Meanings
present singular third person disburses · participle present disbursing · participle past disbursed · past disbursed
- businessTo pay out, expend; usually from a public fund or treasury.
The consequent traffic is so grave that, last year, councils in England and Wales demanded that the government disburse £1bn a year to them so they could repair roads and tackle congestion.
2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian1 more example
When I pushed the album away and somehow managed to blurt out my criminal craving, she looked as if about to show me the door; however, after asking me what price I was prepared to disburse, she condescended to put me in touch with a person qui pourrait arranger la chose.
1955 September 15, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, Paris: The Olympia Press […], →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Frenchdesbourser
- Englishdisburse
From Old French desbourser (Modern French débourser). By surface analysis, dis- + burse (“purse”).
More words from Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian изплащам, разплащам се
- изплащам (izplaštam)to pay out
- разплащам се (razplaštam se)to pay out
Catalan desemborsar
- desemborsarto pay out
Czech vyplatit, vydat (z fondu)
- vyplatitto pay out
- vydat (z fondu)to pay out
Dutch uitbetalen
- uitbetalento pay out
Finnish maksaa, suorittaa maksu
- maksaato pay out
- suorittaa maksuto pay out
- antaa rahaato pay out
French débourser
- débourserto pay out
German ausschütten
- ausschüttento pay out
Hungarian folyósít, kiutal
- folyósítto pay out
- kiutalto pay out
- kifizetto pay out
Irish íoc amach
- íoc amachto pay out
Polish wypłacać, wypłacić
- wypłacaćto pay out
- wypłacićto pay out
Portuguese desembolsar, despender
- desembolsarto pay out
- despenderto pay out
Swedish betala ut
- betala utto pay out
Vietnamese giải ngân
- giải ngânto pay out
Welsh gwario
- gwarioto pay out
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with disburse
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
disburse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disburse
“disburse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disburse. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “disburse,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disburse.
Source: disburse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.