Meaning
- Disperse (verb) means to scatter or spread people, things, or particles over a wide area, or to cause a group to break up and move in different directions.
- It can also mean to make something (such as information, fog, or a crowd) disappear or become less concentrated.
Grammar and Usage
- Part of speech: Verb
- Verb type: Transitive (takes an object) and intransitive (without an object).
Patterns:
- disperse sth → The police dispersed the crowd.
- sth disperses → The clouds dispersed after the storm.
- Often used in passive form: The protesters were dispersed by the police.
Common Phrases
- Disperse the crowd – to break up a gathering of people.
- Disperse in all directions – to scatter widely.
- Disperse fog/smoke – to make it vanish or spread out.
- Disperse information – to distribute knowledge or data.
Collocations
- disperse a crowd / protesters / audience
- disperse smoke / fog / mist / clouds
- disperse seeds / particles
- disperse knowledge / information
Examples
- The police used tear gas to disperse the protesters.
- The crowd dispersed quickly after the speech ended.
- The sun came out and dispersed the fog.
- The seeds were carried by the wind and dispersed across the field.
- The meeting dispersed without reaching an agreement.
- The strong wind helped disperse the smoke from the fire.
- Information about the new policy was quickly dispersed among the staff.
- The flock of birds dispersed in all directions when the dog approached.
Synonyms or Related
- Scatter
- Spread
- Break up
- Dissipate
- Distribute
- Diffuse