dais

The nervous speaker whispered, "Da is no way I am going up on the dais!"

dauntless

The dauntless mouse daunted the lion with his .357 Magnum.

dearth

When there is nothing but d'earth there is a dearth.

Becuase of Darth Vader, there was a dearth of laughter on the Death Star.

scarcity (see PAUCITY)

This word has nothing to do with death.

debase

The birds at de base of the statue debased it with excrement.

to lower in quality or value; adulterate

(note the similarity to ABASE)

decoy

The coy duck disguised himself as a wooden decoy, but the hunters shot at him anyway.

delude

De lewd dude deluded himself into thinking he was attractive.

demur

demure

The demure poodle demurred at the Saint Bernard's drooling in public.

deplete

She de-pleated the skirt by ironing it, thus depleting her stock of pleated skirts.

depraved

As a prank, the depraved criminal de-paved the highway.

deranged

The deranged cowboy roamed the streets singing wildly, "Rome, Rome on de range."

derogate

The effect of the spear protruding from Bob's forehead was to derogate from his usually good-looking face.

descry

Through the mist they could descry the form of the hungry, one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater munching on a bag of purple Skittles.

desultory

"That's why I love pepper," said Uri, finishing his speech extolling the merits of salt. "De sult, Uri!" yelled his debate teacher.

deter

Nothing can deter Derek Jeter from hitting a home run for the Yankees.

devastate

The Blob devastated de vast state of Nevada.

devoid

Avoid diving into swimming pools that are devoid of water; you could hurt yourself and that would suck.

dexterous

Houdini was dexterous; he could escape from a straitjacket.

diabolical

The diabolical demon devised a deadly dungeon.

diaphanous

His diaphanous dinner dress caused much discussion.

discern

The watchman dis-earned his pay by not discerning the thieves.

discord

"I won't use dis chord 'cause it would create discord," said Mozart.

disparage

"Dis porridge is too hot," Goldilocks disparaged.

disseminate

While making his stock boy walk the plank, the captain explained, "Dis seaman ate all of the supplies that he was supposed to disseminate."

distraught

Snow White became distraught whem the dwarfs drank booze and fought.

diverse

William Shakespeare's divers verses were about diverse subjects.

doleful

You will be Dole-full and sick if you eat 98 cans of pineapple chunks.

drastic

If your swimsuit strap braks, you are in drastic need of elastic.

dynamic

The dynamic duo fell into the Joker's dynamite trap.