dispose
Americanverb (used with object)
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disposes,
present (3rd person singular)
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disposed,
past participle, past
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disposing
present participle
-
to give a tendency or inclination to; incline.
His temperament disposed him to argue readily with people.
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to put in a particular or the proper order or arrangement; adjust by arranging the parts.
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to put in a particular or suitable place.
The lamp was disposed on a table nearby.
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to make fit or ready; prepare.
Your words of cheer dispose me for the task.
verb (used without object)
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disposes,
present (3rd person singular)
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disposed,
past participle, past
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disposing
present participle
-
to arrange or decide matters.
to do as God disposes.
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Obsolete. to make terms.
noun
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Archaic. disposition; habit.
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Obsolete. arrangement; regulation; disposal.
verb phrase
verb
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to deal with or settle
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to give, sell, or transfer to another
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to throw out or away
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to consume, esp hurriedly
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to kill
-
-
to arrange or settle (matters) by placing into correct or final condition
man proposes, God disposes
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(tr) to make willing or receptive
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(tr) to adjust or place in a certain order or position
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to accustom or condition
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disposesimple
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disposessimple
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have disposedperfect
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has disposedperfect
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am disposingprogressive
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are disposingprogressive
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is disposingprogressive
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have been disposingperfect progressive
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has been disposingperfect progressive
Past
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disposedsimple
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had disposedperfect
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was disposingprogressive
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were disposingprogressive
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had been disposingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dispose
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French disposer, equivalent to dis- dis- 1 + poser “to place” ( see pose 1), on the model of Latin dispōnere
Explanation
If you dispose of something, you get rid of it. Don't want that sweatshirt with the clown's face on it? Give it away, throw it out, even sell it — these are all ways to dispose of that awful shirt. The verb dispose comes from the Latin word disponere, meaning “put in order,” “arrange,” or “distribute" — like when you dispose volunteers to collect trash at a park. The word of usually follows dispose when it means "getting rid of something." Another meaning is "make willing or open to something," like your childhood love of reading that disposes you to becoming a life-long reader.
Vocabulary lists containing dispose
Life Is So Good
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Good Riddance
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Henry David Thoreau "Civil Disobedience" (1849)
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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:
Finding somewhere to dispose of the trash they collect also can be difficult.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
Collectibles, Novack noted, are hard to dispose of, too.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
Broken, dirty and downright grotty donations are costing hospice charities tens of thousands of pounds to dispose of.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
But it also has a large residential population, who have become increasingly exasperated with tourists who fail to properly dispose of rubbish, smoke where they're not supposed to, and make too much noise.
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
She’s just opened a box that, to her delight, looks easy to dispose of—dozens of dusty store ledgers from the 1940s and ’50s.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
It disposes of any idea that anything organized or strategic has been going on.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
But instead of deciding the case at the end of June when the court ordinarily disposes of the cases heard during the term, the court set the case up for re-argument.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2025
Do they think there is some sort of pickup service that comes along and disposes of their carefully collected excrement?
From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2024
St. Damien has scheduled her first pickup with Ridwell, a subscription service that picks up and disposes of hard-to-recycle trash.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2024
Collectively, the Party owns everything in Oceania, because it controls everything and disposes of the products as it thinks fit.
From "1984" by George Orwell
Used needles should be disposed of separately through dedicated clinical waste services.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
The office intends to have an environmental contractor remove the lithium batteries, which it says will be properly disposed of.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
After the Second World War ended, the Allies disposed of tons of ammunition by dumping it into the ocean so it could not fall into the wrong hands.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
"When he was moving about nine months to a year later, the skeleton was disposed of into the bins," Singh added.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
"No. You should do it here, I think. I need to be sure it's all disposed of properly."
From "The Lemonade War" by Jacqueline Davies
In June, a judge in Dubai banned Eyyub, Garayev and 13 other firms and people from disposing of assets valued up to $704 million as the case moved forward.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
In May, posts emerged online accusing refugees of not properly disposing of animals sacrificed during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha and quickly went viral.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
These conversions solved two acute problems for American cities: disposing of excess office supply and providing much-needed housing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
Properly collecting and disposing of spent fireworks could help reduce these environmental effects.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 4, 2026
Many were there to provide various services to the men who did— doing their laundry, cooking their meals at the mess hall, selling them various sundries, disposing of their trash.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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