dispenser
Americannoun
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a person or thing that dispenses.
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a container, package, device, or vending machine for holding and dispensing something in small amounts, as facial tissue, paper cups, or candy.
noun
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a device, such as a vending machine, that automatically dispenses a single item or a measured quantity
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a person or thing that dispenses
Etymology
Origin of dispenser
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at dispense, -er 1
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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.
A French teenager who allegedly licked a straw from an orange juice vending machine before putting it back into its dispenser has been charged with committing mischief and being a public nuisance in Singapore.
From BBC • Apr. 27, 2026
It felt like a piece of my childhood died along with the actor who played Dawson Leery, but it wasn’t just a parasocial relationship that had me weeping next to the soap dispenser.
From Slate • Feb. 19, 2026
First, I saw that someone had stolen the shampoo dispenser.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 9, 2025
Most Americans have been hearing tales of Pentagon woe—late, expensive new aircraft carriers; an 8,000% price markup on a soap dispenser inside a C-17 bathroom.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 16, 2025
A broom was propped in one corner, near the candy dispenser and the rusty hair dryer that had not been used in a hundred years.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
