World Book 1997 4.0

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<HTML> <HEAD><TITLE>DESPITEO</TITLE></HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"> <A HREF="a.dic">A</A> <A HREF="b.dic">B</A> <A HREF="c.dic">C</A> <A HREF="d.dic">D</A> <A HREF="e.dic">E</A> <A HREF="f.dic">F</A> <A HREF="g.dic">G</A> <A HREF="h.dic">H</A> <A HREF="i.dic">I</A> <A HREF="j.dic">J</A> <A HREF="k.dic">K</A> <A HREF="l.dic">L</A> <A HREF="m.dic">M</A> <A HREF="n.dic">N</A> <A HREF="o.dic">O</A> <A HREF="p.dic">P</A> <A HREF="q.dic">Q</A> <A HREF="r.dic">R</A> <A HREF="s.dic">S</A> <A HREF="t.dic">T</A> <A HREF="u.dic">U</A> <A HREF="v.dic">V</A> <A HREF="w.dic">W</A> <A HREF="x.dic">X</A> <A HREF="y.dic">Y</A> <A HREF="z.dic">Z</A> <A NAME="despiteous"> despiteous, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) <DD> 1. contemptuous. <DD> 2. malicious; spiteful. adv. despiteously. </DL> <A NAME="despoil"> despoil, transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to strip of possessions; rob; plunder. Ex. The cities of Greece and Asia were despoiled of their most valuable ornaments (Edward Gibbon). noun despoiler. </DL> <A NAME="despoilment"> despoilment, noun. =despoliation.</DL> <A NAME="despoliation"> despoliation, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> robbery; plundering; pillage. </DL> <A NAME="despond"> despond, verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD>v.i. to lose heart, courage, or hope. Ex. Though very ill, he did not despond. <DD>noun (Archaic.) despondency. noun desponder. </DL> <A NAME="despondence"> despondence, noun. =despondency.</DL> <A NAME="despondency"> despondency, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a loss of heart, courage, or hope; discouragement; dejection. Ex. Many disappointments caused his despondency and the old man retired to his farm to lead a hermit's life. </DL> <A NAME="despondent"> despondent, adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD>adj. having lost heart, courage, or hope; discouraged; dejected. Ex. Long lines of despondent-looking people lined up before the counter leading to Information Department (New Yorker). <DD>noun a person who desponds. adv. despondently. </DL> <A NAME="desponding"> desponding, adjective. =despondent.adv. despondingly. </DL> <A NAME="despot"> despot, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> 1. a monarch having unlimited power; absolute ruler. Ex. In ancient times many rulers were despots. <DD> 2. a person who does just as he likes; one who exercises tyrannical power; tyrant or oppressor. <DD> 3. a title meaning "master" or "lord," used in Byzantine times to refer to an emperor, or a ruler of one of certainlocal Byzantine states. <DD> 4a. a bishop or patriarch in the Greek Church. <DD> b. a noble, prince, or military leader in Italian cities in the 1300's and 1400's. </DL> <A NAME="despotic"> despotic, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of a despot; having unlimited power; tyrannical. </DL> <A NAME="despotical"> despotical, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Obsolete.) despotic. </DL> <A NAME="despotically"> despotically, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a despotic manner; with absolute power. Ex. In those days the father of the house ruled despotically. </DL> <A NAME="despotism"> despotism, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> 1. government by a monarch having unlimited power. <DD> 2. tyranny or oppression. <DD> 3. (Figurative.) absolute power or control. Ex. Such is the despotism of the imagination over uncultivated minds (Macaulay). </DL> <A NAME="despumate"> despumate, verb, -mated, -mating.<DL COMPACT><DD>v.t. to skim; free (a liquid) of impurities; clarify. <DD>v.i. to become free of impurities. </DL> <A NAME="despumation"> despumation, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a skimming or being skimmed. </DL> <A NAME="despun"> despun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> the past tense and past participle of despin. </DL> <A NAME="desquamate"> desquamate, intransitive verb, -mated, -mating.<DL COMPACT><DD> to come off in scales, as the epidermis in certain diseases; peel off. </DL> <A NAME="desquamation"> desquamation, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> 1. a coming off in scales; peeling. Ex. the desquamation following a bad sunburn. <DD> 2. a thing that comes off in scales. </DL> <A NAME="desquamative"> desquamative, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having to do with desquamation. </DL> <A NAME="desquamatory"> desquamatory, adjective. =desquamative.</DL> <A NAME="dess"> D. es S.,<DL COMPACT><DD> Doctor of Sciences (French, Docteur es Sciences]. </DL> <A NAME="dessert"> dessert, noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD>noun a course of sweets or fruit at the end of a meal. In the United States, pie, cake, ice cream, fruit, and pudding are desserts. In Great Britain, "dessert" often means fruit, candy, or nuts. <DD>adj. of or used for the dessert. Ex. dessert forks, dessert plates. </DL> <A NAME="dessertspoon"> dessertspoon, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a spoon larger than a teaspoon and smaller than a tablespoon, used in eating desserts. </DL> <A NAME="dessertspoonful"> dessertspoonful, noun, pl. -fuls.<DL COMPACT><DD> as much as a dessertspoon can hold; approximately 2 1/2 fluid drams. </DL> <A NAME="dessertwine"> dessert wine,<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various sweet wines often served with or after dessert, such as port, sherry, and Tokay. </DL> <A NAME="dessiatine"> dessiatine, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a Russian unit of land measure, about 2.7 acres. </DL> <A NAME="dessousdescartes"> dessous des cartes,<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) <DD> 1. the inside facts of a case; something not generally revealed. Ex. There must be some dessous des cartes, some invisible wheels within wheels which ... I cannot guess at (Lord Chesterfield). <DD> 2. (literally) the underside of the cards. </DL> <A NAME="destabilization"> destabilization, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act or process of destabilizing. Ex. Excessive inflation leads to destabilization of an economy. </DL> <A NAME="destabilize"> destabilize, transitive verb, -lized, -lizing.<DL COMPACT><DD> to deprive of stability; make unsteady. Ex. to destabilize a government. </DL> <A NAME="destain"> destain, transitive verb, intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to remove stain from (a microscopic specimen). Ex. The alcohol tends to bleach the dye. The slide must be watched carefully ... to prevent total destaining (Scientific American). </DL> <A NAME="destalinization"> destalinization, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the systematic effort by the leaders of the Communist Party in the former Soviet Union to discredit the reputation and dissociate themselves from the political principles and methods of Joseph Stalin. Ex. Her stay in Russia coincided with the thaw that followed destalinization (Time). </DL> <A NAME="destalinize"> destalinize, transitive verb, -ized, -izing.<DL COMPACT><DD> to subject to destalinization. </DL> <A NAME="desterilize"> desterilize, transitive verb, -lized, -lizing.<DL COMPACT><DD> to return to productive use (gold previously idle) in order to back a new issue of currency, support credit expansion, or the like. </DL> <A NAME="destijl"> De Stijl,<DL COMPACT><DD> a movement in modern art, originating in Holland in 1917, emphasizing abstract and geometric forms, especially rectangles, and the use of black and white and the primary colors; neoplasticism. </DL> <A NAME="destination"> destination, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> 1. the place to which a person or thing is going or is being sent. Ex. the destination of a ship, letter, or package. <DD> 2. a setting apart for a particular purpose or use; intention. Ex. The destination of his study is the law. </DL> <A NAME="destine"> destine, transitive verb, -tined, -tining.<DL COMPACT><DD> 1. to set apart for a purpose or use; intend. Ex. The prince was destined from his birth to be a king. <DD> 2. to cause by fate. Ex. My letter was destined never to reach him. We are decreed, Reserved, and destined to eternal woe (Milton). expr. destined for, <DD> a. intended to go to; bound for. Ex. ships destined for England. <DD> b. intended for. Ex. destined for the ministry. </DL> <A NAME="destiny"> destiny, noun, pl. -nies.<DL COMPACT><DD> 1. what becomes of a person or thing in the end; one's lot or fortune. Ex. It was young Washington's destiny to become the first President of the United States. Within limits man now controls his destiny (Atlantic). <DD> 2. what will happen, believed to be determined beforehand in spite of all later efforts to change or prevent it. Ex. He struggled in vain against his destiny. Marriage and hanging go by destiny (Robert Burton). <DD> 3. the power that is believed to determine the course of events; overruling necessity; fate. Ex. She felt that destiny had been unkind to her in making her poor. </DL> <A NAME="destiny"> Destiny, noun, pl. -nies.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Greek and Roman Mythology.) the goddess of destiny. expr. the Destinies, the Fates; the powers supposed to preside over human life. Ex. I shall not allow the Destinies to have had an hand in the deaths of the several thousands who have been slain in the late war (Joseph Addison). </DL> <A NAME="destitute"> destitute, adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD>adj. 1. lacking necessary things, such as food, clothing, and shelter. Ex. A destitute family needs help from charity. <DD> 2. (Obsolete.) abandoned; forsaken; deserted. <DD>noun Usually, the destitute, a destitute person or persons. Ex. The destitute filled the streets after the earthquake. expr. destitute of, having no; empty of; without. Ex. A bald head is destitute of hair. noun destituteness. </DL> <A NAME="destitution"> destitution, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> 1. a lack of the means of living; extreme poverty. Ex. Destitution is the mark of the slums. <DD> 2. the state of being without; lack. Ex. Destitution and destruction are the results of war. </DL> <A NAME="destock"> destock, transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially British.) to deplete the stock or livestock of. Ex. The drought and floods have destocked the Masai (Manchester Guardian Weekly). </DL> <A NAME="destool"> destool, transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (in western Africa) to depose (a chief). Ex. Every Ashanti chief has a stool, generally a low, slightly concave bench ... , and when a ruler is deposed, he is said to be destooled (New Yorker). </DL> <A NAME="destoolment"> destoolment, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a destooling. Ex. Failure to accept such guidance and advice was a legitimate cause for destoolment (Robert S. Rattray). </DL> <A HREF="destress.dic">NEXT</A>