Showing results for "dissipated"

• past tense form of dissipate.
• past participle of dissipate.

dissipated

American  

[dis-uh-pey-tid] / ˈdɪs əˌpeɪ tɪd /

adjective

1. indulging in or characterized by excessive devotion to pleasure; intemperate; dissolute.

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dissipated British  

/ ˈdɪsɪˌpeɪtɪd /

adjective

1. indulging without restraint in the pursuit of pleasure; debauched

2. wasted, scattered, or exhausted

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Other Word Forms

• dissipatedness
  noun
• nondissipatedness
  noun
• nondissipated
  adjective
• undissipated
  adjective
• well-dissipated
  adjective
• dissipatedly
  adverb
• nondissipatedly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of dissipated

First recorded in 1600–10; dissipate + -ed ²

Explanation

If your Great Aunt Maude tells you you've become a dissipated bum, she means you don't think of anything but how much fun you're having. If you got a summer job and stopped playing arcade games all day, she might change her tune. The adjective dissipated is used to describe people who've lost their moral center, and instead of following the rules of conventional morals, prefer to be utterly self-indulgent. The word comes from the verb dissipate, which means "to disperse," but as an adjective it's always used for people who've gone wrong in some way. If you really want to lay into someone, use these synonyms and call him a "dissipated, dissolute, debauched, degenerate jerk."

Example Sentences

His outrage dissipated when he considered gas was about a dollar cheaper here than in Columbus, the staff was friendly and the bathroom immaculate.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 9, 2026

Wildlife experts and conservationists had previously observed that, in the wake of the storm, Tapanuli orangutan sightings had dissipated - fuelling speculation that the great apes may have been swept away by floods and landslides.

From BBC • Jun. 11, 2026

If there was any bad blood between Paxton and Middleton over these clashes, it seems to have dissipated in the years since.

From Salon • May 23, 2026

For three weeks, McFarland and Brune followed short-lived storms that dissipated quickly, leaving them without useful data.

From Science Daily • Apr. 21, 2026

Kepler described comets as darting through space “as the fishes in the sea,” but being dissipated by sunlight, as the cometary tail always points away from the sun.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan