dispense
Americanverb (used with object)
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to deal out; distribute.
to dispense wisdom.
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to administer.
to dispense the law without bias.
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Pharmacology. to make up and distribute (medicine), especially on prescription.
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Roman Catholic Church. to grant dispensation.
verb (used without object)
noun
verb phrase
verb
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(tr) to give out or issue in portions
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(tr) to prepare and distribute (medicine), esp on prescription
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(tr) to administer (the law, etc)
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to do away (with) or manage (without)
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to grant a dispensation to (someone) from (some obligation of church law)
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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
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dispensesimple
-
dispensessimple
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have dispensedperfect
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has dispensedperfect
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am dispensingprogressive
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are dispensingprogressive
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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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Tears of a Tiger
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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:
One of the FDA’s concerns is that the agency doesn’t have any information about the containers that would be used by compounding pharmacies to dispense the medication.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 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
Greenspan used his clout to dispense advice on all manner of domestic policy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
And he wouldn't argue with the fact that it is far easier to console and dispense advice to virtual children - and yet he finds some comfort in the trend.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
He would dispense with love; it was not now a factor.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
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
Days before the official opening, the international jury who dispenses prizes resigned en masse, forcing organizers to reconfigure its Golden Lion prize from one decided by a jury to one decided by the public.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
In other places, the document dispenses with ambiguity altogether.
From Salon ● Dec. 9, 2025
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
There are several collections of wise sayings which not only do not reflect heroism at all, but give a view of life which dispenses with it.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
When leading experts tried to offer their own chatbot to help those at risk, it dispensed problematic advice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
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
Last year, Patel's pharmacy lost £140,000 on the NHS medicines it dispensed.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
“You have tried to do too much in the past few days. The dinner was the last straw; you might have dispensed with it.”
From "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin
Here she remade herself as a low-key singer-songwriter dispensing wise yet unflashy tunes about love, home and family — part of a gentle resetting of pop’s mood after the turmoil of the previous decade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
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 disparity was stark for ectopic pregnancy: The data indicate that the inappropriate provision of mifepristone to a woman with an ectopic pregnancy was between three and six times more likely with remote dispensing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 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
Tata Bidibidi, with his kind, pretty wife and their precarious boat dispensing milk powder and quinine and love to children along the river.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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.
