| counterirritant | (noun) a medicine applied locally to produce superficial inflammation in order to reduce deeper inflammation | - |
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| counterpart | (noun) a duplicate copy | Synonyms: similitude, twin |
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| (noun) a person or thing having the same function or characteristics as another | Synonyms: opposite number, vis-a-vis |
| counterplot | (noun) a plot intended to subvert another plot | Synonyms: counterplan |
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| counterpoint | (noun) a musical form involving the simultaneous sound of two or more melodies | - |
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| counterproject | (noun) a project, scheme, or proposal brought forward in opposition to another, as in the negotiation of a treaty. | - |
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| counterrevolutionist | (noun) a revolutionary whose aim is to reverse the changes introduced by an earlier revolution | Synonyms: counter-revolutionist, counterrevolutionary |
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| countershot | (noun) a return shot; a retaliatory shot | - |
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| countersuit | (noun) a suit brought against someone who has sued you | - |
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| counterterrorist | (noun) someone who attempts to prevent terrorism | - |
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| counterweight | (noun) a weight that balances another weight | Synonyms: balance, counterbalance, counterpoise, equaliser, equalizer |
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| countryseat | (noun) an estate in the country | - |
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| couplet | (noun) a stanza consisting of two successive lines of verse; usually rhymed | - |
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| (noun) two items of the same kind | Synonyms: brace, couple, distich, duad, duet, duo, dyad, pair, span, twain, twosome, yoke |
| court | (noun) respectful deference | Synonyms: homage |
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| (noun) an area wholly or partly surrounded by walls or buildings | Synonyms: courtyard |
| (noun) a specially marked horizontal area within which a game is played | - |
| (noun) a room in which a law court sits | Synonyms: courtroom |
| (noun) a hotel for motorists; provides direct access from rooms to parking area | Synonyms: motor hotel, motor inn, motor lodge, tourist court |
| (noun) the residence of a sovereign or nobleman | - |
| (noun) an assembly (including one or more judges) to conduct judicial business | Synonyms: judicature, tribunal |
| (noun) the sovereign and his advisers who are the governing power of a state | Synonyms: royal court |
| (noun) the family and retinue of a sovereign or prince | Synonyms: royal court |
| covenant | (noun) a signed written agreement between two or more parties (nations) to perform some action | Synonyms: compact, concordat |
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| (noun) (Bible) an agreement between God and his people in which God makes certain promises and requires certain behavior from them in return | - |
| coverlet | (noun) a decorative bedspread (usually quilted) | - |
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| covert | (noun) a covering that serves to conceal or shelter something | Synonyms: concealment, cover, screen |
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| (noun) a flock of coots | - |
| crabmeat | (noun) the edible flesh of any of various crabs | Synonyms: crab |
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| crackpot | (noun) a whimsically eccentric person | Synonyms: crank, fruitcake, nut, nut case, screwball |
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| craft | (noun) the skilled practice of a practical occupation | Synonyms: trade |
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| (noun) a vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space | - |
| (noun) shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception | Synonyms: craftiness, cunning, foxiness, guile, slyness, wiliness |
| (noun) skill in an occupation or trade | Synonyms: craftsmanship, workmanship |
| (noun) people who perform a particular kind of skilled work | Synonyms: trade |
| craniologist | (noun) someone who claims to be able to read your character from the shape of your skull | Synonyms: phrenologist |
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| crankshaft | (noun) a rotating shaft driven by (or driving) a crank | - |
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| crapshoot | (noun) playing craps | Synonyms: crap game, crap shooting |
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| (noun) a risky and uncertain venture | - |
| cravat | (noun) neckwear worn in a slipknot with long ends overlapping vertically in front | - |
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| credit | (noun) recognition by a college or university that a course of studies has been successfully completed; typically measured in semester hours | Synonyms: course credit |
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| (noun) used in the phrase `to your credit' in order to indicate an achievement deserving praise | - |
| (noun) an estimate, based on previous dealings, of a person's or an organization's ability to fulfill their financial commitments | Synonyms: credit rating |
| (noun) approval | Synonyms: recognition |
| (noun) an entry on a list of persons who contributed to a film or written work | - |
| (noun) a short note recognizing a source of information or of a quoted passage | Synonyms: acknowledgment, citation, cite, mention, quotation, reference |
| (noun) arrangement for deferred payment for goods and services | Synonyms: deferred payment |
| (noun) an accounting entry acknowledging income or capital items | Synonyms: credit entry |
| (noun) money available for a client to borrow | - |
| crescent | (noun) any shape resembling the curved shape of the moon in its first or last quarters | - |
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| crest | (noun) a showy growth of e.g. feathers or skin on the head of a bird or other animal | - |
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| (noun) (heraldry) in medieval times, an emblem used to decorate a helmet | - |
| (noun) the center of a cambered road | Synonyms: crown |
| (noun) the top line of a hill, mountain, or wave | - |
| (noun) the top or extreme point of something (usually a mountain or hill) | Synonyms: crown, peak, summit, tip, top |
| crewet | (noun) bottle that holds wine or oil or vinegar for the table | Synonyms: cruet |
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| cricket | (noun) a game played with a ball and bat by two teams of 11 players; teams take turns trying to score runs | - |
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| (noun) leaping insect; male makes chirping noises by rubbing the forewings together | - |
| criminologist | (noun) a specialist in criminology | - |
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| crinkleroot | (noun) North American herb with pungent scaly or toothed roots | Synonyms: Cardamine diphylla, crinkle-root, crinkle root, Dentaria diphylla, pepper root, toothwort |
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| crit | (noun) a bicycle race held on a short course (usually less than 5 km or 3 miles) | Synonyms: criterium |
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| crochet | (noun) needlework done by interlocking looped stitches with a hooked needle | Synonyms: crocheting |
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| crocket | (noun) an architectural ornament of curved foliage used at the edge of a spire or gable | - |
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| croft | (noun) a small farm worked by a crofter | - |
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| croissant | (noun) very rich flaky crescent-shaped roll | Synonyms: crescent roll |
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| croquet | (noun) a game in which players hit a wooden ball through a series of hoops; the winner is the first to traverse all the hoops and hit a peg | - |
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| crosscurrent | (noun) actions counter to the main group activity | Synonyms: countercurrent |
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| (noun) a stretch of turbulent water in a river or the sea caused by one current flowing into or across another current | Synonyms: countercurrent, rip, riptide, tide rip |
| crosscut | (noun) a route shorter than the usual one | Synonyms: cutoff, shortcut |
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| (noun) a diagonal path | - |
| crotchet | (noun) a small tool or hooklike implement | - |
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| (noun) a strange attitude or habit | Synonyms: oddity, queerness, quirk, quirkiness |
| (noun) a musical note having the time value of a quarter of a whole note | Synonyms: quarter note |
| (noun) a sharp curve or crook; a shape resembling a hook | Synonyms: hook |
| crowbait | (noun) an emaciated horse likely soon to become carrion and so attractive to crows | Synonyms: crow-bait |
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| crowfoot | (noun) any of various plants of the genus Ranunculus | Synonyms: butter-flower, buttercup, butterflower, goldcup, kingcup |
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| cruet | (noun) bottle that holds wine or oil or vinegar for the table | Synonyms: crewet |
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| cruiserweight | (noun) A weight class division in combat sports, for fighters heavier than those in the middleweight division and lighter than those in the super heavyweight division. | Synonyms: light heavyweight |
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| (noun) a professional boxer who weighs between 169 and 175 pounds | Synonyms: light heavyweight |
| crumpet | (noun) a thick soft cake with a porous texture; cooked on a griddle | - |
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| crust | (noun) the trait of being rude and impertinent; inclined to take liberties | Synonyms: cheekiness, freshness, gall, impertinence, impudence, insolence |
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| (noun) the outer layer of the Earth | Synonyms: Earth's crust |
| (noun) a hard outer layer that covers something | Synonyms: encrustation, incrustation |
| cryostat | (noun) a thermostat that operates at very low temperatures | - |
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| crypt | (noun) a cellar or vault or underground burial chamber (especially beneath a church) | - |
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| cryptanalyst | (noun) decoder skilled in the analysis of codes and cryptograms | Synonyms: cryptographer, cryptologist |
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| cryptologist | (noun) decoder skilled in the analysis of codes and cryptograms | Synonyms: cryptanalyst, cryptographer |
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| cubist | (noun) an artist who adheres to the principles of cubism | - |
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| cubit | (noun) an ancient unit of length based on the length of the forearm | - |
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| cuckoopint | (noun) common European arum with lanceolate spathe and short purple spadix; emerges in early spring; source of a starch called arum | Synonyms: Arum maculatum, jack-in-the-pulpit, lords-and-ladies |
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| cucurbit | (noun) any plant of the family Cucurbitaceae | - |
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| culprit | (noun) someone who perpetrates wrongdoing | Synonyms: perpetrator |
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| cult | (noun) a system of religious beliefs and rituals | Synonyms: cultus, religious cult |
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| (noun) an interest followed with exaggerated zeal | Synonyms: craze, fad, furor, furore, rage |
| (noun) a religion or sect that is generally considered to be unorthodox, extremist, or false | - |
| (noun) followers of an exclusive system of beliefs and practices | - |
| (noun) followers of an unorthodox, extremist, or false religion or sect who often live outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader | - |
| cultist | (noun) a member of a religious cult | - |
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| (noun) a member of an unorthodox cult who generally lives outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader | - |
| culvert | (noun) a transverse and totally enclosed drain under a road or railway | - |
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| cumquat | (noun) any of several trees or shrubs of the genus Fortunella bearing small orange-colored edible fruits with thick sweet-flavored skin and sour pulp | Synonyms: kumquat, kumquat tree |
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| cunt | (noun) obscene terms for female genitals | Synonyms: puss, pussy, slit, snatch, twat |
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| (noun) a person (usually but not necessarily a woman) who is thoroughly disliked | Synonyms: bitch |
| curet | (noun) a surgical instrument shaped like a scoop to remove tissue from a bodily cavity | Synonyms: curette |
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| curettement | (noun) surgery to remove tissue or growths from a bodily cavity (as the uterus) by scraping with a curette | Synonyms: curettage |
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| currant | (noun) any of several tart red or black berries used primarily for jellies and jams | - |
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| (noun) small dried seedless raisin grown in the Mediterranean region and California; used in cooking | - |
| (noun) any of various deciduous shrubs of the genus Ribes bearing currants | Synonyms: currant bush |
| current | (noun) a steady flow of a fluid (usually from natural causes) | Synonyms: stream |
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| (noun) dominant course (suggestive of running water) of successive events or ideas | Synonyms: flow, stream |
| (noun) a flow of electricity through a conductor | Synonyms: electric current |
| curtailment | (noun) the act of withholding or withdrawing some book or writing from publication or circulation | Synonyms: suppression |
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| (noun) the reduction of expenditures in order to become financially stable | Synonyms: downsizing, retrenchment |
| (noun) the temporal property of being cut short | - |
| curvet | (noun) a light leap by a horse in which both hind legs leave the ground before the forelegs come down | Synonyms: vaulting |
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| cushat | (noun) Eurasian pigeon with white patches on wings and neck | Synonyms: Columba palumbus, ringdove, wood pigeon |
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| cut | (noun) the act of shortening something by chopping off the ends | Synonyms: cutting, cutting off |
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| (noun) the act of cutting something into parts | Synonyms: cutting |
| (noun) the act of penetrating or opening open with a sharp edge | Synonyms: cutting |
| (noun) a refusal to recognize someone you know | Synonyms: cold shoulder, snub |
| (noun) the act of reducing the amount or number | - |
| (noun) an unexcused absence from class | - |
| (noun) in baseball; a batter's attempt to hit a pitched ball | Synonyms: baseball swing, swing |
| (noun) (sports) a stroke that puts reverse spin on the ball | Synonyms: undercut |
| (noun) the division of a deck of cards before dealing | Synonyms: cutting |
| (noun) a trench resembling a furrow that was made by erosion or excavation | Synonyms: gash |
| (noun) a canal made by erosion or excavation | - |
| (noun) the style in which a garment is cut | - |
| (noun) (film) an immediate transition from one shot to the next | - |
| (noun) the omission that is made when an editorial change shortens a written passage | Synonyms: deletion, excision |
| (noun) a remark capable of wounding mentally | Synonyms: stinger |
| (noun) a distinct selection of music from a recording or a compact disc | Synonyms: track |
| (noun) a piece of meat that has been cut from an animal carcass | Synonyms: cut of meat |
| (noun) a share of the profits | - |
| (noun) a wound made by cutting | Synonyms: gash, slash, slice |
| (noun) a step on some scale | - |
| cutlet | (noun) thin slice of meat (especially veal) usually fried or broiled | Synonyms: escallop, scallop, scollop |
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| cutout | (noun) a part that is cut out or is intended to be cut out | - |
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| (noun) a photograph from which the background has been cut away | - |
| (noun) a switch that interrupts an electric circuit in the event of an overload | - |
| cutthroat | (noun) someone who murders by cutting the victim's throat | - |
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| cwt | (noun) a British unit of weight equivalent to 112 pounds | Synonyms: hundredweight, long hundredweight |
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| (noun) a United States unit of weight equivalent to 100 pounds | Synonyms: cental, centner, hundredweight, quintal, short hundredweight |
| cyberart | (noun) art that is produced with the help of computer hardware and software | - |
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| cybernaut | (noun) a computer user who uses the internet; someone who explores cyberspace | - |
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| cyclist | (noun) a person who rides a bicycle | Synonyms: bicycler, bicyclist, biker, wheeler |
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| cygnet | (noun) a young swan | - |
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| cymbalist | (noun) a performer on the cymbals | - |
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| cynodont | (noun) small carnivorous reptiles | - |
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| cyprinodont | (noun) any member of the family Cyprinodontidae | - |
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| cyst | (noun) a small anatomically normal sac or bladderlike structure (especially one containing fluid) | Synonyms: vesicle |
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| (noun) a closed sac that develops abnormally in some body structure | - |
| cytogeneticist | (noun) a geneticist who specializes in the cellular components associated with heredity | - |
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| cytologist | (noun) a biologist who studies the structure and function of cells | - |
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| cytoplast | (noun) the intact cytoplasmic content of a cell | - |
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| dacoit | (noun) a member of an armed gang of robbers | Synonyms: dakoit |
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| dacryocyst | (noun) either of the two dilated ends of the lacrimal ducts at the nasal ends of the eyes that fill with tears secreted by the lacrimal glands | Synonyms: lacrimal sac, tear sac |
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| dakoit | (noun) a member of an armed gang of robbers | Synonyms: dacoit |
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| danewort | (noun) dwarf herbaceous elder of Europe having pink flowers and a nauseous odor | Synonyms: dwarf elder, Sambucus ebulus |
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| dart | (noun) a sudden quick movement | Synonyms: flit |
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| (noun) a tapered tuck made in dressmaking | - |
| (noun) a small narrow pointed missile that is thrown or shot | - |
| davenport | (noun) a large sofa usually convertible into a bed | - |
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| (noun) a small decorative writing desk | - |
| davit | (noun) a crane-like device (usually one of a pair) for suspending or lowering equipment (as a lifeboat) | - |
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| daylight | (noun) light during the daytime | - |
|---|
| (noun) the time after sunrise and before sunset while it is light outside | Synonyms: day, daytime |
| deadbeat | (noun) someone who fails to meet a financial obligation | Synonyms: defaulter |
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| deadbolt | (noun) the part of a lock that is engaged or withdrawn with a key | Synonyms: bolt |
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| deadlift | (noun) a weight training exercise in which a loaded barbell is lifted off the ground to the hips, then lowered back to the ground | - |
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| deadlight | (noun) a strong shutter over a ship's porthole that is closed in stormy weather | - |
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| dealignment | (noun) a process whereby voters are moved toward nonpartisanship thus weakening the structure of political parties | - |
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| dearest | (noun) a beloved person; used as terms of endearment | Synonyms: baby, beloved, darling, dear, dearie, deary, honey, love, sweetheart, sweetie |
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| debarment | (noun) the act of prevention by legal means | - |
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| (noun) the state of being debarred (excluded from enjoying certain possessions or rights or practices) | - |
| debasement | (noun) changing to a lower state (a less respected state) | Synonyms: degradation |
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| (noun) being mixed with extraneous material; the product of adulterating | Synonyms: adulteration |
| debit | (noun) an accounting entry acknowledging sums that are owing | Synonyms: debit entry |
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| debridement | (noun) surgical removal of foreign material and dead tissue from a wound in order to prevent infection and promote healing | - |
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