<B>diacetonuria, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the presence of diacetic acid in the urine. </DL>
<A NAME="diaceturia">
<B>diaceturia, </B>noun. =diacetonuria.</DL>
<A NAME="diacetylmorphine">
<B>diacetylmorphine, </B>noun. =heroin.</DL>
<A NAME="diachronic">
<B>diachronic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>through the course of time or history; historical. <DD><B> 2. </B>treating a subject or event from a historical perspective; not synchronic or descriptive. <BR> <I>Ex. Historical (diachronic) linguistics is an honorable field of study; so is structural (synchronic) linguistics (George P. Faust).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diachronically">
<B>diachronically, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a diachronic manner; historically. </DL>
<A NAME="diachrony">
<B>diachrony, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>diachronic or historical treatment or arrangement. <DD><B> 2. </B>historical change or development. </DL>
<A NAME="diachylon">
<B>diachylon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an adhesive plaster consisting essentially of lead oxide and oil, much used as the basis for other plasters. Also, <B>diachylum,</B> <B>diaculum.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="diachylum">
<B>diachylum, </B>noun. =diachylon.</DL>
<A NAME="diacid">
<B>diacid, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Chemistry.) (of a base or alcohol) able to form a salt or ester by combining with two molecules of a monobasic acid or with one of a dibasic acid. </DL>
<A NAME="diaconal">
<B>diaconal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with a deacon. <BR> <I>Ex. diaconal office, diaconal ministrations.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diaconate">
<B>diaconate, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the rank or position of a deacon. <DD><B> 2. </B>a group of deacons. <BR> <I>Ex. Our diaconate meets to discuss church affairs.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diaconicon">
<B>diaconicon, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ca.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (in the Eastern Church) a building or room adjoining the church, where vestments, ornaments, and other equipment and supplies are kept; sacristy; vestry. </DL>
<A NAME="diacoustic">
<B>diacoustic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with diacoustics. </DL>
<A NAME="diacoustics">
<B>diacoustics, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the consideration of the properties of sound refracted by passing through media of different density. </DL>
<B>diacritical, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>used or meant to distinguish; distinctive. <BR> <I>Ex. No attempt, of course, is made at exhaustive analysis; the aim, rather, is diacritical, which is all one may fairly demand of an encyclopedia (Punch).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Phonetics.) used to distinguish sounds or values of letters. See also <B>diacritical mark.</B> <DD><B> 2. </B>capable of distinguishing or discerning. <BR> <I>Ex. diacritical intellect or power.</I> adv. <B>diacritically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="diacriticalmark">
<B>diacritical mark,</B> <B>point,</B> or <B>sign,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a mark placed over, under, or attached to a letter to indicate pronunciation, stress, accent, or other value. </DL>
<A NAME="diactine">
<B>diactine, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> (of a sponge spicule) pointed at both ends; having two rays. <DD><I>noun </I> a straight or curved spicule with two rays. </DL>
<A NAME="diactinic">
<B>diactinic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Physics.) capable of transmitting the actinic rays of light, as a lens filter. </DL>
<A NAME="diactinism">
<B>diactinism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Physics.) the condition of transmitting actinic rays. </DL>
<B>diadelphous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) <DD><B> 1. </B>(of stamens) united so as to form two bundles or sets. <DD><B> 2. </B>(of plants) having the stamens so united. </DL>
<A NAME="diadem">
<B>diadem, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a crown. <BR> <I>Ex. Christ wore a diadem of thorns.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>an ornamental band of cloth formerly worn as a crown. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) royal power, authority, or dignity; sovereignty. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to adorn with a diadem; crown. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) diadem'd with rays divine (Alexander Pope).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diadochi">
<B>Diadochi, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> the six Macedonian generals of Alexander the Great, among whom his empire was divided after his death in 323 B.C. </DL>
<A NAME="diadromous">
<B>diadromous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that migrate between salt waters and fresh waters. <BR> <I>Ex. diadromous fish.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diaeresis">
<B>diaeresis, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ses.</B> =dieresis.</DL>
<A NAME="diaeretic">
<B>diaeretic, </B>adjective. =dieretic.</DL>
<A NAME="diagenesis">
<B>diagenesis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Geology.) the modification taking place in a sediment from the time of its deposition to the time when it undergoes metamorphism. <DD><B> 2. </B>any chemical dissolution or recombination of elements. </DL>
<A NAME="diagenetic">
<B>diagenetic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or having to do with diagenesis. <DD><B> 2. </B>altered by diagenesis. <BR> <I>Ex. Pyrite and siderite grains are diagenetic (Lawrence Ogden).</I> adv. <B>diagenetically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="diageotropic">
<B>diageotropic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> tending to grow horizontally to the earth's surface, such as branches and roots. </DL>
<A NAME="diageotropism">
<B>diageotropism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the tendency of parts of plants to grow horizontally to the earth's surface. </DL>
<A NAME="diagnosable">
<B>diagnosable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can be diagnosed. <BR> <I>Ex. Despite their professed aches and pains ... [they] have no diagnosable physical ailments (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diagnose">
<B>diagnose, </B>transitive verb, intransitive verb, <B>-nosed,</B> <B>-nosing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to find out the nature of by an examination and careful study; make a diagnosis of (a disease or any other condition); diagnosticate. <BR> <I>Ex. The doctor diagnosed her illness as measles.</I> noun <B>diagnoser.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="diagnosis">
<B>diagnosis, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ses.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>the act or process of finding out what disease a person or animal has by examination and careful study of the symptoms. <BR> <I>Ex. The doctor used X rays and blood samples in his diagnosis.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>the opinion resulting from such investigation. <BR> <I>Ex. To most people, a tuberculosis diagnosis comes as an enormous emotional shock (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) <DD><B> a. </B>a careful study of the facts about something to find out its essential features, faults, or other characteristics. <BR> <I>Ex. The engineers made a complete diagnosis of the plane crash by examining the parts for defective workmanship.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a decision reached after a careful study of symptoms or facts. <BR> <I>Ex. The diagnosis blamed the collapse of the bridge on faulty construction.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Biology.) a statement of the determining characteristics, as of a genus or species. </DL>
<A NAME="diagnostic">
<B>diagnostic, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of or having to do with diagnosis. <BR> <I>Ex. a diagnostic approach to the problems of education.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>helping in diagnosis; serving to indicate the nature or character of anything, as of a disease. <BR> <I>Ex. diagnostic tests.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>Also, <B>diagnostics.</B> diagnosis, especially as an art or science. <DD><B> 2. </B>a symptom or characteristic of value in diagnosis. <BR> <I>Ex. Her pallor was a diagnostic.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diagnostically">
<B>diagnostically, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>by means of diagnosis. <DD><B> 2. </B>with reference to diagnosis. </DL>
<B>diagnostician, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who is expert in making diagnoses. <BR> <I>Ex. This instrument makes it possible for diagnosticians to listen to the heart (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diagonal">
<B>diagonal, </B>noun, adjective, verb, <B>-naled,</B> <B>-naling</B> or (especially British) <B>-nalled,</B> <B>-nalling.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>a straight line or plane that cuts across in a slanting direction, often from corner to corner. <DD><B> b. </B>(Geometry.) a line connecting two nonadjacent corners of a plane figure having four or more sides. <DD><B> 2a. </B>any slanting line, row, or arrangement of things. <DD><B> b. </B><B>=virgule.</B> <DD><B> 3. </B>a part of any structure, such as a beam or plank, placed diagonally. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>taking the direction of a diagonal; slanting; oblique. <BR> <I>Ex. a diagonal stripe in cloth. The ship sailed on a diagonal course across the Atlantic from New York to Cape Town.</I> (SYN) bias. <DD><B> 2. </B>having slanting lines, ridges, or parts, or having some part placed diagonally or obliquely. <BR> <I>Ex. a diagonal weave.</I> <DD><B> 3a. </B>connecting two corners that are not next to each other in a four-sided or many-sided figure. <BR> <I>Ex. a diagonal line.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(of a plane) extending from one edge of a polyhedron to another nonadjacent edge. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to move in a diagonal; diagonalize. <BR> <I>Ex. Red tubes arch over a horizontal wall band of rainbow colors, then diagonal down to the floor (New York Times).</I> adv. <B>diagonally.</B> </DL>
