e sal in ation
/.dii.saeli'neijn/
noun [u] the process of
removing salt from sea water ( $|7jc60 ) jjftifc: a desalination plant
de-scale /.dii'skeil/
verb [VN]
(BrE) to
remove the scale (= the hard
white material left on pipes, etc. by water when it is heated) from sth
(/&7KifiI# ) 60tM& des cant /'deskaent/ noun (music #)
a tune that is sung or played at the same time as, and usually higher than, the
main tune iUTTs160$!#
.descant re'corder (BrE) (NAmE so
prano re corder) noun (music #)
the most common size of recorder (=
a musical instrument in the shape of a pipe that you blow into), with a high
range of notes des cend /di'send/ verb 1 (formal) to
come or go down from a higher to a lower level T5ft; Ti; T: (V] The plane
began to descend. #1 ff %} pi£ ^ 0 o The results,
ranked in descending order (= from the highest to the lowest) are
as follows: M ll £& HR If W
?'J #6
~Fo
O [VN] She descended the stairs slowly.
W$>o Pina ascend 2
[V] (formal) (of
a hill, etc. ill#) to slope downwards ; T M: At
this point the path descends steeply. T j& Ik # M M T o 033 ascend 3
[V] ~ (on/upon sb/sth) (literary) (of night, darkness, a mood, etc. . 1t£|#) to arrive and begin to
affect sb/sth |# lift ; 5ft
lift HT1 fall : Night descends quickly
in the tropics. T # KM A A I# 1/T 0 Calm
descended on the crowd. A T # T A 0
IOiSlslL.fl be des cended from
sb to
be related to sb who lived a long time ago He
claims to be descended
from a Spanish prince. ##4&/l-—#®3HTXT60lij^fo des cend into sth [no passive] (formal) to
gradually get into a bad state fPS
A: The country was descending
into chaos. #TBitP§A-*/tlI1iflo
des'cend
on/upon sb/sth to visit sb/sth in large numbers, sometimes
unexpectedly 3l/£AlttAi/j: Hundreds of football fans descended on the city. des'cend
to sth [no passive] to do sth that makes
people stop respecting you A#; MigTi]
They descended to the level of personal insults. #01
des cend ant /di'sendant/ noun 1 a
person’s descendants are their children, their children’s children, and all
the people who live after them who are related to them Jfj M ; 15 ft; T#
: He was an O’Conor and a direct descendant of the last High King of
them are descendants of
the original settlers. # 01 f if ^Afl$JI-¥-$i4£H60l5®o 2 something that has
developed from sth similar in
the past (
tmm) wt®
des cent /di'sent/ noun 1 [C, usually sing.] an action of coming or
going down Tl^; TM: The plane began its descent to Heathrow. Is til ft
tin ft # M 2? III ^ I# % 0 o (figurative) the
country’s swift descent into anarchy |IJ ^ Ena ascent 2 [C] a slope going
downwards : There is a gradual descent
to
the sea. # $4 H H ff ® S!l „ 033 ascent
3 [U] - (from sb) a person’s family
origins ifnf/t; Ififl; |15fc; tB ff H771 ancestry • to be of Scottish descent 40. itH
IF A 0 He traces his line of descent from the Stuart kings. #60^$^#$ de-SCribe 0«w /di'skraib/ verb 1
~ sb/sth (to/for sb) | ~ sb/sth (as sth) to say what sb/sth is like IS#; MW ; fE ••• If A : [VN] Can
you describe him to me? #f2ftf§lffi#“T#69#T,%?
o The man was described as tall and dark, and aged
about 20. AiUTT, Ste&Sfe,
0
Jim was described by his colleagues as ‘unusual’. HI® St Is] A 014ft A “ X # t ” 69 A b o [V wh-] Describe how you did
it. $##Ji:(g#[ft# A'60 <, b [V -ing] Several
people described seeing strange lights in the sky. /IT [also VN -ing] 2
[VN] (formal or technical A ill) to make a movement which has a
particular shape; to form a particular shape 0ft • ■ • iizjfr; ![&••• II1/ET The
shark described a
circle around the shoal of
fish.
► de-scrib-able adj.
de scrip tion 0-w /di'skripjn/ noun 1 [C, U] ~ (of
sb/sth) a piece of writing or speech that says what sb/sth is like; the act
of writing or saying in words what sb/sth is like ( AT ) ; MW; 0J: to give a detailed/full
description of the procedure AH
#
[ft if 60 / if60 0/1 0 a brief/general
description
of the software 60 M H / UPf IS # i£ 0J[ o Police have issued a description
of the gunman. WAA/P® H, IS# TlfKtX # 60
#0E □ <> ‘Scared stiff is an apt description of how I felt at that moment. “
Ilf # A A ” 4!/4-flc ^
Al^^60M0OlS#o 0 a. personal pain that goes beyond description (= is too great to
express in words) $£ VJ, W A 60 T A M 1*r O the novelist’s powers of
description Tik^t60$(.#At£ o note at report 2 [C] of some, all, every, etc. ~ of some,
etc. type ^ M : boats
of every description/all descriptions 4§-#^S!J60jSj b Their money came from trade of
some description. #0] 60f£/l jftA# T.lS$IA60o <> medals, coins and things of that
description ;S£TUlA.it06llt^60TM
IT5TOI answer/fit a
description (of sb/sth) to be like a
particular person or thing %IS#60 - A child answering the description
of the missing boy was found safe and well in
®T, —more
at beggar v.
de scrip tive /di'skriptiv/ adj. 1 saying
what sb/sth is like; describing sth 1ST’60; ££#60; W 60 : the descriptive passages in the
novel
T T 60 IS A # IS M 0 The
term I used was meant to be purely descriptive (= not judging), nmm. 601tS^Ji^lSl##60 ( At# T Z-iJ
Iff ) o 2 (linguistics iH g) saying how language is actually
used, without giving rules for how it should be used IS^#60 (
IS#i§W60^P^jSZ^l«#ffiMfJ ) 033 PRESCRIPTIVE
de-scrip-tor /di'skript0(r)/
noun (linguistics iHW) a word or expression used to describe or identify
sth i/.is]
des-cry /di'skrai/ verb
(des-cries,
des-cry-ing, des cried, des-cried) [VN] (literary) to suddenly see sb
or sth
5!l;
dese-crate /'desikreit/
verb [VN] to damage a holy thing or place or treat it without respect & ( il S
#
). : desecrated graves MA'^60/3t# ► dese-cra-tion
/.desi’kreijn/
noun [U]: the desecration of a cemetery Hk
0
(figurative) the desecration of the countryside by new roads #14
de-seg-re-gate /.dii’segrigeit/
verb [VN] to end the
policy of segregation in a place
in which people of different races are kept separate in public places, etc. A ■
60 ►
de seg re ga tion /.dii.segri'geijn/ noun [U]
de-select /.diisi'lekt/ verb
[VN] 1 if
the local branch of a political party in
TA
( f£A ) ^TltilA 2 (computing if) to remove sth
from the list of possible choices on a computer menu ( /fit^|/l^#-± ) ► de-selec-tion
noun [U]
de-sen-si-tize (BrE also -ise) /.dir'sensataiz/
verb [VN] [usually passive] 1 ~ sb/sth (to sth) to make sb/sth
less aware of sth, especially a problem or sth bad, by making them become used
to it # (
)
A A fft l!§ : People are increasingly becoming
desensitized to violence on television. A fk A % I®
-h 60# A^A®AM^ATo 2 (technical
Ai«) to treat sb/sth so that they will stop being sensitive to physical or
chemical changes, or to a particular substance # j]&
Wl ; I# IS Wt ff ffl ►
de-sen-si-tiza-tion, -isa-tion /,dii.sensataizeijn; NAmE-ta'z-/ noun [U]
des-ert Off noun, verb
m noun /'dezat; NAmE
'dezart/ — see also deserts [C,
U] a large area of land that has very little water and very few plants growing
on it. Many deserts are covered by sand. MW.: the Sahara Desert [fRflFA'li
'M o