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)

(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

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 – Duellists' Convocation International, now known simply by the initials
• DCIM – (p) Digital Camera Images
• DCIMS – (i) Dental Classification Information Management System – Dismounted Combat Identification Marking System
• DCL – Disney Cruise Line
• DCN - Deacon
• 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
• DEN – (s) Denmark (IOC and FIFA trigram, but not ISO 3166)
• 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)

DF

• DF
  • (i) Direct Fire
  • Direction Finding
• 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
• DFL
  • (i) Democratic–Farmer–Labor (the full designation of the Minnesota affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party)
  • Deutsche Fußball Liga (German for "German Football League"), the operator of the top two leagues of German football
• DFM – (i) Dynamic Flowgraph Methodology
• DFM – (ii) Discrete Field Model see Superluminal motion
• 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 for Benin in 1977)

DI

• DIA – (i) U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency
• 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
• DILLIGAD – (a) Do I Look Like I Give A Damn? (military shorthand, slightly less offensive than the following)
• DILLIGAF – (a) Do I Look Like I Give A Fuck? (military 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)
• DIN
  • (i) Deutsches Institut für Normung (German, "German Institute for Standardization")
  • Drug Identification Number (Canadian drug marketing requirement)
• DINA
  • (p/a) Diesel Nacional (Spanish, "National Diesel"—Mexican bus and truck manufacturer now known as DINA)
  • Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (Spanish, "National Intelligence Directorate"—former secret police of Chile)
• DINKY – (a) Double Income, No Kids Yet
• DIP – (a) Dual In-line Package (electronics)
• DIPS – (a) Defense independent pitching statistics
• 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) Designated market area (primarily a U.S. term)
  • 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) Dimethyl sulfoxide
  • (i) U.S. Defense Modeling & Simulation Office ("dim-so"), now Modeling and Simulation Coordination Office
• 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

• DN - (i) Deacon
• 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)
• DOTA – short-form for DEFENSE OF THE ANCIENTS a popular online epic game
• 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
• DSE – (i) Dry Sheep Equivalent
• DSG –(i) Direct-Shift Gearbox
• DSID – (i) Dismounted Soldier Identification System
• DSL – (i) Digital Subscriber Line
• DSLR – (i) Digital single-lens reflex (camera)
• 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)
• DTM
  • (i) Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (German, "German Touring Car Masters" – a current motor racing series)
  • Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (German, "German Touring Car Championship" – a defunct motor racing series)
• 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)
• 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)
  • 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
• DWTS – (a) Dancing with the Stars
• DWW – (a) Down with Webster

DX

• DX
  • (s) Dexterity (role-playing games)
  • (p) DeXtrorphan
  • Distant (radio)
  • (i) D-Generation X (professional wrestling stable)
• 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)

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