different between disperse vs differ

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d??sp??s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d??sp??s/
• Rhymes: -??(?)s
• Hyphenation: dis?perse

Verb

disperse (third-person singular simple present disperses, present participle dispersing, simple past and past participle dispersed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To scatter in different directions.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:disperse
2. (transitive, intransitive) To break up and disappear; to dissipate.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To disseminate.
4. (physics, transitive, intransitive) To separate rays of light, etc., according to wavelength; to refract.
5. (transitive, intransitive) To distribute throughout.

Usage notes

• Do not confuse with the monetary word disburse, despite the two being near homophones and having a degree of semantic similarity (in which disbursed money may be dispersed among expenses). A mnemonic to help make the difference obvious (which uses a cognate of each word) is that d?s-burs-ing is taking money out of the purse, whereas d?-spers-ing causes something to be sparsely scattered.

Derived terms

Related terms

• dispersal
• dispersible
• dispersion

Translations

Adjective

disperse (comparative more disperse, superlative most disperse)

1. Scattered or spread out.

Derived terms

Anagrams

• Perseids, despiser, perseids, presides

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dis.p??s/

Verb

disperse

1. inflection of disperser:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative
   2. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   3. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

• perdisse, prédises, prédisse, présides

German

Adjective

disperse

1. inflection of dispers:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Adjective

disperse

1. feminine plural of disperso

Noun

disperse f pl

1. plural of dispersa

Verb 1

disperse

1. inflection of disperdere:
   1. third-person singular past historic
   2. third-person singular past historic

Verb 2

disperse f

1. feminine plural of disperso

Anagrams

• depressi, perdessi, predisse

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /dis?per.se/, [d??s??p?rs??]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /dis?per.se/, [d?is?p?rs?]

Participle

disperse

1. vocative masculine singular of dispersus

References

• disperse in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• disperse in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• disperse in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Portuguese

Verb

disperse

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of dispersar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of dispersar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of dispersar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of dispersar

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dis?pe?se/, [d?is?pe?.se]

Verb

disperse

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of dispersar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of dispersar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of dispersar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of dispersar.

English

Etymology

From Middle English differren, from Old French differer, from Latin differ? (“carry apart, put off, defer; differ”), from dis- (“apart”) + fer? (“carry, bear”). Compare Ancient Greek ??????? (diaphér?). Doublet of defer (etymology 1).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d?f?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?d?f?/
• Rhymes: -?f?(r)
• Hyphenation: dif?fer

Verb

differ (third-person singular simple present differs, present participle differing, simple past and past participle differed)

1. (intransitive) Not to have the same traits or characteristics; to be unalike or distinct.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:differ

2. (intransitive, people, groups, etc.) To have diverging opinions, disagree.
   • May 11, 1827, George Canning, Changes in the Administration

     I differ from the honourable baronet on both these subjects

3. (intransitive) To be separated in quantity.

Derived terms

• agree to differ
• beg to differ

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• riffed

Latin

Verb

differ

1. second-person singular present active imperative of differ?