List of English Words With Disputed Usage - D

D

• deprecate – The original meaning in English is "deplore" or "express disapproval of" (the Latin from which the word derives means "pray to avert evil", suggesting that some event would be a calamity). The word is now also used to mean "play down", "belittle" or "devalue", a shift that some prescriptivists disapprove of, as it suggests the word is being confused with the similar word depreciate; in fact, AHD4 states that in this sense deprecate has almost completely supplanted depreciate; however, a majority of the dictionary's Usage Panel approved this sense. Its use with the approximate meaning to declare obsolescent in computer jargon is also sometimes condemned.

• diagnose – Cochrane (2004) states that to "diagnose with a disease" is an incorrect usage of the verb diagnose, which takes the physician as subject and a disease as object (e.g. "to diagnose cancer"). In American English, according to AHD4 and M-W, the sense of "diagnose with a disease" is listed without comment or tag; however, for its part, RH does not list such a usage, with or without comment. For British English, COD11 offers "identify the medical condition of (someone): she was diagnosed as having epilepsy (2004); this usage, however, did not appear in editions as recently as the 1990s. Chambers does not offer this sense at all.
  • Disputed usage: Mr. Smith was diagnosed with diabetes.
  • Undisputed usage: The doctor diagnosed diabetes.

• different – Standard usage in both Britain and America is "different from" (on the analogy of "to differ from"). In Britain this competes with "different to" (coined on the analogy of "similar to"). In America it competes with "different than" (coined on the analogy of "other than"). "Different to" is also found in Irish, Australian, and New Zealand English.
  • Undisputed usage: The American pronunciation of English is different from the British.
  • Disputed usage: The American pronunciation of English is different to the British.
  • Disputed usage: The American pronunciation of English is different than the British.

• disinterested – Standard usage is as a word for "unbiased," but some have also rendered it synonymous with "uninterested".
  • Undisputed usage: As their mutual best friend, I tried to remain disinterested in their argument so as not to anger either.
  • Disputed usage: The key to attracting a member of the opposite sex is to balance between giving attention to him or her and appearing disinterested.

• due to – The adjectival use of due to is undisputed. Its adverbial use, however, has been a subject of dispute for many years, as witnessed by several (especially U.S.) dictionary usage notes that in the end designate it as "standard." William Strunk in his Elements of style labelled the disputed adverbial use of due to as "incorrect." Although the first (1926) edition of FOWLER condemned the adverbial use as "common ... only ... among the illiterate", the third (1996) edition said, "Opinion remains sharply divided, but it begins to look as if this use of due to will form part of the natural language of the 21., as one more example of a forgotten battle." Due to is frequently used in place of from, for, with, of, because of, and other prepositions. Undisputed synonyms for due to are caused by and attributable to.
  • Disputed usage: He died due to cancer. (He died of cancer.)
  • Disputed usage: Due to the end of the Second War, circumstances altered profoundly. (With the end of the Second War, circumstances altered profoundly.)
  • Disputed usage: The project failed due to lack of funds. (The project failed for lack of funds.)
  • Undisputed usage: His death was due to cancer.
  • Undisputed usage: Many thought the problem was due to mismanagement.