dissipate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to scatter in various directions; disperse; dispel.
- Antonyms:
- unite
-
to spend or use wastefully or extravagantly; squander; deplete.
to dissipate one's talents; to dissipate a fortune on high living.
verb
-
to exhaust or be exhausted by dispersion
-
(tr) to scatter or break up
-
(intr) to indulge in the pursuit of pleasure
Related Words
See scatter.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dissipate
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin dissipātus (past participle of dissipāre, dissupāre “to scatter”); see -ate 1
Explanation
To dissipate is to disperse or fade away — as a bad smell will dissipate (usually) if you wait long enough. Dissipate can also mean “spend or use wastefully.” If you win the lottery, you might suddenly find yourself with a group of new friends encouraging you to dissipate your money (on them). Note that dissipate can be used with or without an object: "Once you dissipate your wealth, your new group of friends will dissipate without a trace."
Vocabulary lists containing dissipate
List 1
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Night
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The Lightning Thief
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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.
Dissipate her alarms, show her that the happiness you offer her and of which she knows the price, is not an imaginary happiness.
From Life, Letters, and Epicurean Philosophy of Ninon de L'Enclos The Celebrated Beauty of the Seventeenth Century by Overton, William Hassell
Dissipate not the wealth of your precious lives in the pursuit of evil and corrupt affection, nor let your endeavours be spent in promoting your personal interest.
From Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas by Bahá'u'lláh
Dissipate not the wealth of your precious lives in the pursuit of evil and corrupt affection, nor let your endeavors be spent in promoting your personal interest.
From The Prosperity of Humankind by Baha'i International Community
It is best that I retire; But do you, so long his master, Near him stand; the wild confusion That his waking sense may darken Dissipate by simple truth.
From Life Is a Dream by MacCarthy, Denis Florence
Rise on us, thy love revealing, Dissipate the clouds beneath.
From The Redemption of David Corson by Goss, Charles Frederic
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.
