scatter
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈskætə/
  • (GA) enPR: skătʹər, IPA: /ˈskætɚ/
Verb

scatter (scatters, present participle scattering; past and past participle scattered)

  1. (ergative) To (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse.
    The crowd scattered in terror.
    • c. 1588–1593, William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene ii]:
      Scatter and disperse the giddy Goths.
  2. (transitive) To distribute loosely as by sprinkling.
    Her ashes were scattered at the top of a waterfall.
    • 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.
Synonyms Translations Translations
  • French: se disperser
  • Italian: disperdersi
  • Portuguese: espalhar
  • Russian: развеять
  • Spanish: dispersar
Translations Translations Translations
  • Italian: dilazionarsi
Noun

scatter

  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 9781402040955, page 84
      quote en
    • 2015, Ian Shennan, Antony J. Long, Benjamin P. Horton, Handbook of Sea-Level Research, John Wiley & Sons ISBN 9781118452578, page 19
      quote en



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