disperse
Americanverb (used with object)
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disperses,
present (3rd person singular)
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dispersed,
past participle, past
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dispersing
present participle
-
to drive or send off in various directions; scatter.
to disperse a crowd.
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to spread widely; disseminate.
to disperse knowledge.
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to dispel; cause to vanish.
The wind dispersed the fog.
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Physical Chemistry. to cause (particles) to separate uniformly throughout a solid, liquid, or gas.
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Optics. to subject (light) to dispersion.
verb (used without object)
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disperses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dispersed,
past participle, past
-
dispersing
present participle
adjective
verb
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to scatter; distribute over a wide area
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to dissipate or cause to dissipate
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to leave or cause to leave a gathering, often in a random manner
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to separate or be separated by dispersion
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(tr) to diffuse or spread (news, information, etc)
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to separate (particles) throughout a solid, liquid, or gas, as in the formation of a suspension or colloid
adjective
Synonym Usage
See scatter.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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dispersernoun
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dispersibilitynoun
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redisperseverb
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predisperseverb (used with object)
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dispersibleadjective
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undispersedadjective
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undispersingadjective
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well-dispersedadjective
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dispersedlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dispersesimple
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dispersessimple
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have dispersedperfect
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has dispersedperfect
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am dispersingprogressive
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are dispersingprogressive
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is dispersingprogressive
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have been dispersingperfect progressive
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has been dispersingperfect progressive
Past
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dispersedsimple
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had dispersedperfect
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was dispersingprogressive
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were dispersingprogressive
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had been dispersingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disperse
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English dispersen, disparsen (from Middle French disperser, ) from Latin dispersus (past participle of dispergere ), equivalent to di- di- 2 + -sper(g)- “scatter” (stem of -spergere, combining form of spargere “to scatter, strew”) + -sus past participle suffix
Explanation
To make a crowd at a party disperse, you could take away the food, turn off the music and ask for volunteers to clean up. Disperse is to spread out people or things, making them move in different directions. Imagine yourself standing on a basketball court holding a cup packed tight with marbles. If you turn it over, the marbles will disperse across the floor, moving away from you in all directions. Another word for this is scatter. Don't confuse this word with disburse, which means to distribute money. Remember that false friends disperse when you cease to disburse.
Vocabulary lists containing disperse
Fahrenheit 451
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The Watsons Go to Birmingham
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All American Boys
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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:
The crowd began to disperse at about 21:45 after they learned of the charges against Thomas.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Moroccan police made "no serious attempt to try to reduce, disperse or move the mass of people away from the border perimeter", the report said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
Patalano said Iran’s proximity to the strait and the ability to disperse small boats, mines and other weapons along its coast make it difficult to eliminate the threat entirely.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Astronomers estimate that the Lion Nebula will eventually disperse in approximately 10,000 years.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
All this happened in about the time that it would take a sixpenny rocket to start off with its fiery swish, bend down from its climax and disperse itself in thunder and coloured stars.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
But as tech talent disperses to the likes of Austin, Texas, that reason may become less important.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
When you season the crumbs directly, you’re ensuring that flavor disperses evenly throughout the loaf rather than pooling in pockets.
From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2026
Simple things like the way your body disperses fat, aging, or skin laxity can create asymmetry.
From Slate ● Feb. 22, 2026
The researchers showed that the ovalbumin disperses throughout the cytoplasm of cells in both culture and tumors.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2023
The family eventually disperses and files into four separate cars before heading out from the airport.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
The knowledge behind artificial intelligence is widely dispersed.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
Ash was dispersed across much of North America and the effects were felt worldwide.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
Unlike in the U.S., where airlines pay the Federal Aviation Administration directly, in Europe the fees are collected by a regional body before being dispersed to individual countries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
But methane is lighter than air, and most of the released gas would have quickly dispersed once vented outside the ship.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
The witch’s spell did not cover the blood that must have spilled, and insects and the sun and the wind had dispersed it completely.
From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
At the end, the core team flew with Mr. Bush to Texas for some farewell events before dispersing back to civilian life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Rather than dispersing evenly in every direction, heat can follow routes determined by the structure of a crystal.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
But as Southern California’s focus shifts to the sweltering heat expected for the day and the rest of the week, an expert noted that soot and particulate matter may not be dispersing normally.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
Police officers on horseback have been dispersing crowds trying to gather along Nairobi streets.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
“They’re not dispersing them, Thomas. They’re trapping them in.”
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
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.
