List of acronyms and initialisms: D

This list contains acronyms, initialisms, and pseudo-blends that begin with the letter D.

For the purposes of this list:

• acronym = an abbreviation pronounced as a series of constituent letters, e.g., SARS = severe acute respiratory syndrome
• initialism = an abbreviation pronounced wholly or partly using the names of its constituent letters, e.g., CD = compact disc
• pseudo-blend = an abbreviation whose extra or omitted letters means that it cannot stand as a true acronym, initialism, or portmanteau (a word formed by combining two or more words).

(a) = acronym in the example: SARS - (a) Severe acute respiratory syndrome

(i) = initialism in the example: CD - (i) Compact disc

(p) = pseudo-blend in the example: UNIFEM - (p) United Nations Development Fund for Women

(s) = symbol (none of the above, representing and pronounced as something else; for example: MHz - Megahertz)

Add new entries here or in the sub-pages

Please add your own entries, in this page or in the appropriate sub-page. Use a quasi-dictionary order, with lowercase treated the same as uppercase and ignoring non-alphanumeric characters (hyphens and such). This means that only alphanumeric characters have any significance in determining order, and that lowercase letters occupy the same ordering position as uppercase (in tie-breaker cases, list lower case first). For example: Ka appears before KA. (This differs from a strict ASCII ordering.)

(Main list of acronyms and initialisms)

Contents:	Top - D0–9 DA DB DC DD DE DF DG DH DI DJ DK DL DM DN DO DP DQ DR DS DT DU DV DW DX DY DZ

• d - (s) Deci
• D - (s) Deuterium

D0-9

• D8N - (s) Dayton, Ohio

DA

• da - (s) Danish language (ISO 639-1 code) - deca
• DA - (s) Denmark (FIPS 10-4 country code) - (i) Debtors Anonymous - (i) U.S. Department of the Army - District Attorney
• DAB - Digital Audio Broadcasting
• DACT - (i) Data Automated Communications Terminal - Dissimilar Air Combat Training
• DADVSI - (i) Loi sur le droit d’auteur et les droits voisins dans la société de l’information (French, "Law on copyrights and related rights in the information society")
• DAES - (i) Defence Acquisition Executive Summary - (UK MoD) Directorate of Analysis, Experimentation and Simulation
• DAF - (a) Dissolved Air Flotation, a technique used in water treatment
• DAFIF - (a) Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File
• DAK - (a) Disney's Animal Kingdom
• DA&M - (i) (U.S.) Director, Administration & Management
• dan - (s) Danish language (ISO 639-2 code)
• DAO - (i) Division Ammunition Officer
• DAQ - (p) Data acquisition - (i) Delivered Audio Quality
• DARE - (a) Drug Abuse Resistance Education
• DARO - (i/a) (U.S.) Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office
• DARPA - (a) U. S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
• DART - (a) Disaster Assistance Response Team - Dublin Area Rapid Transit
• DAS - (a) Defensive Aids Suite
• DASD - (i) (U.S.) Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
• DASL - (i) Datapoint's Advanced System Language
• DAU - (i) (U.S.) Defense Acquisition University
• DAWN - (a) (U.S.) Drug Abuse Warning Network

DB

• dB - (s) Decibel
• Db - (s) Dubnium
• DB - (i) Database - Deutsche Bahn
• d/b/a - (i) doing business as
• DBA - (i) De Bellis Antiquitatis (miniature wargaming rules)
• DBBL - (i) (U.S. Army Simulation Center) Dismounted Battlespace Battle Laboratory
• DBCS - (i) Double-Byte Character Set
• DBDO - (i) Desert BDO
• DBE - (i) Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• DBF - (i) Detection By Fire (weapon launch signature)
• DBM - (i) De Bellis Multitudinis (miniature wargaming rules) - Detection By Movement (military target)
• DBR - (i) De Bellis Renationis (miniature wargaming rules)
• DBRA - (i) Davis-Bacon Related Acts
• DBS - (i) Direct Broadcast Services (television)

DC

• DC - (i) da capo - Italian Democrazia Cristiana - Digital Compass - Direct Current - (s) District of Columbia (postal symbol) - (i) Douglas Aircraft Company - Dublin Core - Duty Cycle
• DCA – (i) Defensive Counter Air – Drum Corps Associates - (p) DiChloroAcetate - (s) Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (IATA code)
• DCAA - (i) (U.S.) Defense Contract Audit Agency
• DCAS - (i) Devon and Cornwall Archery Society
• DCC - (i) Dallas Christian College
• DCC - (i) Digital Command Control (model railroading) - Direct Client-to-Client (Internet Relay Chat) - Dismounted Close Combat
• DCCP - (i) Datagram Congestion Control Protocol
• DCD - (i) [Organ] Donation after Cardiac Death
• DCE - (i) Data Communication Equipment
• DCFC - (i) Death Cab for Cutie
• DCI – (i) Detection, Classification and Identification - Drum Corps International
• DCIM - (p) Digital Camera Images
• DCIMS - (i) Dental Classification Information Management System - Dismounted Combat Identification Marking System
• DCL - Disney Cruise Line
• DCOM - Disney Channel Original Movie
• DCOP - (i) Desktop Communication Protocol
• DCSOPS - (p) Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and plans
• DCW - (i) Digital Chart of the World
• DCYSC - (i) Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge

DD

• DD - many, including due diligence and dear daughter (increasingly prevalent on social mailing lists, blogs, and bulletin boards); see entry
• D&D - (i) Dungeons and Dragons - Diversion and Distress (Air Traffic Control)
• DDA - (i) Digital Differential Analyzer (graphics algorithm) - Digital Differential Analyzer - Deputy District Attorney
• DDD - (i) Data Display Debugger - Digital Digital Digital (CD mastering)
• DDL - (i) Digital Data Link
• DDN - (i) U.S. Defense Data Network
• DDoS - (i) Distributed Denial of Service
• DDR - (i) Dance Dance Revolution - Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German, "German Democratic Republic" (GDR), East Germany) - Double Data Rate - (s) East Germany (ISO 3166 trigram, obsolete since 1990)
• DDR&E - (i) (U.S.) Defense Department Research and Engineering
• DDS - (i) Doctor of Dental Surgery
• DDT - (i) Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane (insecticide) - Dynamic Debugging Tool (computing)

DE

• de - (s) German language (ISO 639-1 code)
• DE - (s) Delaware (postal symbol) - Germany (ISO 3166 digram)
• DEA - (i) Drug Enforcement Agency
• DEC - (a/i) Department of Environmental Conservation - Digital Equipment Corporation - Disasters Emergency Committee
• DeCA - (p) (U.S.) Defense Commissary Agency
• DECSIM - (p) Model DEComposition and SIMulation algorithm - Directed Energy Combat SIMulation
• DECT - (a) Digital European Cordless Telephone
• DEFCON - (p) Defence readiness condition
• DEFRA - (a) (UK) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
• DELT - (a) Dual Ended Line Test(ing)
• DEM - (i) Data Exchange Mechanism - Digital Elevation Model
• DEPSECDEF - (p) (U.S.) Deputy Secretary of Defense
• DERA - (a) British Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (1995–2001)
• DES - (i) Deep Ecliptic Survey
• deu - (s) German language (ISO 639-2 code)
• DEU - (s) Germany (ISO 3166 trigram), see also DEU disambiguation

DF

• DF - (i) Direct Fire - Direction Finding - DragonFable
• DFAD - (p) Digital Feature Analysis Data ("dee-fad")
• DFAS - (i) (U.S.) Defense Finance and Accounting Service
• DFB - (i) Deutscher Fußball-Bund (German for "German Football Association")
• DFCB - (i) Data Format Control Book
• DfID - (i) UK Department for International Development
• DFM - (i) Dynamic Flowgraph Methodology
• DFSP - (i) Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans
• DfT - (i) UK Department for Transport

DG

• DG - (i) Dei gratia (Latin, "by the grace of God") - Director-General
• DGA - (i) Direction générale des armées (French "Armed Forces General Directorate")
• DGD&D - (i) UK Directorate General of Development and Doctrine
• DGPS - (i) Differential GPS
• DGZ - (i) Desired Ground Zero

DH

• DH - (i) dear husband (increasingly prevalent on social mailing lists, blogs, and bulletin boards) - Designated hitter
• DHA - (p) DocosaHexaenoic Acid
• DHHS - (i) (U.S.) Department of Health and Human Services
• DHL - (i) Dalsey, Hillblom, and Lynn (courier service)
• DHRA - (i) (U.S.) DoD Human Resources Activity
• DHS - (i) U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• DHSS - (i) UK Department of Health and Social Security
• DHTFYSS - (i) U.S. Don't Have Time For You Silly S****
• DHY - (s) Dahomey (ISO 3166 trigram; became BEN in 1977)

DI

• DIA - (i) U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency
• DIABLO - (a) Democrat In All But Label Only ^[1]
• DIAC - (a) Department of Immigration and Citizenship (Australia) [1]
• DiC - Design Island Centre (computing usually used in a teaching situation)
• DICASS - (p) DIrectional Command Activated Sonobuoy System
• DILLIGAF - (a) Do I Look Like I Give A Fuck? (Internet shorthand)
• DIF - (i) Data Interchange Format
• DIFAR - (p) DIrectional Frequency Analysis and Recording
• DIME - (a) Dense Inert Metal Explosive
• DIMM - (a) Dual In-line Memory Module (computing)
• DINK - (a) Double Income, No Kids
• DIP - (a) Dual In-line Package (electronics)
• DIR - (i) Defence Industrial Research
• DIS - (i) Defence Intelligence Staff - (U.S.) Defense Investigative Service - Distributed Interactive Simulation - Draft International Standard (ISO)
• DISA - (a) U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency - Distinguished Individual Service Award
• DISCOM - (p) Division Support Command
• DISE - (i) Deployable Intelligence Support Element
• DISSTAF - (a) DIS Search and Target Acquisition Fidelity experiment
• DITY - (i/a) Do-It-Yourself
• div - (s) Dhivehi language (ISO 639-2 code)
• DIVAD - (p) Division Air Defence
• DIY - (i) Do It Yourself

DJ

• DJ - (i) Disc Jockey - Dinner Jacket - (s) Djibouti (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 country code)
• DJD - (i) Degenerative Joint Disease - Dublin Julian Day - Discoveries in the Judaean Desert
• DJF - (s) Djibouti franc (ISO 4217 currency code)
• DJI - (s) Djibouti (ISO 3166 trigram)
• DJS - (i) Director, Joint Staff

DK

• DK - (s) Denmark (ISO 3166 digram)
• DKK - (s) Danish krone (ISO 4217 currency code)

DL

• DL - Dexter's Laboratory
• DLA - (i) U.S. Defense Logistics Agency - (i) Dental Laboratories Association
• DLIC - (i) Detachment Left-In-Contact
• DLIR - (i) Depot-Level Inspection and Repair
• DLL - (i) Dynamic Link Library
• DLPFC or DL-PFC - (i) DorsoLateral PreFrontal Cortex
• DLPMC - (i) DorsoLateral PreMotor Cortex
• DLR - (i) Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German, German Aerospace Centre) - Docklands Light Railway
• DLRP - (i) Data Link Reference Point
• DLS - (i) Deep Lens Survey
• DLSA - (i) (U.S.) Defense Legal Services Agency
• DLSc - (p) Diploma in Library Science
• DLSC - (i) U.S. Defense Logistics Services Center - U.S. Defense Logistics Support Command - Department of Library Special Collections (Western Kentucky University Libraries) - Direct Loan Servicing Center - Directorate of Land Strategic Concepts (Canada) - Dominican Lay Scholars Community
• DLTBGYD - Don't let the bastards grind you down

DM

• DM - (s) Dominica (ISO 3166 digram) - (i) Dungeon Master (role-playing games)
• DMA - (i) U.S. Defense Mapping Agency (became NIMA, then NGA) - Direct Memory Access (computing) - (s) Dominica (ISO 3166 trigram)
• DMC - (i) (U.S.) Defense Management Council
• DMCA - Digital Millennium Copyright Act
• DMD - (i) dentariae medicinae doctor (Latin, "doctor of dental medicine") - Digital Micromirror Device - Digital Multilayer Disk
• DMI - (i) Desktop Management Interface (computing)
• DMOC - (i) Distributed Mission Operations Centre
• DMOS - (i/a) Double Diffused MOS transistor ("dee-moss")
• DMPA - (i) (U.S.) Defense Medical Programs Activity
• DMPFC - (i) DorsoMedial PreFrontal Cortex
• DMPK - (i) Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics
• DMRB - (i) Design Manual for Roads and Bridges
• DMS - (i) U.S. Defense Message System
• DMSO - (p) U.S. Defense Modeling & Simulation Office ("dim-so")
• DMSP - (i) U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
• DMT - (i) Dimethyltryptamine
• DMU - (i) Diesel Multiple Unit - a method of connecting self-propelled railway vehicles together to form a train under the control of one driver.
• DMV - (i) Department of Motor Vehicles
• DMZ - (i) DeMilitarized Zone

DN

• DNA - (i) U.S. Defense Nuclear Agency - DeoxyriboNucleic Acid - Douglas Noël Adams
• DNAW - (i) Day Night All Weather
• DND - (i) Department of National Defence (Canada) - Do Not Disturb
• DNDi - (i) Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative
• DNDO - (i) U.S. Domestic Nuclear Detection Office
• DNM - (i) Defence Nuclear Material
• DNK - (s) Denmark (ISO 3166 trigram)
• DNR - (i) Do Not Resuscitate
• DNS - (i) Domain Name System

DO

• DO - (s) Dominica (FIPS 10-4 country code) - Dominican Republic (ISO 3166 digram) - (i) Doctor of Osteopathy
• DOA - (i) Dead On Arrival - Dead or Alive
• DOB - (i) Date Of Birth
• DOD - (i) U.S. Department of Defense
• DODAF - (a) U.S. Department of Defense Architectural Framework
• DoDD - (i) U.S. Department of Defense Directive
• DoDEA - (i) (U.S.) Department of Defense Education Activity
• DOE - (i/a) U.S. Department of Energy
• DOHC - (i) Dual-OverHead-Cam engine
• DOI - (i) Digital Object Identifier - U.S. Department of the Interior
• DOM - (i) Deo optimo maximo (Latin, "to God, the best and greatest") - (a) Document Object Model - (s) Dominican Republic (ISO 3166 trigram)
• DOMS - (i) (U.S.) Director of Military Support
• DOP - (s) Dominican peso (ISO 4217 currency code)
• DORA - (a) Defence of the Realm Act
• DOS - (a) Denial of Service (DoS, cf. DDoS) - Density of State - Disk Operating System
• DOT - (i) Department of Transportation (U.S. federal or state) - Damage Over Time (common in World of Warcraft)
• DotD - (i) Deal of the Day (marketing gimmick)
• DOTMLPF - (i) Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership, Personnel, and Facilities (mnemonic)
• DOW - (i) Died of Wounds

DP

• DP - (i) Division de production (Algerian petroleum company)
• DP - (i) Decision Point - Dynamic Programming
• DPA - (i) UK Defence Procurement Agency
• DPCO - (i) Double-Pole Change Over
• DPDT - (i) Double-Pole Double-Throw
• DPICM - (i) Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition
• DPKO - (p) UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations
• DPMO - (i) (U.S.) Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office
• DPPDB - (p) Digital Point Positioning Database
• DPRE - (p) Displaced Person or Refugee (plural Displaced Persons and Refugees)
• DPRK - (i) Democratic People's Republic of Korea
• DPST - (i) Double-Pole Single-Throw

DQ

• DQ - (i) Dairy Queen - (s) Jarvis Island (FIPS 10-4 country code)

DR

• DR - (i) Dead Reckoning - (s) Dominican Republic (FIPS 10-4 country code) - (i) Danmarks Radio (Danish Broadcasting Corporation)
• DRA - (i) Defence Research Agency (UK, 1991–1995) - Democratic Republic of America
• DRAGN - (a) Double Radio source Active Galactic Nucleus ("dragon")
• DRAM - (a) Dynamic Random Access Memory ("dee-ram") (computing)
• DRC - (i) Democratic Republic of the Congo
• DRDC - (i) Defence Research & Development Canada
• DREA - (i/a) Defence Research Establishment Atlantic (obsolete 2002)
• DRES - (i/a) Defence Research Establishment Suffield (obsolete 2002)
• DRET - (i/a) Defence Research Establishment Toronto (obsolete 2002)
• DREV - (i/a) Defence Research Establishment Valcartier (obsolete 2002)
• DRI - (i) Detection, Recognition, Identification - Dietary Reference Intake
• DRIC - (i/a) (U.S.) Defense Research Information Center
• DRL - (i) Daytime Running Lights - Dorman Roberts Ltd.
• DRM - (i) Digital Rights Management
• DRMS - (i) (U.S.) Defense Revitalization and Marketing Service
• DRPR - (p) Drawing Practices
• DRT - (i) Document Related Technologies

DS

• Ds - (s) Darmstadtium
• DS - (i) Dear son (increasingly prevalent on social mailing lists, blogs, and bulletin boards) - Defence Scientist - Direct Support - (s) Dust Storm (METAR Code)
• DSA - (i) (U.S.) Defense Support Activities - Division Support Area
• DSAA - (i) (U.S.) Defense Security Assistance Agency - DECT Standard Authentication Algorithm
• DSAS - (i) Disney Sing Along Songs
• DSB - (i) (U.S.) Defense Science Board
• DSC - (i) Differential Scanning Calorimeter - Digital Selective Calling - Digital Still Camera - Distinguished Service Cross - Doctor of Surgical Chiropody (obsolete) - Document structure convention (PostScript programming) - Dynamic Stability Control
• DSCS - (i) U.S. Defense Satellite Communications System
• DSCSOC - (i) DSCS Operations Center
• DSD - (i) Defence Studies Department (King's College, London)
• DSDS - (i) Deutschland sucht den Superstar (German, "Germany Seeks the Superstar"), the German version of the Idol series
• DSG -(i) Direct-Shift Gearbox
• DSID - (i) Dismounted Soldier Identification System
• DSL - (i) Digital Subscriber Line
• DSM - (i) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
• DSN - (i) Deep Space Network
• DSO - (i) Distinguished Service Order (British military decoration)
• dsp - (i) decessit sine prole (Latin, "died without issue")
• DSP - (i) Defense Standardization Program - Defense Support Program - Digital Signal Processing
• dspl - (i) d.s.p. legitima (Latin, "died without legitimate issue")
• DSPL - (i) Design Specialists and Plans Language
• dspm - (i) d.s.p. malus (Latin, "died without male issue")
• dspml - (i) d.s.p.m. legitima (Latin, "died without legitimate male issue")
• dspms - (i) d.s.p.m. suivre (Latin, "died without surviving male issue")
• dsps - (i) d.s.p. suivre (Latin, "died without surviving issue")
• DSR - (i) Deformed Special Relativity
• DSRV - (i) Deaf Sports Recreation Victoria - Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle
• DSS - (i) Digitized Sky Survey - Discarding-Sabot Shell (ammunition)
• DST - (i) Daylight saving time
• DSTL - (i) British Defence Science and Technology Laboratory
• DSWA - (i) (U.S.) Defense Special Weapons Agency

DT

• DTA - (i) Dental Technologists Association
• DTD - (i) Digital Terrain Data
• DTE - (i) Data Terminal Equipment - Down To Earth
• DTED - (p) Digital Terrain Elevation Data ("dee-ted")
• DTG - (i) Date-Time Group
• DTH - (i) Direct To Home (television)
• DTI - (i) UK Department of Trade and Industry
• DTIC - (i) (U.S.) Defense Technical Information Center
• DTL - (i) Diode-Transistor Logic (electronics)
• DTLOMS - (i) Doctrine, Training, Leader development, Organization, Materiel, and Soldier (mnemonic)
• DTO - (i) Disruptive Technology Office (was ARDA)
• DTOMLS - (i) Doctrine, Training, Organization, Materiel, Leader and Soldier development (mnemonic)
• DTR - (i) Determine The Relationship
• DTRA - (i) Defense Threat Reduction Agency ("deet-ra")
• DTSA - (i) (U.S.) Defense Technology Security Administration

DU

• DU - (i) Depleted Uranium - (s) Dust (METAR Code)
• DUFF - (i) Designated Ugly Fat Friend
• DUI - (i) Data Use Identifier - Data Use Institute - Davis Unified Ignition - Diving Unlimited International - Documento Único de Identidad - Documento Unico de Importación - Driving Under the Influence - Duke University Improv
• DUSD - (i) (U.S.) Deputy Under-Secretary of Defense

DV

• dv - (s) Dhivehi language (ISO 639-1 code)
• DV - (i) Daily Value (FDA food guide)
• DV - (i) Deo volente (Latin, "God willing")
• DVD - (i) Digital Versatile Disk (was Digital Video Disk)
• DVLC - (i) UK Driver and Vehicle Licencing Centre
• dvm - (i) decessit vita matris (Latin, "died in the lifetime of the mother")
• DVM - (i) Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
• DVO - (i) Direct View Optics
• dvp - (i) decessit vita patris (Latin, "died in the lifetime of the father")
• dvu - (i) decessit vita uxoris (Latin, "died in the lifetime of spouse")

DW

• DW - (a) Drum Workshop
• DWG - (p) Divisional Wargame (military simulation)
• DWI - (i) Dance With Intensity - Danish West Indies - Diffusion-weighted imaging - Direct water injection - Disaster Welfare Inquiry - Drinking Water Inspectorate - Driving While Intoxicated/Impaired
• DWM - (a) Doctor Who Magazine
• DWIM - (a) Do What I Mean

DX

• DX - (s) Dexterity (role-playing games) - (p) DeXtrorphan - Distant (radio) - (i) D-Generation X (professional wrestling)
• DXA - (i) Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry
• DXM - (p) DeXtroMethorphan

DY

• Dy - (s) Dysprosium
• DY - (s) Dahomey (ISO 3166 digram; obsolete since 1977)

DZ

• dz - (s) Dzongkha language (ISO 639-1 code)
• DZ - (s) Algeria (ISO 3166 digram) - Drizzle (METAR Code) - (i) Drop Zone
• DZA - (s) Algeria (ISO 3166 trigram)
• DZD - (s) Algerian dinar (ISO 4217 currency code)
• dzo - (s) Dzongkha language (ISO 639-2 code)

References

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