Nouns That Start With D

A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea. Typically, they're accompanied by articles, like "a," "an," and "the." Nouns love to serve as the subject of a sentence. For example, "The dancer flew gracefully through the air."

Nouns can also act as the object of a sentence. That means they'll come after the verb. For example, "Did you bring the dessert?" Nouns also function as names, including people, cities, and more.

The letter D isn’t terribly uncommon. Do you have a delightful dad? Or how about a daring dream? See if you can add any of these nouns to your list of favorite vocabulary words.

1. Dad - a term used for your father

2. Daffodil - a bulbous plant of the lily family with a yellow flower

3. Damage - injury or harm to a person or thing that reduced health, value, or usefulness

4. Dancer - a person who moves rhythmically to music

5. Danger - a possibility that something harmful or unpleasant will happen

6. Darkness - the state of being without light

7. Date - a particular day of the month

8. Daughter - a female child that a mother gives birth to or adopts

9. Dawn - the first light of a new day

10. Daydream - a fantasy or series of pleasant thoughts you have when awake

11. Debt - the condition of owing money

12. Decade - a period of ten years

13. Decency - actions that are moral, modest, or socially acceptable

14. Decoration - an item used to make a room or thing more beautiful

15. Deer - a wild, hoofed animal with long legs

16. Delivery - a giving or bringing of something to someone

17. Democracy - a form of government where common people can rule through elected representatives

18. Denial - refusing to accept or believe something

19. Depth - the distance from top down or front to back

20. Desert - a dry, hot, sandy, usually barren and uninhabited area

21. Design - a plan or something created, often in art or fashion

22. Dessert - something sweet you eat after a meal

23. Detour - a route that is different from the ordinary

24. Device - a tool or technique used to do a task

25. Dialogue - conversation, or an exchange of ideas

26. Diamond - a colorless, very hard, crystalline mineral made of pure carbon

27. Dictator - a ruler with total power

28. Difficulty - something that hinders you or causes you to face challenges

29. Dilemma - a situation where there is no clear and easy choice or answer

30. Dinner - the largest meal of the day, often eaten in the evening

31. Direction - the path that must be taken to reach a specific place

32. Disguise - a costume that hides your identity

33. Diver - a person who explores underwater

34. Division - a separation or difference of opinion

35. Dollop - a lump or portion of semisolid matter

36. Dolphin - a smart, sociable, friendly mammal with a fin on its back

37. Doubt - an uncertain opinion or lack of confidence

38. Dozen - a set of twelve

39. Dream - an image, thought, or fantasy that happens in the mind while a person is sleeping

40. Drink - a liquid made for swallowing

41. Driver - the operator of a motor vehicle

42. Drum - a round, metal, or hollow instrument that is played by hitting with sticks or hands

43. Duck - a swimming bird with a flat bill, short legs, and webbed feet

44. Dune - a hill or ridge of wind-blown sand

45. Duo - two people or two things in close association

46. Dusk - the time of day when it is defined as just starting to get dark

47. Duty - something that’s required by one’s religion, job, position, or the laws

48. Dwarf - a person or thing that is much smaller than typical

49. Dweller - an inhabitant of a specific place

50. Dynasty - a succession of powerful leaders from the same family

Did you know there are over 10 different types of nouns? If you spot a noun that’s referring to a person or place, it’s most likely acting as a proper noun (e.g., Michael, Dayton, Texas, Norway, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral). An example of that would be, "Dayton has the finest cowboys."

The opposite of a proper noun is a common noun. These nouns refer to general, unspecified things. In the example above, Dayton is a proper noun. But, if that line simply read, "This city has the finest cowboys," you'd know the subject was a common noun. Common nouns are neither capitalized nor specific.

Then, there are compound nouns (e.g., sunrise and applesauce), countable nouns, possessive nouns, and pronouns. It's quite common to see both nouns and pronouns in a single sentence: "Violet bought a plane ticket to visit him."

With that refresher in mind, let’s observe the letter D hard at work. See if you can spot the D-nouns that serve as subjects as opposed to those that serve as the object of the sentence.

Click on the link in each sentence to see more example sentences containing that D-noun:

1. It’s a sign of spring when the daffodils begin to pop up.
2. Darkness descended upon them abruptly.
3. Her home was filled with Christmas decorations.
4. We loaded up the basket for a picnic in the desert.
5. Chocolate cake is her favorite dessert.
6. After they took the detour, they got lost in the woods.
7. Her ring featured the biggest diamond I’ve ever seen.
8. I’d like a dollop of whipped cream on my apple pie.
9. They climbed the dune to get to the top of the valley.
10. The truth is Snow White had a favorite dwarf.

D-words set themselves up nicely for some alliteration. It’s a strong consonant that can serve as a great addition to your next piece of writing. While your dabbling in nouns that start with D, don’t neglect a nice, strong adjective starting with D either!

Go beyond nouns by exploring other words that begin with the fourth letter of the alphabet. Visit WordFinder by YourDictionary for an extensive collection of words that start with D. You can even create and save a customized word list. Just use the easy-to-navigate on-screen search field to pull together a collection of D words with a specific number of letters as well as ones that start, end with or include certain letters. You'll have a stronger vocabulary in no time at all.