diffuse
[verb dih-fyooz; adjective dih-fyoos]
- to pour out and spread, as a fluid.
- to spread or scatter widely or thinly; disseminate.
- Physics. to spread by diffusion.
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- to spread.
- Physics. to intermingle by diffusion.
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- characterized by great length or discursiveness in speech or writing; wordy.
- widely spread or scattered; dispersed.
- Botany. widely or loosely spreading.
- Optics. (of reflected light) scattered, as from a rough surface (opposed to specular).
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Origin of diffuse
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for diffusely
Historical Examples
Is memory made apt and extensive or narrow and diffusely irrelevant?
Human Nature and ConductJohn Dewey
A grim tale finely (perhaps just a little too diffusely) told and admirably presented.
The mucous membrane of the pharynx will be diffusely red or purplish and shiny.
He spoke for five and a half hours, much too diffusely, spinning out what he might have said in half the time.
The Greville Memoirs (Third Part) Volume I (of II)Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville
Ill-smelling, resinous shrubs, four to ten feet high; diffusely branched.
The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and HabitsMary Elizabeth Parsons
diffuse
- to spread or cause to spread in all directions
- to undergo or cause to undergo diffusion
- to scatter or cause to scatter; disseminate; disperse
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- spread out over a wide area
- lacking conciseness
- (esp of some creeping stems) spreading loosely over a large area
- characterized by or exhibiting diffusiondiffuse light; diffuse reflection
- botany (of plant growth) occurring throughout a tissue
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Word Origin
C15: from Latin diffūsus spread abroad, from diffundere to pour forth, from dis- away + fundere to pour
confusable
Avoid confusion with defuse
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for diffusely
diffuse
v.
1520s (transitive), 1650s (intransitive), from Latin diffusus, past participle of diffundere "to pour out or away" (see diffusion). Related: Diffused; diffusing.
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diffuse
adj.
early 15c., from Latin diffusus (see diffuse (v.)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
diffuse
(dĭ-fyōōs′)- Not limited to one tissue or location; widespread.
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- To spread or to be spread widely, as through a tissue.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.