dissipate

English

Etymology

From Latin dissipatus, past participle of dissipare, also written dissupare (“to scatter, disperse, demolish, destroy, squander, dissipate”), from dis- (“apart”) + supare (“to throw”), also in comp. insipare (“to throw into”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈdɪsəpeɪt/, SAMPA: /"dIs@peIt/

Verb

dissipate (third-person singular simple present dissipates, present participle dissipating, simple past and past participle dissipated)

1. To drive away, disperse.
2. To use up or waste.
   • 1931: F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Babylon Revisited"

     So much for the effort and ingenuity of Montmartre. All the catering to vice and waste was on an utterly childish scale, and he suddenly realized the meaning of the word "dissipate"—to dissipate into thin air; to make nothing out of something.

3. To vanish by dispersion.

Related terms

• dissipation

Translations

To drive away

Bulgarian: разсейвам, разпръсквам Czech: rozptýlit (cs)

German: zerstreuen (de)

To use up or waste

Bulgarian: пропилявам (bg)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

French: dissiper (2,3) Ido: disipar (2), dispersar (3) Greek: διαχέω Kannada: ಬೀರು (kn) (bīru)

External links

• dissipate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• dissipate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

---

Italian

Verb

dissipate

1. second-person plural present indicative of dissipare
2. second-person plural imperative of dissipare
3. Feminine plural of dissipato

---

Latin

Verb

dissipāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of dissipō