De Definition & Meaning

American

British

Etymology

Examples

de 1 American [duh, duh, de, di] / də, də, dɛ, dɪ /

preposition

1. from; of (used in French, Spanish, and Portuguese personal names, originally to indicate place of origin).

   Comte de Rochambeau; Don Ricardo de Aragón.

DE 2 American

abbreviation

1. Delaware (approved especially for use with zip code).

2. destroyer escort.

de' 3 American [duh, de] / də, dɛ /

preposition

1. dei (used in Italian names as an elided form ofdei ).

   de' Medici.

de- 4 American

1. 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 ).

D.E. 5 American

abbreviation

1. Doctor of Engineering.

2. driver education.

de- 1 British

prefix

1. removal of or from something specified

   deforest

   dethrone

2. reversal of something

   decode

   decompose

   desegregate

3. departure from

   decamp

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 DE 2 British

abbreviation

1. (formerly in Britain) Department of Employment

2. Delaware

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 de 3 British / də /

1. of; from: occurring as part of some personal names and originally indicating place of origin

   Simon de Montfort

   D'Arcy

   de la Mare

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 de 4 British

abbreviation

1. Germany

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of de1

From French, Portuguese, Spanish, from Latin dē

Origin of de-4

Middle English < Latin dē-, prefixal use of dē (preposition) from, away from, of, out of; in some words, < French < Latin dē- or dis- dis- 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Ms. Boehm is curator emerita of the Met Cloisters and a Chevalier de l’Ordre des arts et des lettres.

From The Wall Street Journal

The end of the de minimis exemption exposed millions of packages to tariffs as well as more-extensive documentation requirements.

From The Wall Street Journal

It’s named for an electrical engineering alum who landed a job in 1909 selling explosives for the E.I. du Pont de Nemours Powder Company, and eventually worked his way up to treasurer.

From Barron's

It’s named for an electrical engineering alum who landed a job in 1909 selling explosives for the E.I. du Pont de Nemours Powder Company, and eventually worked his way up to treasurer.

From Barron's

The area sits at a unique ecological crossroads where the Amazon forest meets the Llanos de Moxos savannas.

From Science Daily

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.