- removal of or from something specified: deforest, dethrone
- reversal of something: decode, decompose, desegregate
- departure from: decamp
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
de
(də; Fr. də;
Sp. de;
Port. di),USA pronunciation prep.
de-,
DE,
D.E.,
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026Sp. de;
Port. di),USA pronunciation prep.
- from;
of (used in French, Spanish, and Portuguese personal names, originally to indicate place of origin):Comte de Rochambeau; Don Ricardo de Aragón.
- Latin dē
- French, Spanish, Portuguese
de-,
- a prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin (decide);
also used to indicate privation, removal, and separation (dehumidify), negation (demerit;
derange), descent (degrade;
deduce), reversal (detract), intensity (decompound). Cf. di-2, dis- 1.
- Latin dē- or dis- dis-1
- French
- Latin dē-, prefixal use of dē (preposition) from, away from, of, out of; in some words,
- Middle English
DE,
- Delaware (approved esp. for use with zip code).
- destroyer escort.
- dei (used in Italian names as an elided form of dei):de' Medici.
D.E.,
- Doctor of Engineering.
- driver education.
de-, prefix.
DE, an abbreviation of:
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- de- comes from Latin, and is used to form verbs and some adjectives with the following meanings:
- motion or being carried down from, away, or off:deplane (= move down or off a plane);
descend (= move or go down); - reversing or undoing the effects of an action:deflate (= reverse the flow of air out of something);
dehumanize (= reverse the positive, humanizing effects of something); - taking out or removal of a thing:decaffeinate (= take out the caffeine from something);
declaw (= remove the claws of an animal); - finishing or completeness of an action:defunct (= completely non-functioning);despoil (= completely spoil).
- motion or being carried down from, away, or off:deplane (= move down or off a plane);
DE, an abbreviation of:
- Place NamesDelaware.
Groot
(Du. кнrōt; Eng. grōt),USA pronunciation n.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Biographical Gerhard. See Groote, Gerhard.
Med•i•ci
(med′i chē; It. me′dē chē),USA pronunciation n. Gio•van•ni de'
(jô vän′nē de).USA pronunciation See Leo X.
Giu•lio de'
(jo̅o̅′lyô de).USA pronunciation See Clement VII.
Lo•ren•zo de'
(lô ren′tsô de),USA pronunciation ("Lorenzo the Magnificent''), 1449–92, poet and patron of the arts and literature: ruler of Florence 1478–92 (father of Leo X).
Ma•ri•a de'
(mə rē′ə də; It. mä rē′ä de).USA pronunciation See Marie de Médicis.
Med•i•ce•an
(med′i sē′ən, -chē′ən),USA pronunciation adj.
- BiographicalCatherine de'. See Catherine de Médicis.
- BiographicalCosmo or Cosimo de' ("the Great''), 1519–74, duke of Florence and first grand duke of Tuscany.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
de- prefix forming verbs and verbal derivatives
'de' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
AC
- Acapulco
- ADC
- aide
- aide-de-camp
- Aisne
- à la
- Alarcón
- Albuquerque
- Alcázar de San Juan
- Alemán
- Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
- Alva
- Andorra
- Aneto
- Apollinaire
- Arc de Triomphe
- Armstrong
- Artaud
- Augustine
- avoirdupois
- Bahía de Cochinos
- Baker
- Balboa
- Balthus
- Banville
- Barclay de Tolly
- Baroja
- Barras
- Barros
- Basses-Alpes
- bastard
- batiste
- Bay of Pigs
- Bayard
- Beauharnais
- Beaumarchais
- Beccaria
- bêche-de-mer
- Beckett
- Benoît de Sainte-Maure
- Béranger
- Bergerac
- Berry
- Beza
- blind alley
- Boethius
- Boiardo
- Bois de Boulogne
- Bougainville