dispersion

American  

[dih-spur-zhuhn, -shuhn] / dɪˈspɜr ʒən, -ʃən /

noun

1. Also an act, state, or instance of dispersing or of being dispersed.

2. Optics.

   1. the variation of the index of refraction of a transparent substance, as glass, with the wavelength of light, with the index of refraction increasing as the wavelength decreases.

   2. the separation of white or compound light into its respective colors, as in the formation of a spectrum by a prism.

3. Statistics. the scattering of values of a variable around the mean or median of a distribution.

4. Military. a scattered pattern of hits of bombs dropped under identical conditions or of shots fired from the same gun with the same firing data.

5. Also called disperse system.  Physical Chemistry. a system of dispersed particles suspended in a solid, liquid, or gas.

6. (initial capital letter) Diaspora.

---

dispersion ¹ British  

/ dɪˈspɜːʃən /

noun

1. another word for dispersal

2. physics

   1. the separation of electromagnetic radiation into constituents of different wavelengths

   2.  D.  a measure of the ability of a substance to separate by refraction, expressed by the first differential of the refractive index with respect to wavelength at a given value of wavelength

3. statistics the degree to which values of a frequency distribution are scattered around some central point, usually the arithmetic mean or median

4. chem a system containing particles dispersed in a solid, liquid, or gas

5. military the pattern of fire from a weapon system

6. 1. the range of speeds of such objects as the stars in a galaxy

   2. the frequency-dependent retardation of radio waves as they pass through the interstellar medium

   3. the deviation of a rocket from its prescribed path

7. ecology the distribution pattern of an animal or a plant population

---

Dispersion ² British  

/ dɪˈspɜːʃən /

noun

1. another name for the Diaspora

---

dispersion Scientific  

/ dĭ-spûr′zhən /

1. The separation by refraction of light or other radiation into individual components of different wavelengths. Dispersion results in most materials because a material's index of refraction depends on the wavelength of the radiation passing through it; thus different wavelengths entering a material along the same path will fan out into different paths within it. Prisms, for example, diffuse white light (which contains an even mixture of visible wavelengths) into its variously colored components; rainbows are an effect of dispersion in water droplets.

---

Other Word Forms

• nondispersion noun
• predispersion noun

Etymology

Origin of dispersion

1350–1400; Middle English dispersio ( u ) n (< Anglo-French ) < Latin dispersiōn- (stem of dispersiō ), equivalent to dispers ( us ) ( disperse ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

Inflation uncertainty and wide dispersion in economic growth forecasts meant that even members who read the private signals clearly couldn’t build consensus to act on them.

From Barron's

This is a particularly significant sign, especially following the stretch of wide dispersion that investors had been seeing since the start of 2026.

From MarketWatch

“We are moving further into a ‘controlled disorder’ environment, where shocks generate rotation and dispersion rather than a uniform market direction,” she says.

From The Wall Street Journal

"In the short term, it feeds inflation risk, US dollar strength, and asset-class dispersion. Energy volatility, inflation uncertainty, and regional dispersion are returning as defining market features."

From Barron's

The violence of the underlying moves makes some nervous, because periods of what Wall Street calls “dispersion” have sometimes preceded market corrections.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• diffusion