16-letter words starting with d
- direct democracy — to manage or guide by advice, helpful information, instruction, etc.: He directed the company through a difficult time.
- direct discourse — quotation of a speaker in which the speaker's exact words are repeated.
- direct free kick — a free kick awarded to a team as the result of a foul by an opposing player and from which a goal can be scored directly, without the ball being touched by another player.
- direct injection — Direct injection is a diesel engine injection system in which the fuel is injected directly into the engine cylinder.
- direct marketing — marketing direct to the consumer, as by direct mail or coupon advertising.
- direct-mail shot — the posting of unsolicited sales literature to potential customers' homes or business addresses
- directed verdict — an order by a judge to a jury to find a verdict because the facts proved are indisputable.
- direction cosine — the cosine of the angle made by a given vector and a coordinate axis.
- direction finder — a receiver with a loop antenna rotating on a vertical axis, used to ascertain the direction of incoming radio waves.
- direction number — the component of a vector along a given line; any number proportional to the direction cosines of a given line.
- director general — the executive head of an organization or of a major subdivision, as a branch or agency, of government.
- director's chair — a lightweight folding armchair with transversely crossed legs and having a canvas seat and back panel, as traditionally used by motion-picture directors.
- director-general — the executive head of an organization or of a major subdivision, as a branch or agency, of government.
- disaccreditation — to take away the accreditation or authorization of: to disaccredit a diplomat.
- disagreeableness — (uncountable) The state or quality of being disagreeable.
- disappearing act — magic trick
- discharging arch — an arch for taking some of the weight from a structural member beneath it.
- disclosing agent — a vegetable dye, administered as a liquid or in tablet form (disclosing tablet), that stains plaque, making it readily apparent on the teeth
- discographically — In terms of discography.
- discombobulating — Present participle of discombobulate.
- discombobulation — to confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate: The speaker was completely discombobulated by the hecklers.
- disconcertedness — The characteristic of being disconcerted.
- disconnectedness — The characteristic of being disconnected.
- disconsolateness — (uncountable) The state of being disconsolate; gloom.
- discontentedness — The state or quality of being discontented.
- discountenancing — Present participle of discountenance.
- discourteousness — The state or quality of being discourteous.
- discovered check — a check that is effected by moving an intervening piece from the line of attack of a queen, rook, or bishop.
- discovery method — a largely unstructured, situational method or philosophy of teaching whereby students are permitted to find solutions to problems on their own or at their own pace, often jointly in group activities, either independent of or under the guidance of a teacher.
- discriminability — The condition of being discriminable.
- discriminatingly — With discrimination.
- discriminatorily — characterized by or showing prejudicial treatment, especially as an indication of bias related to age, color, national origin, religion, sex, etc.: discriminatory practices in housing; a discriminatory tax.
- discussion board — a website or section of a website that is used for public discussion of a specific topic and on which users can submit or read messages: You should post your questions on a parenting message board and get support from other parents.
- discussion group — group assembled to discuss sth
- disembarrassment — Freedom or relief from impediment or perplexity.
- disenfranchising — Present participle of disenfranchise.
- disequilibration — to put out of equilibrium; unbalance: A period of high inflation could disequilibrate the monetary system.
- disestablishment — to deprive of the character of being established; cancel; abolish.
- disfranchisement — to deprive (a person) of a right of citizenship, as of the right to vote.
- dishonorableness — The property of being dishonorable.
- disincentivising — Present participle of disincentivise.
- disincorporation — to remove from an incorporated state or status.
- disingenuousness — The state or quality of being disingenuous.
- disorderly house — a house of prostitution; brothel.
- dispersal prison — a prison organized and equipped to accommodate a proportion of the most dangerous and highest security risk prisoners
- dispersing agent — a surface-active substance added to a suspension, usually a colloid, to improve the separation of particles and to prevent settling or clumping
- dispersive power — a measure of the ability of a substance to disperse light, equal to the quotient of the difference in refractive indices of the substance for two representative wavelengths divided by the difference of the refractive index for an intermediate wavelength and 1.
- displaced person — a person driven or expelled from his or her homeland by war, famine, tyranny, etc. Abbreviation: DP, D.P.
- displacement ton — a unit for measuring the displacement of a vessel, equal to a long ton of 2240 pounds (1016 kg) or 35 cu. ft. (1 cu. m) of seawater.
- display standard — (hardware, standard) IBM and others have introduced a bewildering plethora of graphics and text display standards for IBM PCs. The standards are mostly implemented by plugging in a video display board (or "graphics adaptor") and connecting the appropriate monitor to it. Each new standard subsumes its predecessors. For example, an EGA board can also do CGA and MDA. With the PS/2, IBM introduced the VGA standard and built it into the main system board motherboard. VGA is also available as a plug-in board for PCs from third-party vendors. Also with the PS/2, IBM introduced the 8514 high-resolution graphics standard. An 8514 adaptor board plugs into the PS/2, providing a dual-monitor capability. Graphics software had to support the major IBM graphics standards and many non-IBM, proprietary standards for displays. Either software vendors provided display drivers or display vendors provided drivers for the software package. In either case, switching software or switching display systems was fraught with compatibility problems. More colours are available from third-party vendors for some display types. See also MDA, CGA, EGA, PGA, Hercules, MCGA, VGA, SVGA, 8514, VESA.