scatter

English

Etymology

From Middle English scateren, skateren, (also schateren, see shatter), from Old English *sceaterian, probably from a dialect of Old Norse. Possibly related to Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, split, shatter”). Compare Middle Dutch scheteren (“to scatter”), Low German schateren, Dutch schateren (“to burst out laughing”); and is apparently remotely akin to Ancient Greek σκεδάννυμι (skedánnumi, “scatter, disperse”). Doublet of shatter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskætə/
• enPR: skătʹər, IPA^(key): /ˈskætɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: scat‧ter

Verb

scatter (third-person singular simple present scatters, present participle scattering, simple past and past participle scattered)

1. (ergative) To (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse.

   The crowd scattered in terror.

   • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Scatter and disperse the giddy Goths.

2. (transitive) To distribute loosely as by sprinkling.

   Her ashes were scattered at the top of a waterfall.

   • (Can we date this quote by Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Why should my muse enlarge on Libyan swains, / Their scattered cottages, and ample plains?

3. (transitive, physics) To deflect (radiation or particles).
4. (intransitive) To occur or fall at widely spaced intervals.
5. (transitive) To frustrate, disappoint, and overthrow.

   to scatter hopes or plans

6. (transitive) To be dispersed upon.

   Desiccated stalks scattered the fields.

   • 2016, J. D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy, page 21:

     […] its beauty is obscured by the environmental waste and loose trash that scatter the countryside.

Synonyms

• (disperse): See also Thesaurus:disperse

Derived terms

• scatterbrain
• scatterplot
• scattershot

Translations

to scatter — see disperse

to cause to separate

• Arabic: نَثَرَ (naṯara), تَفَرَّقَ (tafarraqa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 散佈／散布 (zh) (sànbù), 散布 (zh) (sànbù)

• Dutch: verstrooien (nl), verspreiden (nl)
• Finnish: sirottaa
• French: disperser (fr)
• Georgian: განცალკევება (gancalḳeveba), ჩამოშორება (čamošoreba)
• German: zerstreuen (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: σκεδάννυμι (skedánnumi)

• Italian: disperdere (it)
• Japanese: (defuse) 散らす (chirasu); (causing mess) 散らかす (chirakasu)
• Korean: 흩다 (heutda), 뿌리다 (ko) (ppurida)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: spargō
• Maori: whakamarara
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spre (no)

  Nynorsk: spreie

• Persian: پراکندن (fa) (parâkandan)
• Portuguese: espalhar (pt), dispersar (pt)
• Russian: разбра́сывать (ru) impf (razbrásyvatʹ), разброса́ть (ru) pf (razbrosátʹ)
• Spanish: dispersar (es)
• Swedish: sprida (sv), strö (sv), strö ut, skingra (sv)
• Telugu: చెదురు {cheduru}
• Turkish: dağılmak (tr), yaymak (tr)

to disperse

• Dutch: uiteenspatten (nl), uiteengaan (nl)
• Finnish: sirota
• French: se disperser (fr)
• Gothic: 𐌳𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌷𐌾𐌰𐌽 (distahjan)
• Italian: disperdersi
• Japanese: 散る (ja) (chiru), 散らばる (chirabaru)
• Korean: 흩어지다 (ko) (heutEojida)
• Latin: dissipō
• Maori: whakamarara, tītaritari, tītari, rauroha, whakaehu
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spre (no)

  Nynorsk: spreie

• Portuguese: espalhar (pt)
• Russian: развеять (ru) (razvejatʹ)
• Spanish: dispersar (es)
• Swedish: skingras (sv), skingra (sv) sig
• Telugu: చెదురు (ceduru)

to distribute loosely

• Crimean Tatar: cayratmaq
• Dutch: verstrooien (nl), verspreiden (nl)
• Esperanto: disĵeti
• Finnish: sirotella (fi)
• French: éparpiller (fr), parsemer (fr)
• Georgian: გაფანტვა (gapanṭva), მიმობნევა (mimobneva)
• German: streuen (de)
• Irish: easraigh
• Italian: sparpagliare (it), cospargere (it)
• Japanese: (other than seeds) 撒く (ja) (maku), 散布する (ja) (sanpu suru); (for seeds) 蒔く (ja) (maku); (for seeds in a broad area) 播く (ja) (maku)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: whakamarara, tītaritari, tītari, kaihora
• Norwegian: strø
• Old Turkic: 𐰽𐰲 (sač-)
• Portuguese: espalhar (pt)
• Russian: разбра́сывать (ru) impf (razbrásyvatʹ), разброса́ть (ru) pf (razbrosátʹ), разбры́згивать (ru) impf (razbrýzgivatʹ), разбры́згать (ru) pf (razbrýzgatʹ) (liquid)
• Scottish Gaelic: breac, fras
• Spanish: esparcir (es)
• Swedish: beströ (sv)
• Turkish: saçmak (tr), savurmak (tr), serpmek (tr), serpiştirmek (tr)

physics: to deflect

• Dutch: verstrooien (nl)
• Finnish: sirottaa
• Italian: deflettere
• Japanese: 散乱する (ja) (sanran suru)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spre (no)

  Nynorsk: spreie

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: рассе́ивать (ru) impf (rasséivatʹ), рассе́ять (ru) pf (rasséjatʹ)
• Spanish: desviar (es)
• Swedish: sprida (sv)

to occur at intervals

• Italian: dilazionarsi
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Swedish: sprida (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

• (deprecated template usage) Arabic: نثر (náθara)
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} ŝuti (eo)
• Kannada: ^{(please verify)} ಚದರು (kn) (cadaru), ^{(please verify)} ಎರಚು (kn) (eracu), ^{(please verify)} ಈಡಾಡು (kn) (īḍāḍu), ^{(please verify)} ಚಲ್ಲು (kn) (callu), ^{(please verify)} ಬೀರು (kn) (bīru), ^{(please verify)} ಸೀರು (kn) (sīru), ^{(please verify)} ಕೊಡಹು (kn) (koḍahu), ^{(please verify)} ಬಿದಿರು (kn) (bidiru)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• (deprecated template usage) Mandarin: 散佈 (sànbù)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} dağılmak (tr), ^{(please verify)} etrafa yayılmak

Noun

scatter (countable and uncountable, plural scatters)

1. The act of scattering or dispersing.
2. A collection of dispersed objects.
   • 2006, Theano S. Terkenli, Anne-Marie d'Hauteserre, Landscapes of a New Cultural Economy of Space, Springer Science & Business Media →ISBN, page 84

     The Los Angeles Basin evolved as a mobility surface principally through the combination of an initial system of electric railways connecting a scatter of agricultural settlement settlements.

   • 2015, Ian Shennan, Antony J. Long, Benjamin P. Horton, Handbook of Sea-Level Research, John Wiley & Sons →ISBN, page 19

     The plot of all our sea-level index points shows a scatter of data points that do not overlap […]

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• tracest