disperse

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To spread out or scatter in different directions, or to make a group do so.

   Police asked the crowd to disperse and go home.

2. 2
   verb

   To spread something widely so it is no longer concentrated.

   The wind dispersed the seeds across the whole field.

From Middle French disperser, from Latin dispersus, past participle of dispergō (“to scatter abroad, disperse”), from dis- (“apart”) + spargō (“to scatter”); see sparse.

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