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Webster 1913 Edition

Dissipate

Dis′si-pate

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To separate into parts and disappear; to waste away; to scatter; to disperse; to vanish;
as, a fog or cloud gradually
dissipates
before the rays or heat of the sun; the heat of a body
dissipates
.
2.
To be extravagant, wasteful, or dissolute in the pursuit of pleasure; to engage in dissipation.

Webster 1828 Edition

Dissipate

DISSIPATE

,
Verb.
T.
[L., to throw.]
1.
To scatter; to disperse; to drive asunder. Wind dissipates fog; the heat of the sun dissipates vapor; mirth dissipates care and anxiety; the cares of life tend to dissipate serious reflections. Scatter, disperse and dissipate are in many cases synonymous; but dissipate is used appropriately to denote the dispersion of things that vanish, or are not afterwards collected; as, to dissipate fog, vapor or clouds. We say, an army is scattered or dispersed, but not dissipated. Trees are scattered or dispersed over a field, but not dissipated.
2.
To expend; to squander; to scatter property in wasteful extravagance; to waste; to consume; as, a man has dissipated his fortune in the pursuit of pleasure.
3.
To scatter the attention.

DISSIPATE

,
Verb.
I.
To scatter; to disperse; to separate into parts and disappear; to waste away; to vanish.
A fog or cloud gradually dissipates, before the rays or heat of the sun. The heat of a body dissipates; the fluids dissipate.

Definition 2024

dissipate

dissipate

English

Verb

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

  1. To drive away, disperse.
    • Cook
      I soon dissipated his fears.
    • Hazlitt
      The extreme tendency of civilization is to dissipate all intellectual energy.
  2. To use up or waste.
    • 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.
  3. To vanish by dispersion.

Related terms

Translations

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

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(key): /ˈdɪsɪpeɪt/

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