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
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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:
A few months later, a different judge found that the department had violated previous court restrictions by using projectile weapons to disperse crowds at protests against immigration enforcement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
"The teams and suppliers building satellites now are the ones able to develop the next generation of a related technology, and once they disperse, they are very hard to reassemble."
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 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
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
Extremely small black holes could arise from special critical states in which even a tiny addition of energy can determine whether the system disperses or collapses.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
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
Simple things like the way your body disperses fat, aging, or skin laxity can create asymmetry.
From Slate ● Feb. 22, 2026
In addition to NIH, scientists have reported that that the National Science Foundation, a government agency that also disperses research funding, has also canceled activities.
From Salon ● Jan. 27, 2025
After maybe ten minutes of questions, the crowd disperses and we walk back to our parking spot.
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
Most of the protesters have since dispersed, but some members of the Orange Order remain.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
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
But the task is complicated by the fact that risks are dispersed across the Himalayas, while a 2015 earthquake destabilized many rock masses on the southern slopes, the embassy said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
Reluctantly, the hooligans dispersed, leaving a trail of insults in their wake.
From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals
"Not only were the galaxies producing these elements, but they were also dispersing them, possibly seeding other galaxies."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026
For years, Warren Buffett has been dispersing some of his Berkshire shares to charitable foundations run by his children—Howie included.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
"We are on watch for tonight, it's the weekend. We will be dispersing people from the area," he told the BBC.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 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
As they walked through the bright noon, up the sandy road with the dispersing congregation talking easily again group to group, she continued to weep, unmindful of the talk.
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
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.
