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prefix from Latin de down, from, away; as in debark, decline, decease, deduct, decamp. In words from the French it is equivalent to Latin dis- apart, away; or sometimes to de. Cf. Dis-. It is negative and opposite in derange, deform, destroy, etc. It is intensive in deprave, despoil, declare, desolate, etc.…

debase the character by crime; to debase the mind by frivolity; to debase style by vulgar words. The coin which was adulterated and debased. Hale. It is a kind of taking God's name in vain to debase religion with such frivolous disputes. Hooker. And to debase the sons, exalts the sires. Pope.

To contend for in words or arguments; to strive to maintain by reasoning; to dispute; to contest; to discuss; to argue for and against. A wise council . . . that did debate this business. Shak. Debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself. Prov. xxv. 9.

to take away as if by deception. These occupations oftentimes deceived The listless hour. Wordsworth.

The quality or state of being decent, suitable, or becoming, in words or behavior; propriety of form in social intercourse, in actions, or in discourse; proper formality; becoming ceremony; seemliness; hence, freedom from obscenity or indecorum; modesty. Observances of time, place, and of decency in general. Burke. Imm…

Suitable in words, behavior, dress, or ceremony; becoming; fit; decorous; proper; seemly; as, decent conduct; decent language. Shak. Before his decent steps. Milton.

To find out, so as to be able to make known the meaning of; to make out or read, as words badly written or partly obliterated; to detect; to reveal; to unfold.

The form of the inflection of a word declined by cases; as, the first or the second declension of nouns, adjectives, etc.

The act of inflecting a word; declension. See Decline, v. t.,

t which is done or effected by a responsible agent; an act; an action; a thing done; -- a word of extensive application, including, whatever is done, good or bad, great or small. And Joseph said to them, What deed is this which ye have done Gen. xliv. 15. We receive the due reward of our deeds. Luke xxiii. 41. Would se…

Containing defamation; injurious to reputation; calumnious; slanderous; as, defamatory words; defamatory writings.

on; ascertainable; as, definable limits; definable distinctions or regulations; definable words. -- De*fin"a*bly, adv.

meaning of; to describe accurately; to explain; to expound or interpret; as, to define a word, a phrase, or a scientific term. They define virtue to be life ordered according to nature. Robynson (More's Utopia).

mits in signification; determinate; certain; precise; fixed; exact; clear; as, a definite word, term, or expression.

ification; a description of a thing by its properties; an explanation of the meaning of a word or term; as, the definition of "circle;" the definition of "wit;" an exact definition; a loose definition. Definition being nothing but making another understand by words what the term defined stands for. Locke.…

Limiting; determining; as, a definitive word.

he apostles vehemently dehort us from unbelief. Bp. Ward. "Exhort" remains, but dehort, a word whose place neither "dissuade" nor any other exactly supplies, has escaped us. Trench.

To render godlike. By our own spirits are we deified. Wordsworth.

; as, a deliberate opinion; a deliberate measure or result. Settled visage and deliberate word. Shak.

elicious landscape. Coleridge. One draught of spring's delicious air. Keble. Were not his words delicious Tennyson.