dissipate

English

Etymology

Borrowed 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^(key): /ˈdɪsɪpeɪt/

• Audio (CA):

  (file)

Verb

1. (transitive) To drive away, disperse.
   • Cook

     I soon dissipated his fears.

   • Hazlitt

     The extreme tendency of civilization is to dissipate all intellectual energy.

2. (transitive) To use up or waste; squander.
   • Bishop Burnet

     The vast wealth […] was in three years dissipated.

   • 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.

   • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:

     If he prefers the bar he can exchange views with a Major de Wildman of Lord knew whose army, who calls himself King Farouk's equerry and claims to have a private telephone link to Cairo so that he can report the winning numbers and take royal orders inspired by soothsayers on how to dissipate the wealth of Egypt.

3. (intransitive) To vanish by dispersion.
4. (intransitive, colloquial, dated) To be dissolute in conduct.

Related terms

• dissipation

Translations

to dissipate — see disperse

to drive away

• Armenian: ցրել (hy) (cʻrel)
• Bulgarian: разсейвам (bg) (razsejvam), разпръсквам (bg) (razprǎskvam)
• Czech: rozptýlit
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Dutch: verdrijven (nl)
• German: zerstreuen (de), zerteilen (de), verscheuchen (de), lösen (de), abbauen (de), zersplittern (de), dissipieren
• Italian: dissipare (it)

to use up or waste

• Bulgarian: пропилявам (bg) (propiljavam)
• Dutch: verbruiken (nl);verspillen (nl), verkwisten (nl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: aufbrauchen (de), verbrauchen (de), abbauen (de), auflösen (de), verschwenden (de), vergeuden (de), ableiten (de), verprassen (de), verzetteln (de), verschleudern (de)
• Ido: disipar (io)

to vanish

• Dutch: verdwijnen (nl)
• German: verschwinden (de), abführen (de), verflüchtigen (de), sich auflösen, sich zerteilen, sich zerstreuen
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: memeha
• Swedish: skingra (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: (2,3) ^{(please verify)} dissiper (fr)
• Greek: ^{(please verify)} διαχέω (el) (diachéo)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: (2) ^{(please verify)} disipar (io), (3) ^{(please verify)} dispersar (io)
• Kannada: ^{(please verify)} ಬೀರು (kn) (bīru)

Further reading

• “dissipate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “dissipate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

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Italian

Verb

dissipate

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

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) dissipāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of dissipō