the action of changing from colonial to independent status.

to release one's colonies and free them to become independednt nations; -- of nations.

To deprive of color; to bleach.

A substance which removes color, or bleaches.

To decolor.

The removal or absence of color.

To deprive of color; to whiten.

Repeatedly compound; made up of complex constituents.

Capable of being resolved into constituent elements.

To become resolved or returned from existing combinations; to undergo dissolution; to decay; to rot.

Separated or broken up; -- said of the crest of birds when the feathers are divergent.

Anything decompounded.

The act or process of resolving the constituent parts of a compound body or substance into its elementary parts; separation into constituent part; analysis; the decay or dissolution consequent on the removal or alteration of some of the ingredients of a compound; disintegration; as, the decomposition of wood, rocks, etc.

causing organic decay.

A decomposite.

Capable of being decompounded.

to subject to the process of decompression.

the process of experiencing decompression; the act or process of relieving or reducing pressure.

the process of experiencing decompression; the act or process of relieving or reducing pressure.

To withdraw from concentration; to decentralize.

Act of deconcentrating.

To decompose.

To deprive of sacredness; to secularize.

To interpret (a text or an artwork) by the method of deconstruction.

A philosophical theory of criticism (usually of literature or film) that seeks to expose deep-seated contradictions in a work by delving below its surface meaning. This method questions the ability of language to represent a fixed reality, and proposes that a text has no stable meaning because words only refer to other words, that metaphysical or ethnocentric assumptions about the meaning of words must be questioned, and words may be redefined in new contexts and new, equally valid and even contradictory meanings may be found. Such new interpretations may be based on the philosophical, political, or social implications of the words of a text, rather than solely on attempts to determine the author's intentions.

Same as decontruction{1}.

Of or pertaining to deconstruction or deconstructionism; as, deconstructionist criticism.

To remove contamination or contaminants from, by a cleansing process; -- usually used of radioactive, infectious, or toxic materials; as, to decontaminate clothing worn by persons with infective disease; decontaminate an area of PCB's after explosion of a transformer.

The removal of contaminants; as, the decontamination of a room after a spill of radioactive materials.

the layout, style, and furnishings of a livable interior.

Ornament.

To deck with that which is becoming, ornamental, or honorary; to adorn; to beautify; to embellish; as, to decorate the person; to decorate an edifice; to decorate a lawn with flowers; to decorate the mind with moral beauties; to decorate a hero with honors.

having decorations.

The act of adorning, embellishing, or honoring; ornamentation.

Suited to decorate or embellish; adorning.

One who decorates, adorns, or embellishes; specifically, an artisan whose business is the decoration of houses, esp. their interior decoration.

To decorate; to beautify.

Ornament.

Suitable to a character, or to the time, place, and occasion; marked with decorum; becoming; proper; seemly; befitting; as, a decorous speech; decorous behavior; a decorous dress for a judge.

To divest of the bark, husk, or exterior coating; to husk; to peel; to hull.

The act of stripping off the bark, rind, hull, or outer coat.

A machine for decorticating wood, hulling grain, etc.; also, an instrument for removing surplus bark or moss from fruit trees.

Propriety of manner or conduct; grace arising from suitableness of speech and behavior to one's own character, or to the place and occasion; decency of conduct; seemliness; that which is seemly or suitable.

Anything intended to lead into a snare; a lure that deceives and misleads into danger, or into the power of an enemy; a bait.

A duck used to lure wild ducks into a decoy; hence, a person employed to lure others into danger.

A man employed in decoying wild fowl.

One who decoys another.

A becoming less; gradual diminution; decay; as, a decrease of revenue or of strength.

made less in size or amount or degree. Opposite of increased.

Suffering no decrease.

Becoming less and less; diminishing.

Destruction; -- opposed to creation.

To make decrees; -- used absolutely.

Capable of being decreed.

One who decrees.

The final judgment of the Court of Session, or of an inferior court, by which the question at issue is decided.

The state of becoming gradually less; decrease; diminution; waste; loss.

Broken down with age; wasted and enfeebled by the infirmities of old age; feeble; worn out.

To crackle, as salt in roasting.

The act of decrepitating; a crackling noise, such as salt makes when roasting.

The broken state produced by decay and the infirmities of age; infirm old age.

With decreasing volume of sound; -- a direction to performers, either written upon the staff (abbreviated Dec., or Decresc.), or indicated by the sign.

A crescent with the horns directed towards the sinister.

An authoritative order or decree; especially, a letter of the pope, determining some point or question in ecclesiastical law. The decretals form the second part of the canon law.

A decree.

A decrease.

One who studies, or professes the knowledge of, the decretals.

Having the force of a decree; determining.

Decretory; authoritative.

In a decretory or definitive manner; by decree.

Established by a decree; definitive; settled.

To decrease.

A crying down; a clamorous censure; condemnation by censure.

One who decries.

To deprive of a crown; to discrown.

The removal of a crust.

To cry down; to censure as faulty, mean, or worthless; to clamor against; to blame clamorously; to discredit; to disparage.

to convert from a coded form into the original; -- of communications. Inverse of encrypt.

Act of lying down; decumbence.

An attitude assumed in lying down; as, the dorsal decubitus.

An accidental blowing off of, or other serious damage to, the breechblock of a gun; also, a removal of the breechblock for the purpose of disabling the gun.

Large; chief; -- applied to an extraordinary billow, supposed by some to be every tenth in order. [R.] Also used substantively.

a woody climber of southeastern US (Decumaria barbara) having white flowers in compound terminal clusters.

The act or posture of lying down.

Lying down; prostrate; recumbent.

In a decumbent posture.

Confinement to a sick bed, or time of taking to one's bed from sickness.

To make tenfold; to multiply by ten.

A head or chief over ten; especially, an officer who commanded a division of ten soldiers.

The office of a decurion.

The act of running down; a lapse.

Extending downward; -- said of a leaf whose base extends downward and forms a wing along the stem.

A flowing; also, a hostile incursion.

Running down; decurrent.

In a decursive manner.

To cut short; to curtail.

Act of cutting short.

A set or squad of ten men under a decurion.

To cross at an acute angle; to cut or divide in the form of X; to intersect; -- said of lines in geometrical figures, rays of light, nerves, etc.

Crossed; intersected.

In a decussate manner.

Act of crossing at an acute angle, or state of being thus crossed; an intersection in the form of an X; as, the decussation of lines, nerves, etc.

Intersecting at acute angles.

Crosswise; in the form of an X.

A hydrocarbon radical, C10H21., never existing alone, but regarded as the characteristic constituent of a number of compounds of the paraffin series.

Allied to, or containing, the radical decyl.

See D/dalian.

See D/dalous.

A division, at one end of a tennis court, for spectators.

Dead.

To bring to shame; to disgrace.

Disgrace; dishonor.

Disgraceful; unbecoming.

The shedding of teeth.

To set apart and consecrate, as to a divinity, or for sacred uses; to devote formally and solemnly; as, to dedicate vessels, treasures, a temple, or a church, to a religious use.

wholly committed to a purpose or cause; as, a dedicated musician.

One to whom a thing is dedicated; -- correlative to dedicator.

The act of setting apart or consecrating to a divine Being, or to a sacred use, often with religious solemnities; solemn appropriation; as, the dedication of Solomon's temple.

One who dedicates; more especially, one who inscribes a book to the favor of a patron, or to one whom he desires to compliment.

Dedicatory.