decadal:  (adj.)  (pronounced:  deck-ah-dull)  something that happens every ten years; something that takes ten years to happen (such as growth).  See, by cutting down the tree we can measure its decadal growth with its rings.

declamation:  (noun)  recitative; oratorio; narrative.  After his public declamation about the need for compassion for the poor, the senator got into his Rolls-Royce and drove away.

déclassé:  (adj.)  (pronounced:  day-class-ay)  having fallen in social status.  No longer allowed to sleep under the overpass, Clifford considered it déclassé to now be sleeping in doorways.

decorous:  (adj.)  well-behaved; proper; demure.  Students are reminded that behaving decorously at tonight’s dance requires that clothing be worn at all times on the dance floor.

decry:  (verb)  to criticize; to complain; to belittle; to disparge.  The students all decried the end of summer.

defenestrate:  (verb)  to throw someone out a window; to remove someone from power.  The president, having been thrown from the window, was truly defenestrated.

deflicted:  (adj.)  a portmanteau of "defective" or "defunct" and "afflicted;" from Frank Zappa's 1974 album Apostrophe.  My computer was deflicted by the Yellow Snow virus.  

deign:  (verb)  to do something one considers to be beneath one's dignity; to condescend.  I do not deign to clean the toilet, nor shall I ever.

demagogue:  (noun)  a political leader who seeks support by appealing to the prejudices, fears, and desires of the ordinary people rather than with rational argument.  Tired of the president's demagoguery, the people took the precedented action of simply voting him out of office.

de minimis:  (adj.)  (pronounced:  day-men-ah-meese)  too trivial or minor to worry about, especially in law.  The supporters of the new law considered the opposition to be de minimis, even though they were clearly in the majority.

demoiselle:  (noun)  (pronounced:  dim-moi-zell)  a young lady; a damsel; a lady's maid.  As soon as the Queen was sleeping, the demoiselle let the bad guys into her chamber, and the rest is history.

demur:  (adj.)  reserved; modest; shy.  She may act demur, but that's only because she has to stay in her coffin during the day. 

denegation:  (noun)  denial.  Don's denegation of his affair wasn't enough to keep his wife, Donna, from putting rat poison in his oatmeal.

denizen:  (noun)  resident; citizen; native.  Humans should learn from the past:  Whenever the sails appear on the horizon, the denizens are screwed.  When the aliens land, we should shoot them.

denominate:  (verb)  to call; to name.  Well, yes, I do mind your denominating the entire outfit as lazy.  I work passably hard between breaks.

denude:  (verb)  to strip; to uncover; to bare; to remove.  The plants had grown over the statue of the naked man, so they had to denude the nude.

deodar:  (noun)  (pronounced:  dee-ah-dar)  a cedar native to the Himalayas.  When we found out that we couldn't have deodar trees in our yard back in Missouri, why, there was nothing to it but to move to Nepal.

deontology:  (noun)  (pronounced:  dee-on-tall-oh-gee)  the study of the nature of duty and obligation.  If you are to be a good ruler, you must be well-versed in deontology.

depauperate:  (adj.)  mostly dealing with biology, lacking in variety or number of species; imperfectly developed.  Your depauperate poppies are pathetic.

depilate:  (verb)  to remove the hair from.  Since I've retired, I no longer see much point in depilating my face every morning.

depute:  (verb)  to delegate; to appoint a task that a person is responsible for completing.  Carl was deputed to make sure the stove was off, which is probably why the house burnt down.

deracinate:  (verb)  to tear something up by the roots.  When we left our home of 30 years, we felt deracinated, and so did the plants we took with us.

derisory:  (adj.)  (pronounced:  duh-rice-ah-ree)  ridiculously small or inadequate.  Well, fine!  I may be derisory to you, but I'm sure I can find somebody who will love me just as I am!

dervish:  (noun)  a member of a Sufi Muslim sect that is known for their wild dances, which often involved whirling around (ergo, a whirling dervish); anyone who dances in wild abandonment, as would a member of that sect.  After throwing a no-hitter, Yu Darvish did a dervish on the mound.

descant:  (verb)  to talk tediously or at length.  (noun)  melody; harmony.  No matter how many times we heard the Professor descant about how any given word could have multiple meanings, we never got used to it.

descry:  (verb)  to catch sight of.  We were hoping to descry the Zombie Apocalypse, but it looks like we'll have to wait at least another day. 

detractor:  (noun)  a person who disparages someone or something.  The president's detractors cited his rectitude.

detritus:  (noun)  (pronounced:  det-try-tus)  waste or debris of any kind.  Memories are the detritus of your mind.

devilry:  (noun)  wicked activity.  Stop your devilry this instance, and go back to your trees!  I will not tolerate squirrels in the house!

diametrically:  (adv.)  completely; utterly; absolutely; totally.  We are diametrically opposed to anybody who is diametrically opposed to anything.

diaspora:  (noun)  (pronounced:  die-ass-poor-ah)  the dispersion of any person, but especially Jews, from their homeland.  Excuse me, sir, but we've been wandering around in this relatively small desert pretending that we're lost for the last forty years.  It's about high time this diaspora came to an end, don't you think?

dicky:  (adj.)  unsound; frail; infirm.  (noun)  a false shirtfront.  I beg your pardon; my dicky is being a bit dicky today.

dictatorial:  (adj.)  of, or pertaining to, a dictator; autocratic; tending to tell others what to do in a presumptuous manner.  Expecting the dog to go out only when you want him to is being a bit dictatorial.

didactic:  (adj.)  to be a bit... preachy.  The moral of her story was completely lost because she was so, so-o-o-o-o-o didactic.

diddle:  (verb)  to cheat or swindle somebody out of something; to pass time aimlessly; to have sex.  Dear, I know you have nothing better to do with your time than to diddle, but would you please stop diddling the servants.

dido:  (noun)  a mischievous trick or deed.  Billy Bob was doin' all those didoes with his car to impress the ladies, but the only person he impressed was the cop.  Of course, she was a lady cop, so I guess there's somethin' to be said about didoes.

diffidence:  (noun)  timidity; reticence; shyness; reserve.  If you're evil, then be evil.  There should be no diffidence here.

dight:  (adj.)  clothed; equipped.  (verb)  to make ready; to prepare.  We were all delighted when they finally dighted.

dihedral:  (adj.)  having an angle formed by two different plane faces, such as a bird whose wings, when gliding slant upward.  It's not that I don't care that vultures have dihedral wings, dear, it's just that I would care a whole lot more about such trivial matters if those vultures weren't already circling for us.

dilatory:  (adj.)  lazy; lacking; negligent.  We found the instructions for assembling the flamethrower to be rather dilatory.

dilettantish:  (adj.)  showing frivolous or superficial interest; amateurish.  Though her attempts to host a formal dinner party, at best, were dilettantish, she did make a pretty good potato salad.

dipsomaniac:  (noun)  a drunkard; an alcoholic.  I'm not sure which sounds worse, to be an alcoholic or to be a dipsomaniac.

disapprobation:  (noun)  (pronounced:  diss-app-pro-bay-shun)  strong disapproval, typically on moral grounds.  I hope you understand my father's disapprobation.  You see, he's a Headhunter, and he believes that anybody who doesn't hunt heads is... well... sinful.

discomfit:  (verb)  to make someone feel uneasy or embarrassed.  Nathan always found it discomfiting when his mother dressed like a hooker for Halloween... and Christmas.

disgruntlement:  (noun)  unhappiness; dissatisfaction; displeasure.  No longer able to keep the public gruntled, they took to the street to show the administration their disgruntlement.

disjunct:  (adj.)  disjoined and distinct from one another.  The cat and dog made a disjunct couple.

disparate:  (adj.)  (pronounced:  diss-per-at)  something that is so unlike anything else there is truly no grounds for comparison.  When the president's disparate actions became so commonplace that they were ignored... that's when we should've take particular notice.

dispiriting:  (adj.)  causing someone to lose enthusiasm and hope; disheartening; demoralizing; depressing.  Would you give it a rest, already?  You don't have to be so dispiriting.  We all know we're going to die someday.  You don't have to constantly remind us.

dispositive:  (adj.)  dealing with the disposition of property by deed or will.  The judge was dispositive when he decided who would get the cat.  The cat was also being dispositive when she decided she didn't want either of them.

disputatious:  (adj.)  argumentative; quarrelsome; difficult.  Why do you have to be so disputatious?  It's McDonald's.  They don't do medium well.

disquisition:  (noun)  essay; discussion; speech.  I shall write a disquisition on the efficacy of availing oneself of obscure vocabulary in the befuddlement of the masses.

disremember:  (verb)  to forget.  I'm sorry.  I disremembered to call you.

dissemble:  (verb)  to conceal one's true motives, feelings, or beliefs; to be less than truthful or forthcoming.  When working for a boss who is just a bit too nosey, it's often necessary to be somewhat dissembling when it comes to things like which church you attend on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and the occasional Thursday.

dissolute:  (adj.)  degenerate; depraved; immoral; debauched.  If you hang out with those degenerates, you'll soon be dissolute, too.

dithyramb:  (noun)  (pronounced:  dith-ah-ram)  an impassioned hymn and dance originally performed for the Greek goddess Dionysus; a wildly enthusiastic piece of writing or speech.  No matter how dithyrambic the politician got, he still couldn't convince us that he wasn't a crook.

djinn:  (noun)  (pronounced: gin)  in Muslim and Arab mythology, an intelligent spirit of lower rank than the angels (such as a genie) which can appear in many different forms, including human.  The djinn granted Larry three wishes, and none of them were worth a hoot.

dodgem:  (noun)  a bumper car; something that is behaving like a bumper car.  We were playing dodgems with the police all night, until finally they caught us behind the old warehouse.

dodgy:  (adj.)  evasive; tricky; not sound, good, or reliable.  Hiding the dodge ball in the Dodge was rather dodgy, to say the least.  Well, actually, to say the least would be to say nothing at all, but I digress.

dog-ends:  (noun)  very British term for cigarette butts.  Hey!  Don't throw your dog-ends in the urinal.  

dog and pony show:  (noun)  doing something for the sake of doing something; a showy action that accomplishes nothing; a clockwork orange.  Well, yes, Bob, it is a dog an pony show, but then, there really are dogs and ponies.

doggerel:  (noun)  verse or words that are badly written or expressed.  Upon closer expectation, their dogma was nothing more than doggerel.

dogma:  (noun)  principals set down by religious authority – but not based in canonized religious texts – as incontrovertibly true, often to explain those things that are contradictory or otherwise unexplained, in other words, those things that cannot possibly be true, but now are, beyond argument.  Our religious beliefs?  It's all dogma, based on absolutely nothing whatsoever with no guarantee of anything.  Many people join our faith because they find it so... honest.

dolorous:  (adj.)  feeling great sorrow or regret.  I mean, yeah, I suppose I could feel dolorous about all those dead people... who I accidentally killed... but that won't bring them back, now, will it?  So let's get a drink.

domiciliate:  (verb)  to establish a residence; to domicile.  It's hard enough to get the girl to marry you, but then you have to domiciliate her.  

donjon:  (noun)  the heavily fortified central tower – or keep – of a castle; the dungeon.  Don Juan was thrown in the donjon for having carnal knowledge of the queen.  Unfortunately, she was not amused.

doodly squat (also doodley squat, also doodly):  (noun)  of absolutely no significance whatsoever.  LeRoy had doodly, and Loretta had squat, and when they got hitched, then they had doodly squat.

doofus:  (noun; also, dufus)  really dumb, but in a rustic sort of way.  That Clem, well, I reckon he does those things because he’s a doofus.  Bonafide and certified.  I can’t think of no other explanation.

doohickey:  (noun)  a small object or gadget, especially one you don't know the name of.  When I said I would help you find your doohickey, I did mean I wanted a small bruise on my neck.

dotage:  (noun)  old age; declining years; second youth.  Dotty, in her dotage, insisted on wearing only dots.

dowager:  (noun)  a widow with a title derived from her late husband; a dignified elderly woman.  Listen lady, just because you're the Dowager Queen doesn't mean you're really a queen, and it doesn't mean you're very dignified, either.

dowdy:  (adj.)  dull, dreary, and drab.  The dowdy old man fancied himself an expert on the Ibis.

doyen:  (noun)  the most respected person in a particular field.  Clem sure is a doyen when he’s in the back forty, but you get him up in the front forty... why, he’s just full of hooey.

dragoon:  (noun)  any member of any calvary unit in the British army  (verb)  to coerce somebody into doing something.  We were dragooned into becoming a dragoon.

drawer:  (noun)  in finance, the British person who writes a cheque (or the American who writes a check), thereby telling the bank who to pay for that amount.  You wrote the check, dude, therefore you're the drawer, and since it's written to me, I intend to draw that amount from your account.

dreadnought:  (noun)  (from "dread" – fear – and "nought," which is a variant spelling of "naught," meaning "nothing" – fear nothing)  a type of battleship; a heavy overcoat used for stormy weather; but not a knot in your dreads.  You'd best wear your dreadnought if you're going out on the deck of the dreadnought; that way you'll have nothing to fear.

dreck:  (noun)  rubbish; trash.  After dandling with his emotions, she left him like dreck on the roadside.

drey:  (noun)  a squirrel's nest, usually the mass of twigs found in trees, but there are more than just squirrels that live in trees.  Hey, baby, let's go back to my drey and listen to Dr. Dre.

dross:  (noun)  something regarded as useless; rubbish.  Dear Sir:  We find you prose to be dross.  Please quit sending it.  

druthers:  (noun, usually plural)  one's preference in a matter.  I'd prefer not to have to do that, if I had my druthers.  But I don't even have one druther, so I guess it doesn't matter.

dugs:  (plural noun)  clothing; a derogatory term for a woman's breasts.  She covered her dugs with her dugs.

dulcet:  (adj.)  sweet and soothing, though often used ironically.  The dulcet sounds of the kazoo wafted through the darkening evening.

dunderhead:  (noun) a stupid person; a moron.  Don't be a dunderhead, Charles.  I may be having assignations with everybody in the neighborhood, but that doesn't mean I'm being duplicitous.

duodecimal:  (adj.)  a twelve-based counting system; dozenth.  I was not talking about the Dewey Decimal system.  That's libraries.  I meant duodecimal – a numbering system with 12 as the base... you know... like the time, or a yard stick, or donuts?

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