Meanings
present singular third person disperses · participle present dispersing · participle past dispersed · past dispersed
- intransitivetransitiveTo scatter in different directions.
The Jews are dispersed among all nations.
1 more example
The lippes of the wiſe diſperſe knowledge: but the heart of the fooliſh, doeth not ſo.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 15:7, column 1 - intransitivetransitiveTo disseminate.
- intransitivetransitivenatural sciencesTo separate rays of light, etc., according to wavelength; to refract.
- intransitivetransitiveTo distribute throughout.
comparative more disperse · superlative most disperse
- Scattered or spread out.
Australia itself is a very wide and very disperse country, where the distance problems significantly affect also the "internal" customer-supplier chains.
1998, James-Yves Roger, Technologies for the Information Society: Developments and Opportunities1 more example
In particular, a very crisp quantifier such as “for all,” “there exists,” “at least 50 percent” tend to have less disperse weighting vectors while fuzzier quantifiers such as many tend to have a more disperse weighting vector.
2014, Didier J. Dubois, Readings in Fuzzy Sets for Intelligent Systems, page 85
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo break up and disappear; to dissipate.
More synonyms by meaning
verbto cause to separate and go in different directions
verbcause to become widely known
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindispersus
- Middle Frenchdisperser
- Englishdisperse
From Middle French disperser, from Latin dispersus, past participle of dispergō (“to scatter abroad, disperse”), from dis- (“apart”) + spargō (“to scatter”); see sparse.
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek σκεδάννυμι
- σκεδάννυμι (skedánnumi)to scatter
Basque sakabanatu
- sakabanatuto scatter
Bulgarian разпилявам, разпръсквам
- разпилявам (razpiljavam)to scatter
- разпръсквам (razprăskvam)to scatter
- разсейвам (razsejvam)to scatter
Catalan dispersar
- dispersarto scatter
Czech rozesít, rozptýlit
- rozesítto scatter
- rozptýlitto scatter
- rozplynout seto dissipate
- rozehnatto dissipate
- rozptýlitto dissipate
- hynoutto dissipate
- vyprchatto dissipate
Danish sprede
- spredeto scatter
Dutch verstrooien
- verstrooiento scatter
Esperanto dispeli, aspergi
- dispelito scatter
- aspergito scatter
- disiĝito dissipate
Finnish hajottaa, hajaantua
- hajottaato scatter
- hajaantuato scatter
- hajottaato dissipate
- hajotato dissipate
- levittääto disseminate
- hajottaato refract
- hajotato refract
- dispergoidato refract
- levittääto distribute
French disperser, se disperser
- disperserto scatter
- se disperserto scatter
German zerstreuen, sich zerstreuen
- zerstreuento scatter
- sich zerstreuento scatter
- verbreitento scatter
- verstreuento scatter
- dissipierento dissipate
- verteilento disseminate
- verstreuento disseminate
- verbreitento disseminate
- streuento refract
- aufteilento refract
- auffächernto refract
- verteilento distribute
Hungarian szétszór
- szétszórto scatter
Irish scaoil, ruaig
- scaoilto scatter
- ruaigto scatter
- scaipto scatter
- scaipto dissipate
- scaipto disseminate
Italian disperdere, disperdere
- disperdereto scatter
- disperdereto dissipate
- disseminarereto disseminate
- disperdereto refract
- rifrangereto refract
- disperdereto distribute
- distribuireto distribute
Japanese 退散, 消散
- 退散 (taisan)to scatter
- 消散to dissipate
Korean 흩다
- 흩다 (heutda)to scatter
Latin dissipō, dissipō
- dissipōto scatter
- dissipōto dissipate
Māori korara, tītari
- korarato scatter
- tītarito scatter
- tītaritarito scatter
- whakaehuto scatter
- tohatohato scatter
- whakaehuto dissipate
- tohatohato distribute
Polish rozproszyć
- rozproszyćto scatter
Portuguese dispersar, dissipar
- dispersarto scatter
- dissiparto dissipate
- disseminarto disseminate
- refratarto refract
- distribuirto distribute
Russian рассе́ивать, рассе́ять
- рассе́ивать (rasséivatʹ)to scatter
- рассе́ять (rasséjatʹ)to scatter
- разбра́сывать (razbrásyvatʹ)to scatter
- разброса́ть (razbrosátʹ)to scatter
- рассыпа́ть (rassypátʹ)to scatter
- рассы́пать (rassýpatʹ)to scatter
- раски́дывать (raskídyvatʹ)to scatter
- раскида́ть (raskidátʹ)to scatter
- разгоня́ть (razgonjátʹ)to dissipate
- разогна́ть (razognátʹ)to dissipate
- распространя́ть (rasprostranjátʹ)to disseminate
- распространи́ть (rasprostranítʹ)to disseminate
Scottish Gaelic sgaoil
- sgaoilto scatter
Spanish dispersar
- dispersarto scatter
Turkish dağıtmak
- dağıtmakto distribute
Vietnamese rải rác
- rải rácto scatter
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with disperse
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
disperse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disperse
“disperse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disperse. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “disperse,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disperse.
Source: disperse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.