scattered

American  

[skat-erd] / ˈskæt ərd /

adjective

1. distributed or occurring at widely spaced and usually irregular intervals.

   scattered villages; scattered showers.

2. dispersed; disorganized.

   scattered forces.

3. distracted or disorganized.

   scattered thoughts.

4. Meteorology. (of clouds) covering up to one-half of the sky.

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Other Word Forms

• scatteredly adverb
• scatteredness noun
• unscattered adjective
• well-scattered adjective

Etymology

Origin of scattered

scatter + -ed ²

Example Sentences

Da Silva said the war had left about 60 million tonnes of rubble scattered across the strip.

From Barron's

Not all Verizon customers are impacted, and reports of the outage were scattered nationally, with many concentrated in the metro areas of New York, Seattle, Los Angeles and Miami, according to the site.

From The Wall Street Journal

Now, lots of thoughts scattered around my head just then, spilling here and there like marbles from a bag: it was well past midnight.

From Literature

"Their momenta are not scattered but simply exchanged between collision partners. Each atom's momentum remains conserved -- it can only be passed on, never lost."

From Science Daily

Parts of Altadena now resemble a rural town, with scattered houses separated by vast swaths of open space canopied by trees that somehow survived the fire.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• intermittent
• isolated
• occasional
• sporadic