dispense
Americanverb (used with object)
-
dispenses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dispensed,
past participle, past
-
dispensing
present participle
-
to deal out; distribute.
to dispense wisdom.
-
to administer.
to dispense the law without bias.
-
Pharmacology. to make up and distribute (medicine), especially on prescription.
-
Roman Catholic Church. to grant dispensation.
verb (used without object)
-
dispenses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dispensed,
past participle, past
-
dispensing
present participle
noun
verb phrase
verb
-
(tr) to give out or issue in portions
-
(tr) to prepare and distribute (medicine), esp on prescription
-
(tr) to administer (the law, etc)
-
to do away (with) or manage (without)
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to grant a dispensation to (someone) from (some obligation of church law)
-
to exempt or excuse from a rule or obligation
Usage
Dispense with is sometimes wrongly used where dispose of is meant: this task can be disposed of (not dispensed with ) quickly and easily
Synonym Usage
See distribute.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
dispensesimple
-
dispensessimple
-
have dispensedperfect
-
has dispensedperfect
-
am dispensingprogressive
-
are dispensingprogressive
-
is dispensingprogressive
-
have been dispensingperfect progressive
-
has been dispensingperfect progressive
Past
-
dispensedsimple
-
had dispensedperfect
-
was dispensingprogressive
-
were dispensingprogressive
-
had been dispensingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dispense
1275–1325; Middle English dispensen < Medieval Latin dispēnsāre to pardon, exempt, Latin: to pay out, distribute, equivalent to dis- dis- 1 + pēnsāre, frequentative of pendere to weigh
Explanation
To dispense means to give out or distribute something. A school nurse can dispense students' medication and we all can dispense advice. The word dispense comes from the Old French word dispenser, meaning "give out." You can dispense anything from hand sanitizer to dating advice. When dispense is paired with with it means "get rid of it" or "skip." If you dispense with traditional Thanksgiving dishes, you might instead celebrate with pizza, pancakes, tacos — anything but turkey and all the fixings.
Vocabulary lists containing dispense
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
After leaving Westminster, Burnham similarly began to dispense with ties and jackets.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
In February, Monsanto proposed another multi-billion dollar class settlement to dispense with claims that Roundup causes cancer.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
Hospitals are also contracting with more pharmacies, which are paid a kickback to dispense medicines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
When medication management cannot be handled with simple pill organizers, high-tech devices are available that dispense medications at preprogrammed times and alert caregivers or family members when a dose is missed.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 15, 2026
Rush set the terms for what became a high-stakes game of honesty by proposing that they dispense with the usual topics and report to each other on their respective dreams.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Let’s hope Judge Chuang dispenses with the Justice Department’s unjust prison demand and issues a suspended sentence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Azerbaijan's singer Jiva is much more ruthless as she dispenses with a lover on the cinematic ballad Just Go.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
She also conducts research for patients—from cancer treatment to skin care—and dispenses advice that other doctors might not; a patient recently texted to ask if the foundation makeup she was considering was “clean beauty.”
From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2025
In these moments, he mostly dispenses with the pretense of love and simply just wants to be seen as who he is, with all his torturous flaws, by another human being.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2025
But the machine in the corridor dispenses only coffee, tepid at best, in paper cups.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
As the show’s host, Queen Latifah dispensed uplifting thoughts about American idealism throughout the evening but also got a slot of her own to do her classic “U.N.I.T.Y.” with help from a rambunctious drum line.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026
Around 1485, Leonardo da Vinci had sketched a firing mechanism that dispensed with the need for a burning match.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
His subjects, he tells us, have dispensed with outmoded theology and instead put ritual to its proper use as a useful technological aid to social connection and cohesion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
Last year, Patel's pharmacy lost £140,000 on the NHS medicines it dispensed.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
I, however, had dispensed with the two middle names long before I left Maryland so that I was generally known by the name of “Frederick Bailey.”
From "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass
Warsh hinted at a blizzard of changes ahead, but the biggest arguably may be dispensing with consideration of the markets’ reaction to the Fed’s words.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
The Food and Drug Administration is conducting its own review of the abortion pills and its regulations for dispensing medication.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026
The agency should use this pause as an opportunity to reinstate permanently in-person dispensing and physician-led follow-up visits, which are necessary to protect women’s health and freedom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
In 2021 the FDA eliminated the requirement for in-person dispensing entirely, a temporary Covid move that was made permanent in 2023.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
I ask the nurse wrapping up her dispensing duties if I need any meds, and she says I’m not scheduled for any.
From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
