dispel

di·spel
D2I1S1P3E1L1
[dɪˈspɛɫ]

verb

To drive away or cause to vanish by scattering.

“The clouds and mist were soon enough dispelled by the sun.”

Meanings

verbdispel (third-person singular simple present dispels, present participle dispelling, simple past and past participle dispelled)

present singular third person dispels · participle present dispelling · participle past dispelled · past dispelled

  1. transitiveTo drive away or cause to vanish by scattering.

    The clouds and mist were soon enough dispelled by the sun.

    Synonyms: disperse

  2. transitiveTo remove (fears, doubts, objections etc.) by proving them unjustified.

    It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street.[…]. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.

    1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01
    1 more example

    The fate of the railway from Ballater to Braemar has been invested with an air of mystery, which has never been completely dispelled. It has been suggested that Queen Victoria was opposed to a railway in the vicinity of Balmoral Castle, and intervened personally to secure the abandonment of the line beyond Ballater.

    1957 January 28, H. A. Vallance, “The Deeside Railway—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 6

    Synonyms: cast away, cast off

  3. AfricatransitiveTo get rid of or manage without.
noundispel (plural dispels)

plural dispels

  1. An act or instance of dispelling.

    “My dispel didn't work,” she said finally. “He wasn't a blood witch, Sunny,” I said.

    2008, Caitlin Kittredge, Night Life

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo drive away or cause to vanish by scattering.

Similar

verbTo remove (fears, doubts, objections etc.) by proving them unjustified.

More synonyms by meaning

verbforce to go away; used both with concrete and metaphoric meanings

verbto cause to separate and go in different directions

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latindispellere“to disperse; to dispel”
  2. Middle Englishdispelen
  3. Englishdispel

From Middle English dispelen, from Latin dispellere (“to disperse; to dispel”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic بَدَّدَ, أَزَالَ
  • بَدَّدَ (baddada)to remove fears etc.
  • أَزَالَ (ʔazāla)to remove fears etc.
Bulgarian разсейвам, разпръсквам
  • разсейвам (razsejvam)to drive away by scattering
  • разпръсквам (razprăskvam)to drive away by scattering
Catalan dissipar
  • dissiparto drive away by scattering
Chinese Mandarin 打消, 驅散 /驱散
  • 打消 (dǎxiāo)to drive away by scattering
  • 驅散 /驱散 (qūsàn)to drive away by scattering
Czech rozptýlit, rozptýlit
  • rozptýlitto drive away by scattering
  • rozptýlitto remove fears etc.
  • rozptylovatto remove fears etc.
Danish henvejre
  • henvejreto drive away by scattering
Dutch verjagen, verdrijven
  • verjagento drive away by scattering
  • verdrijvento drive away by scattering
Esperanto dispeli
  • dispelito drive away by scattering
Estonian purustama
  • purustamato drive away by scattering
Finnish hälventää, haihduttaa
  • hälventääto drive away by scattering
  • haihduttaato drive away by scattering
  • häivyttääto drive away by scattering
French chasser, dissiper
  • chasserto drive away by scattering
  • dissiperto drive away by scattering
German zerstreuen, ausräumen
  • zerstreuento drive away by scattering
  • ausräumento remove fears etc.
Hebrew הֵפִיג, פִּזֵּר
  • הֵפִיג (hefíg)to drive away by scattering
  • פִּזֵּר (pizér)to drive away by scattering
Hungarian szétoszlat, eloszlat
  • szétoszlatto drive away by scattering
  • eloszlatto drive away by scattering
  • elűzto remove fears etc.
  • eloszlatto remove fears etc.
Irish ruaig, scaip
  • ruaigto drive away by scattering
  • scaipto drive away by scattering
  • ruaigto remove fears etc.
Latin dispellō
  • dispellōto drive away by scattering
Māori whakamahea, tokotoko
  • whakamaheato drive away by scattering
  • tokotokoto drive away by scattering
  • whakakorarato drive away by scattering
  • whakamaheato remove fears etc.
Norwegian Bokmål fordrive, forjage
  • fordriveto drive away by scattering
  • forjageto drive away by scattering
  • spreto drive away by scattering
  • fordriveto remove fears etc.
  • forjageto remove fears etc.
Polish rozwiewać
  • rozwiewaćto drive away by scattering
Portuguese dissipar, dispersar
  • dissiparto drive away by scattering
  • dispersarto drive away by scattering
Romanian spulbera
  • spulberato drive away by scattering
Russian разве́ивать, разве́ять
  • разве́ивать (razvéivatʹ)to drive away by scattering
  • разве́ять (razvéjatʹ)to drive away by scattering
  • рассе́ивать (rasséivatʹ)to drive away by scattering
  • рассе́ять (rasséjatʹ)to drive away by scattering
  • разгоня́ть (razgonjátʹ)to drive away by scattering
  • разогна́ть (razognátʹ)to drive away by scattering
  • развеивать (razveivatʹ)to remove fears etc.
  • развенчивать (razvenčivatʹ)to remove fears etc.
  • изобличать (izobličatʹ)to remove fears etc.
  • дезавуировать (dezavuirovatʹ)to remove fears etc.
Spanish desvanecer, despejar
  • desvanecerto remove fears etc.
  • despejarto remove fears etc.
  • difuminarto remove fears etc.
  • dispelerto remove fears etc.
Thai ขจัด
  • ขจัด (kà-jàt)to drive away by scattering
Ukrainian розві́ювати, розсі́ювати
  • розві́ювати (rozvíjuvaty)to drive away by scattering
  • розсі́ювати (rozsíjuvaty)to drive away by scattering
Welsh gwasgaru, chwalu
  • gwasgaruto drive away by scattering
  • chwaluto drive away by scattering
  • dileuto remove fears etc.

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with dispel

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

dispel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dispel

MLA

“dispel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dispel. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dispel,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dispel.

Source: dispel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.