dispersive

[ dih-spur-siv ]

/ dɪˈspɜr sɪv /

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adjective

serving or tending to disperse.

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Origin of dispersive

First recorded in 1620–30; disperse + -ive

OTHER WORDS FROM dispersive

dis·per·sive·ly, adverbdis·per·sive·ness, nounnon·dis·per·sive, adjective

Words nearby dispersive

disperse, disperse dye, dispersion, dispersion hardening, dispersion relation, dispersive, dispersive medium, dispersive power, dispersoid, disphenoid, dispirit

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use dispersive in a sentence

Electrons in materials with flat bands move slowly enough for the particles to work together, but superconductivity might get a boost from “dispersive” bands, where the pairs travel more easily.
A New Twist Reveals Superconductivity’s Secrets|Charlie Wood|March 16, 2021|Quanta Magazine
The low dispersive power of water masks, as Helmholtz has remarked, the imperfect achromatism of the eye.
Six Lectures on Light|John Tyndall
The refractive and dispersive powers are not high, so that the cut stones display little brilliancy or “fire.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 3|Various
There is little axis of direction in the energies put forth; they are largely dispersive and centrifugal.
Democracy and Education|John Dewey

Thus the dispersive power of flint glass and balsam are about equal, while that of crown glass is considerably less.
An Elementary Text-book of the Microscope|John William Griffith
Dr Tyndall has shewn that a perfectly pure gas has no dispersive action.
Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. 705, June 30, 1877|Various

British Dictionary definitions for dispersive

dispersive

/ (dɪˈspɜːsɪv) /

adjective

tending or serving to disperse

Derived forms of dispersive

dispersively, adverbdispersiveness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012