Make Your Point > Archived Issues > DISPERSE
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connect this word to others:
Imagine spraying a can of air at a dirty keyboard, watching in satisfaction as the dust disperses.
The word disperse is like the can of air: clean, simple, handy, and satisfying to use.
It's formal and precise, and straight from Latin, much like the others listed below. Can you recall each?
1. Something di____e is spread out or scattered widely around--or, it uses way too many words, as if the words were poured all across a wide area.
2. When you dis___se things, you hand them out in sections, in an official way, as if you're in charge of the entire supply.
3. To d___r something is to stop it from happening. And to d___r people is to stop them from doing something. (Hint: it's related to terror and terrible.)
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"DISPERSE"
This word has Latin roots that literally mean "to scatter apart." (It's a cousin of the word "sparse," meaning "few, thin, scattered," as well as "intersperse," meaning "to scatter in between.")
When things or people are clumped all together, and then they disperse, they scatter: they move away from each other, usually in many directions.
Pronunciation:
diss PURSE
Part of speech:
Verb.
It's usually the intransitive kind: "the particles dispersed into the air," "the demonstrators dispersed when the police arrived."
But it can also be the transitive kind. Here's Wordsworth: "Her feet disperse the powdery snow."
Other useful forms:
dispersed, dispersing, dispersion, dispersive
How to use it:
This word is common and formal, with a calm, factual tone that can sound scientific.
Talk about groups or quantities of physical things and people that disperse, like crowds of protesters, clouds of sediment, and clumps of dust and gravel on driveways or in outer space.
Although dispersing is something that physical objects (and people) most often do, you can also talk about abstract things dispersing, like worries, concerns, troubles, and bad moods. If you can imagine it disappearing in all directions, you can say that it disperses.
examples:
"Aryan migration theory... posits that the originators of Vedic culture — a significant component of Hinduism — dispersed into India around 4,000 years ago."
— Srinath Perur, Nature, 24 July 2019
"Unfortunately, it takes a lot for democracy to materialise, but not much for it to be dispersed."
— Umut Özkırımlı, The Guardian, 24 July 2019
has this page helped you understand "disperse"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "disperse" without saying "scatter" or "dispel."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(In a certain place, or at a certain event), the crowd disperses as _____."
Example: "Near the stage, the crowd disperses casually, teenagers slinking away and parents steering strollers vaguely elsewhere, as the singer announces his intention to yodel."
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
In August, we're playing the time-honored Game of Venery!
We're inventing terms for groups of things: terms that James Lipton, the author of An Exaltation of Larks, calls "shards of poetry and truth." Example terms of venery include lovely ones like "a conflagration of fireflies" and silly ones like "a myopia of umpires," "a rash of dermatologists," and "an unemployment of graduates."
In each issue this month, I'll offer two templates. Have fun filling them in and sharing your inventions with your family, being as lofty, silly, or bawdy as you like. In each subsequent issue, I'll list the actual terms that appear in Lipton's book.
From the previous issue:
1. A savoir-faire of _____
2. A _____ of maps
The terms listed in the book are "a savoir-faire of Frenchmen" and "a latitude of maps."
Try these today:
1. A rending of _____
2. A _____ of janitors
review this word:
1. One opposite of DISPERSE is
A. SOW.
B. GATHER.
C. SHATTER.
2. Dispersed _____, the snow leopard balances on rocks and leaps across chasms.
A. as an endangered species
B. across the mountains of Central Asia
C. by their fur's distinctive spots and rosettes
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
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Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Imagine spraying a can of air at a dirty keyboard, watching in satisfaction as the dust disperses.
"DISPERSE" This word has Latin roots that literally mean "to scatter apart." (It's a cousin of the word "sparse," meaning "few, thin, scattered," as well as "intersperse," meaning "to scatter in between.")
"Aryan migration theory... posits that the originators of Vedic culture — a significant component of Hinduism — dispersed into India around 4,000 years ago."
Explain the meaning of "disperse" without saying "scatter" or "dispel."
Fill in the blanks: "(In a certain place, or at a certain event), the crowd disperses as _____."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. One opposite of DISPERSE is
|