dissipate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
dissipates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dissipated,
past participle, past
-
dissipating
present participle
-
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 (used without object)
-
dissipates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dissipated,
past participle, past
-
dissipating
present participle
verb
-
to exhaust or be exhausted by dispersion
-
(tr) to scatter or break up
-
(intr) to indulge in the pursuit of pleasure
Synonym Usage
See scatter.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
dissipatesimple
-
dissipatessimple
-
have dissipatedperfect
-
has dissipatedperfect
-
am dissipatingprogressive
-
are dissipatingprogressive
-
is dissipatingprogressive
-
have been dissipatingperfect progressive
-
has been dissipatingperfect progressive
Past
-
dissipatedsimple
-
had dissipatedperfect
-
was dissipatingprogressive
-
were dissipatingprogressive
-
had been dissipatingperfect progressive
Future
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.
See Examples For:
The price effect may dissipate soon, in which case higher rates will start to bite only after inflation has already begun coming down.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
At any given moment, Scott Free has upward of 40 projects in development, although Scott says some of those eventually dissipate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Bertha is forecast to weaken back to a tropical depression on Thursday and may dissipate by the end of the week as it nears the Texas coast.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
At the same time, most thought that the Fed could keep interest rates where they are, or eventually lower them, if inflation pressures dissipate relatively soon, according to minutes of the meeting released Wednesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Slowly the voices outside dissipate down the road.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
Holmes remarks that she hadn’t thought about it until now, and the tension lifts as her frustration dissipates.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
Those drivers will reassert themselves as geopolitical stress dissipates, they said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026
Soccer’s governing body takes the heat, making a bet that once games begin and international mania takes over, the fury dissipates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026
Boron arsenide has the potential to revolutionize electronics and semiconductor technology by providing a material that both dissipates heat effectively and performs as a high-quality semiconductor.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 12, 2025
The earlier tender tone in my mom’s voice dissipates.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
Since Sir Chris's decision to ban the parade almost three weeks ago, the daily protests have dissipated with the action mostly moving to the courtroom.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
So maybe the sting has not dissipated, not after the Brewers so rudely swept the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
Despite Muratov’s efforts, the Russian Renaissance withered, and Russia’s connection to Italian culture dissipated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
"The spirit of Anchorage has dissipated," said Russian political analyst Fyodor Lukyanov -- close to the ruling elite -- in August.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Delicious as the day turned out to be for Milkman, it was even more so because it included secrecy and defiance, both of which dissipated within an hour of his father’s return.
From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison
“You can kind of feel people’s anxiety dissipating throughout the day,” Kai says, “so that by the time it’s dinner, everyone’s super comfortable with each other.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2026
While the colder climate of space holds appeal for some backers of the galactic data-center vision, “there’s no airflow,” Huang noted, which could present challenges when it comes to dissipating heat.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 25, 2026
"The gas behaves like a perfect conductor; even though countless collisions occur between the atoms, quantities like mass and energy flow freely, without dissipating into the system."
From Science Daily ● Jan. 7, 2026
For a while, investors cheered the dissipating fog, with the Nasdaq composite surging as much as 2.6%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
Babou stopped in front of the house, but the cloud of smoke kept going, enveloping the minivan in a black shroud before dissipating into a thin trail of intermittent puffs.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
