disperse
C1Formal to neutral; common in academic, scientific, and news reporting contexts.
Definition
Meaning
To distribute or spread over a wide area, or to cause something to do so; to break up and scatter in different directions.
Can refer to the dissipation of abstract things like energy, attention, or a crowd; also used in science for particles in a medium.
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
Often implies an active process of scattering or the state of being widely separated. Can have a connotation of ending a gathering, sometimes by force.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No major differences in meaning or form. The past participle 'dispersed' is standard in both.
Connotations
In both varieties, can imply order being restored (e.g., police disperse a crowd) or a natural process (e.g., clouds disperse).
Frequency
Slightly more frequent in American English in news contexts related to protests or crowds.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
[transitive] Police dispersed the crowd.[intransitive] The fog began to disperse.[transitive with object and adjunct] The wind dispersed the papers across the park.Vocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “Disperse to the four winds (to scatter in all directions).”
Usage
Context Usage
Business
Rare. Used metaphorically: 'The company's operations are dispersed across three continents.'
Academic
Common in environmental science, physics, and sociology: 'The catalyst helps to disperse the nanoparticles.'
Everyday
Used for crowds, weather, and smells: 'The crowd dispersed after the speech.'
Technical
Central in chemistry (colloids), optics (light), and biology (seed dispersal): 'The prism disperses white light into a spectrum.'
Examples
By Part of Speech
verb
British English
- Police used water cannons to disperse the demonstrators.
- The farmer will disperse the fertiliser across the field.
American English
- The sheriff ordered the crowd to disperse immediately.
- The fan helped to disperse the smell of paint.
adverb
British English
- The population was dispersedly settled across the islands. (rare, formal)
American English
- The assets were held dispersedly, making them hard to track. (rare, formal)
adjective
British English
- The company has a highly dispersed workforce.
- They studied a widely dispersed population.
American English
- They live in a geographically dispersed community.
- The report analysed dispersed ownership patterns.
Examples
By CEFR Level
- After the concert, people dispersed.
- The sun came out and the clouds dispersed.
- The police arrived to disperse the gathering.
- Seeds are dispersed by the wind.
- Authorities used tear gas to disperse the protesters.
- The company's management is dispersed across several countries.
- The new policy aims to disperse economic activity beyond the capital.
- Lasers are used to disperse certain types of atmospheric pollutants.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think of a purse (sounds like 'sperse') spilling its contents everywhere – the coins DISPERSE.
Conceptual Metaphor
A GROUP IS A MASS (that can be broken apart and scattered).
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- Avoid confusing with 'распылять' (which is more 'to spray' or 'to atomize') for non-physical contexts. Use 'рассеивать' for physical scattering and 'распространять' for information.
Common Mistakes
- Using 'disperse' as a synonym for 'disappear' (e.g., 'The problem dispersed.' is wrong).
- Confusing 'disperse' (scatter) with 'disburse' (pay out money).
Practice
Quiz
In a scientific context, 'disperse' most precisely means:
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
It is neutral but leans towards formal. It's perfectly acceptable in everyday speech about crowds or weather, but its core usage is in formal, academic, or news contexts.
They are often synonyms. 'Disperse' can imply a more organized or deliberate spreading over a wider area, and is more common for crowds or gases. 'Scatter' is more general and often implies a more random, sudden action.
Yes, very commonly. It means to cause a group of people to break up and move away in different directions (e.g., 'The meeting was dispersed by security').
The main noun forms are 'dispersion' (the process or state of being dispersed) and 'dispersal' (the action of dispersing). They are often interchangeable.