D-day
or D-Day
[dee-dey]
- Military. the day, usually unspecified, set for the beginning of a planned attack.
- June 6, 1944, the day of the invasion of western Europe by Allied forces in World War II.
- Informal. any day of special significance, as one marking an important event or goal.
Show More
Origin of D-day
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for d-day
Contemporary Examples
Williams interviewed and profiled four D-Day veterans, showing his sensitive side without ever seeming maudlin.
D-Day was the first successful opposed landing on French territory—the country was held by the Nazis—in over 800 years.
D-Day was 70 years ago, and to midshipmen of today, it is all but ancient history.
There is a tendency to conceive of the Allied landings on D-Day as a single event, but in fact it was just the first step.
Did Churchill and Roosevelt agree about the when, where, and how of D-Day and the invasion of France?
D-day
- the day, June 6, 1944, on which the Allied invasion of Europe began
- the day on which any large-scale operation is planned to start
Show More
Word Origin
C20: from D (ay) -day; compare H-hour
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
Word Origin and History for d-day
D-day
1918, "date set for the beginning of a military operation," with D as an abbreviation of day, cf. H-hour, also from the same military order of Sept. 7, 1918:
The First Army will attack at H-Hour on D-Day with the object of forcing the evacuation of the St. Mihiel salient. [Field Order No. 8, First Army, A.E.F.]
"They designate the day and hour of the operation when the day and hour have not yet been determined, or where secrecy is essential" [U.S. Army Center of Military History Web site]. Now almost exclusively of June 6, 1944.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
D-Day
The code name for the first day of a military attack, especially the American and British invasion of German-occupied France during World War II on June 6, 1944 (see invasion of Normandy). This marked the beginning of the victory of the Allies in Europe. Germany surrendered less than a year later.
Show More
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.