des
noun
Simple meaning
A potent estrogen used in medicine and in feed for livestock and poultry.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dehIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdɛ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A potent estrogen used in medicine and in feed for livestock and poultry
A synthetic estrogen drug C₁₈H₂₀O₂ used formerly to prevent miscarriage or premature delivery in humans and to promote growth in livestock. The medical use of diethystilbestrol was discontinued in the U.S. during the early 1970s due to its association with serious side effects (such as reproductive tract abnormalities and increased rates of infertility) in offspring exposed to the drug while developing in the uterus. It is no longer commercially available in the U.S. and its use is currently limited to specially compounded formulations for veterinary care.
Short form of the male given name Desmond.
Synthetic nonsteroid with the properties of estrogen; formerly used to treat menstrual problems but was found to be associated with vaginal cancers in the daughters of women so treated during pregnancy
medicinecolloquial
Desflurane.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A potent estrogen used in medicine and in feed for livestock and poultry
Used this way, des is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Nearby words
- diethylstilbestrol , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Synonyms
Sense: potent estrogen used in medicine and in feed for livestock and poultry
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