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zerstreuen — meaning in English

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English meaning

  • deflect verb To cause something to change direction, usually by bouncing or glancing off.
  • dispel verb To make fears, doubts, or false ideas disappear by showing they have no basis.
  • disperse verb To scatter or spread out in different directions.
  • dissipate verb To gradually scatter or disappear.
  • scatter verb To cause to separate and move in different directions.

Senses

zerstreuen is used for these senses in English:

  • decentralize (transitive) To cause to change from being concentrated at one point or site to being distributed across several.
  • deflect (transitive, figuratively) To divert (attention, etc.).
  • dispel (transitive) To drive away or cause to vanish by scattering.
  • disperse (physics, transitive, intransitive) To separate rays of light, etc., according to wavelength; to refract.
  • dissipate (transitive) To drive away, disperse.
  • scatter (ergative) To (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse.

deflect — full definition

  1. verb To cause something to change direction, usually by bouncing or glancing off.
  2. verb To avoid dealing directly with a question, criticism, or blame.

Related German words