<Custom, habit.> "A custom more honor'd in the breach than the observance." Is it your custom to watch the clock while you eat? The habit in that region was to rise at cockcrow.
<Decided, decisive.> A decided battle. A decisive fault in manners.
<Definite, definitive.> We still await a definite edition of this author's works. His answer was so definitive that we no longer doubted what he meant.
<Demesne, domain.> Clive added India to the British demesne. The king went riding through his personal domain.
<Deprecate, depreciate.> The German mark has deprecated in value. He depreciated the praise they were lavishing upon him.
<Descent, dissent.> They tied themselves together with a rope in order to make their dissent safer. The dissent to a lower plane of conversation was what he most desired.
<Discovery, invention.> The discovery of the wireless telegraph is Marconi's chief claim to remembrance. The invention of a water passage between Tierra del Fuego and the mainland was the work of Magellan.
<Discriminate, distinguish.> He could not discriminate individuals at that distance. Any man can distinguish right from wrong.
<Disinterested, uninterested.> His course was entirely generous and disinterested. Most visitors to art galleries have an uninterested manner.
<Disposal, disposition.> This disposal of the matter is authoritative, final. His disposition of his forces was well-considered.