disperse
/icons/point.icon SCATTER, DISPERSE, DISSIPATE, DISPEL mean to cause to separate or break up.
SCATTER implies a force that drives parts or units irregularly in many directions.
e.g. the bowling ball scattered the pins
DISPERSE implies a wider separation and a complete breaking up of a mass or group.
e.g. police dispersed the crowd
DISSIPATE stresses complete disintegration or dissolution and final disappearance.
e.g. the fog was dissipated by the morning sun
DISPEL stresses a driving away or getting rid of as if by scattering.
e.g. an authoritative statement that dispelled all doubt
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verb with object
distribute or spread over a wide area:
〈物〉を分散させる, 散布する; 〈知識など〉を広める; 〈雲･霧など〉を消散させる, 晴らす.
e.g. storms can disperse seeds via high altitudes
e.g. camping sites could be dispersed among trees so as to be out of sight.
go or cause to go in different directions or to different destinations:
〈群衆などが〉分散する, 解散する.
e.g. no object : the crowd dispersed
〈群衆など〉を追い散らす, 分散, 解散させる; …を分散配置する
e.g. with object : the police used tear gas to disperse the protesters.
(with reference to gas, smoke, mist, or cloud) thin out or cause to thin out and disappear:
〈雲･霧などが〉消散する, 晴れる.
e.g. no object : the earlier mist had dispersed
e.g. with object : winds dispersed the bomb's radioactive cloud high in the atmosphere.
Physics divide (light) into constituents of different wavelengths.
〘物理〙 〈光･電磁波〉を分散させる
Chemistry distribute (small particles) uniformly in a medium.
adjective attributive Chemistry
denoting a phase dispersed in another phase, as in a colloid:
e.g. emulsions should be examined after storage for droplet size of the disperse phase.
DERIVATIVES
disperser noun
dispersible adjective
dispersive | dəˈspərsiv | adjective
ORIGIN
late Middle English: from Latin dispers- ‘scattered’, from the verb dispergere, from dis- ‘widely’ + spargere ‘scatter, strew’.