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• 'd
  'd

  contraction of had:
• D
  D

  noun

  the fourth letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
• D-
  D-

  (of a molecule) having a configuration resembling the dextrorotatory isomer of glyceraldehyde: always printed as a small capital, roman character.
• d'
  d'

  preposition

  de (used in French names as an elided form ofde ).
• d-
  d-

  dextrorotatory; dextro- (distinguished from l-).
• d.
  d.

  abbreviation

  (in prescriptions) give.
• D.
  D.

  abbreviation

  day.
• d
  d

  symbol

  physics density or relative density

'd

¹ American  

1. contraction of had:

   I was glad they'd gone.

2. contraction of did:

   Where'd they go?

3. contraction of should or would:

   He'd like to go. I'd like to remind you of your promise.

4. contraction of -ed:

   She OK'd the plan.

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D ² American  

[dee] / di /

Or d

noun

• D's,
  plural
• Ds,
  plural
• d's,
  plural
• ds
  plural

1. the fourth letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.

2. any spoken sound represented by the letter D or d, as in dog, ladder, ladle, or pulled.

3. something having the shape of a D .

4. a written or printed representation of the letter D or d.

5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter D or d.

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D ³ American  

abbreviation

1. Electricity. debye; debyes.

2. deep.

3. depth.

4. Optics. diopter.

5. divorced.

6. Dutch.

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D ⁴ American  

Symbol.

1. the fourth in order or in a series.

2. (sometimes lowercase) (in some grading systems) a grade or mark, as in school or college, indicating the quality of a student's work as poor or barely passing.

3. (sometimes lowercase) a classification, rating, or the like, indicating poor quality.

4. Music.

   1. the second tone in the scale of C major, or the fourth tone in the relative minor scale, A minor.

   2. a string, key, or pipe tuned to this tone.

   3. a written or printed note representing this tone.

   4. (in the fixed system of solmization) the second tone of the scale of C major, called re.

   5. the tonality having D as the tonic note.

5. (sometimes lowercase) the Roman numeral for 500.

6. Chemistry. deuterium. Also 2H

7. Electricity.

   1. electric displacement.

   2. a battery size for 1.5 volt dry cells: diameter, 1.3 inches (3.3 centimeters); length, 2.4 inches (6 centimeters).

8. Biochemistry. aspartic acid.

9. a symbol for a shoe width size narrower than E and wider than C.

10. a proportional brassiere cup size larger than C.

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D- ⁵ American  

1. Symbol, Biochemistry. (of a molecule) having a configuration resembling the dextrorotatory isomer of glyceraldehyde: always printed as a small capital, roman character.

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d' ⁶ American  

preposition

1. de (used in French names as an elided form ofde ).

   Charles Louis d'Albert.

2. di (used in Italian names as an elided form ofdi ).

   Gabriele d'Annunzio.

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d' ⁷ American  

1. Informal. contraction of do or did before you:

   How d'you like your eggs cooked? D'you go to the movies last night?

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d- ⁸ American  

Symbol, Chemistry, Biochemistry.

1. dextrorotatory; dextro- (distinguished from l-).

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d. ⁹ American  

abbreviation

1. (in prescriptions) give.

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d. ¹⁰ American  

abbreviation

1. British. pence.

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d. ¹¹ American  

abbreviation

1. date.

2. daughter.

3. day.

4. deceased.

5. deep.

6. degree.

7. delete.

8. Physics. density.

9. depth.

10. deputy.

11. dialect.

12. dialectal.

13. diameter.

14. died.

15. dime.

16. dividend.

17. dollar; dollars.

18. dose.

19. drachma.

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D. ¹² American  

abbreviation

1. day.

2. December.

3. Democrat.

4. Democratic.

5. Physics. density.

6. Deus.

7. Deuteronomy.

8. Doctor.

9. dose.

10. Dutch.

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D. ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. politics Democrat(ic)

2. government Department

3. dinar(s)

4. Don (a Spanish title)

5. Duchess

6. Duke

7. (in the US and Canada) Doctor

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d ² British  

symbol

1. physics density or relative density

2. maths a small increment in a given variable or function: used to indicate a derivative of one variable with respect to another, as in d y /d x

3. chess See algebraic notation

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'd ³ British  

contraction

1. would or had

   I'd

   you'd

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D ⁴ British  

symbol

1. music

   1. a note having a frequency of 293.66 hertz ( D above middle C ) or this value multiplied or divided by any power of 2; the second note of the scale of C major

   2. a key, string, or pipe producing this note

   3. the major or minor key having this note as its tonic

2. chem deuterium

3. maths the first derivative of a function, as in D( x ³ + x ²) = 3 x ² + 2 x

4. physics

   1. dispersion

   2. electric displacement

5. aeronautics drag

6. 1. a semiskilled or unskilled manual worker, or a trainee or apprentice to a skilled worker

   2. ( as modifier ) See also occupation groupings

      D worker

7. 500 See Roman numerals

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abbreviation

1. Germany (international car registration)

2. 1. informal defence

      I'm playing D in the match this afternoon

   2. informal defensive play

d ⁵ British  

/ diː /

noun

1. the fourth letter and third consonant of the modern English alphabet

2. a speech sound represented by this letter, usually a voiced alveolar stop, as in dagger

3. the semicircle on a billiards table having a radius of 11 1/ 2 inches and its straight edge in the middle of the baulk line

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D ⁶ British  

abbreviation

1. Deutsch: indicating the serial number in the catalogue (1951) of the musical compositions of Schubert made by Otto Deutsch (1883–1967)

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d. ⁷ British  

abbreviation

1. (in animal pedigrees) dam

2. daughter

3. currency penny or pennies

4. diameter

5. died

6. dinar(s)

7. dollar(s)

8. drachma(s)

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d Scientific  

1. Abbreviation of diameter

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• D's
  plural
• Ds
  plural
• d's
  plural
• ds
  plural

Etymology

Origin of d.⁹

From the Latin word dā

Origin of d.¹⁰

From the Latin word denāriī

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

'd D D- d' d- d. D. d D's Ds d's ds

“If they had said, ‘We’re going to do this for another 20 years,’ I ‘d have been on board in a heartbeat.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026

But still, one by one, we ’d all burned out.

From Salon ● May 7, 2024

“The idea is that we ’d have a whole soup-to-nuts operation in the state and incorporate lessons learned from these different projects,” Hurteau says.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 5, 2021

“Why, this diggin’ ’d make it look like thirty cents.

From Slate ● Nov. 25, 2018

“Oh, Lucy, how I wish you’d been spared from seeing ...” I nodded, not wanting to think or talk about what I 'd seen.

From "The Red Umbrella" by Christina Gonzalez

Average grades in preparatory math, precalculus and calculus across UC continue their five-year decline, while D and F grades, no-pass marks and withdrawals in those courses have gone up.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

While an increasing number of London boroughs have seen council tax on a Band D property rise above the £2,000 mark, in Wandsworth, council tax on an average Band D property is currently £1,020.35.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

Those with vitamin D deficiency received an average of 8 μg more fentanyl during surgery.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026

NextEra Energy NEE -0.16%decrease; down pointing triangle and Dominion Energy D -1.06%decrease; down pointing triangle have proposed an expanded state benefits package to regulators as they look to secure approval for their $67 billion merger.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

She liked best the O, the D, and the G, for they looked friendly.

From "The Midwife's Apprentice" by Karen Cushman

In their most recent assessment, for example, transit scored a D- and hazardous waste a D+.

From National Geographic ● Jul. 17, 2023

Catherine Porter, based in Paris, spent three days traveling across the D- Day landing sites in northern France to report this story.

From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2023

Louisiana’s drinking water infrastructure limps in with a D-.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 16, 2021

“I’m astonished, to be honest. I still can’t believe we got it done,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D- Del., who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 14, 2018

On all sides D- and B-class leadys were rushing up, some with weapons, some with metal slats.

From The Defenders by Ed Emshwiller

The maître d’ escorted us to a banquette near a window facing northeast.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

In the A.I. age, Maggie Hennessy asserts, sparring with a grouchy maître d’ over the phone is part of what makes dining out great.

From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026

He got into it with the maître d’: “You don’t trust that my date is not going to take pictures?”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2025

“They’re like a private maitre d’ now,” said Nicky Haslam, 84, the English interior designer and social fixture.

From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2024

The maitre d’ lingered after the captain departed.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

Ke5, Muzychuk can’t hold back both the d- and g-pawns indefinitely and resigned.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 27, 2022

Both the d- and f-block elements react with nonmetals to form binary compounds; heating is often required.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

They're called d- and l-isomers—d for dextro, l for levo; right and left, you see.

From A Feast of Demons by Joseph Samachson

New Designs University Park, 16-25, 25-22, 25-21, 22-25, 15-13 Jordan d. 25-23, 25-19, 25-10 Westchester d.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2024

But just as bell hooks, the feminist writer, and k. d. lang, the singer-songwriter, often see their names appear with unwanted capital letters, lowercase compositions are often capitalized on their way to publication.

From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2017

Use your answers to parts a. and d. to determine which of the three options is best.

From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016

From part d. we see that receiving $1 million dollars per year indefinitely is worth $20 million dollars in today’s dollars.

From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016

In Herman Krul’s “Eerlyche tytkorting, &c.” a Dutch book of emblems, 4to. n. d. there are some subjects in which Death is allegorically introduced, and sometimes in a very ludicrous manner.

From The Dance of Death Exhibited in Elegant Engravings on Wood with a Dissertation on the Several Representations of that Subject but More Particularly on Those Ascribed to Macaber and Hans Holbein by Francis Douce

Samuel D. Hunter writes compact human dramas that pack a maximal punch.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

"Diamond frogs have been hiding their diversity beneath our feet," said Dr. Mark D. Scherz, Curator of Herpetology at the Natural History Museum Denmark and lead author of the study.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026

Vita Tzykun’s design, enhanced by Thomas C. Hase’s moody lighting and Devario D. Simmons’s period costumes, has six sets of file cabinets that reverse to form a kitchen or a bedroom.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court the project is already 65% complete and argued that stopping construction would interfere with security improvements at the White House.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

Lucas D. Dennis was one of the one hundred and fifty slaves that Steve Dandridge owned before the Civil War.

From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers

KKR’s fee-related earnings jumped 37% from a year ago, and the firm raise d more than $34 billion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

Beta Pictoris d avoided detection for years because it is embedded within one of the brightest debris disks astronomers have ever observed.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026

Beta Pictoris d is the first directly imaged planet discovered primarily through moderate resolution spectroscopy.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026

Vista del Lago, 25-14, 25-18, 25-21 Flintridge Prep d.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026

Well, Ob had seen how at the supper table you d been too scared to death to ask for anything.

From "Missing May" by Cynthia Rylant

Down the street at D’s Thirsty Beaver bar, Danielle Rees is doing a test run on serving breakfast.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

The Direct Action Everywhere activists were recently on a public road near Double D’s main farm, flying a drone over the property.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026

Gass said that the Sydney show definitely won’t be Tenacious D’s last.

From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2026

The study, published in the December issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, adds clarity to long-standing debates about vitamin D's links to colorectal cancer and other diseases.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 30, 2025

She was in the fiction section, removing a book from the D's.

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg

Only eight banks got Bs, while the majority got Cs; 36 got Ds.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 27, 2026

The words are thought to reference the "three Ds of insurance" - tactics used by companies to reject payment claims from customers.

From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026

The same four Ds applied: death, divorce, dislocation, and disaster/downsizing.

From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2024

I did get nothing less than a C and right back to Fs and Ds right after that.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 15, 2024

He had been getting Cs and Ds, and college never felt like home, anyway.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

The researchers intend to continue examining Webb's observations to refine their estimates of Beta Pictoris d's temperature, atmospheric composition, and orbit.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026

A small illustration of the eponymous rat hangs in the restaurant, signed by director Brad Bird, who spent days sketching the dining room, capturing the lamps, cheese trolley and maitre d's outfit.

From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2024

Dinner maitre d’s are gently professional, warm and welcoming.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 17, 2018

Four hours later across the way, uniformed guards and ushers punch time clocks, and beer and food trucks noisily back up to vending stands as maître d’s and waiters tidy up the clubhouse restaurants.

From New York Times ● Aug. 20, 2015

He pronounced the words lazily, blunting the t’s to d’s so that it sounded like “siddle lister.”

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

The Cyclones closed the third quarter with a pair of 3-pointers, the second by Ryan in the closing secon ds, that put ISU on top 49-47.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 18, 2023

Senior forward Oscar ds Silva has played well all season and was named the Pac-12 player of the week after averaging 19.8 points and 11 rebounds in three games last week.

From Washington Times ● Jan. 13, 2021

As a result, we would incorrectly conclude that ds = 0.

From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016

If f is a continuous function on a smooth curve C, then ∫C f ds always exists.

From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016

Z probably had a sound akin to ds in English.

From The Roman Pronunciation of Latin Why we use it and how to use it by Frances Ellen Lord