dispersion
6 synonyms and 2 antonyms for dispersion, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — The act of scattering things widely, or the state of being spread out over a large area.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. noun
The act of scattering things widely, or the state of being spread out over a large area.
“Wind is the main agent of seed dispersion for dandelions.”
Opposites
How to Use Dispersion
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Formal and technical; core in statistics, physics, ecology and environmental science.
Etymology
From Latin dispergere 'to scatter', formed from dis- 'apart' and spargere 'to strew'.
Full origin of dispersion →Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between dispersion and diffusion?
Diffusion is spreading driven by the random motion of particles moving from high to low concentration. Dispersion is broader: it is scattering by any means, including being carried by wind or currents, and in optics it means splitting light into its colours.
What are the main measures of dispersion?
Range, interquartile range, variance and standard deviation. Range is quickest but is distorted by a single outlier; standard deviation is the standard choice because it uses every value and is in the same units as the data.
Why does a prism split white light?
Because glass bends short wavelengths slightly more than long ones, so violet is refracted further than red and the colours emerge along different paths. That wavelength-dependent refraction is dispersion.