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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.

Since 2007, Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip, where it has functioned both as a military force and a de facto government dispensing social services.

From Los Angeles Times

Or Roberto de Zerbi, whose football is undoubtedly excellent - or any of the other candidates, rather than stick with someone who has gone about his work in such a calm and unfussy way while, crucially, dealing with the spotlight constantly trained on Old Trafford.

From BBC

The geraisites were first documented in three municipalities in northern Minas Gerais -- Taiobeiras, Curral de Dentro, and São João do Paraíso -- across an area about 90 kilometers long.

From Science Daily

Gyllenhaal doesn’t deny that, to find the final version of the movie, she worked closely with Pam Abdy, who, along with Mike De Luca, is co-chair and co-chief executive of Warner Bros.

From Los Angeles Times

El Camino Real won its ninth City title thanks to Jayden De La Cruz, the sixth ECR player to try a penalty kick, delivering the decisive goal to beat its longtime rival.

From Los Angeles Times

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.