisable">
<B>despisable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> deserving to be despised; despicable. </DL>
<A NAME="despise">
<B>despise, </B>transitive verb, <B>-spised,</B> <B>-spising.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to look down upon; scorn; think of as beneath one's notice, or as too mean or low for one to do. <BR> <I>Ex. I despise baseball but I love basketball. Fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7).</I> (SYN) disdain, contemn. noun <B>despiser.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="despite">
<B>despite, </B>preposition, noun, verb, <B>-spited,</B> <B>-spiting.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>prep. </I> in spite of. <BR> <I>Ex. The boys went for a walk despite the rain. Despite various drawbacks, India is determined to raise her standard of living (Atlantic).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>insult or injury. <BR> <I>Ex. The hero avenged the despite done to his brother.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>malice; spite. <DD><B> 3. </B>contempt; scorn. <BR> <I>Ex. The Globe developed a despite for the entire leadership of the Conservative Party (Canada Month).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> (Archaic.) <B>1. </B>to regard or treat with contempt. <DD><B> 2. </B>to offend; vex. <BR><I>expr. <B>in despite of,</B> </I>in spite of. <BR> <I>Ex. [They] seized my hand in despite of my efforts to the contrary (Washington Irving).</I> </DL>
