dis|patch /d I spæ tʃ/ (dispatches , dispatching , dispatched ) in BRIT, also use despatch 1 VERB If you dispatch someone to a place, you send them there for a particular reason. [FORMAL ] □ [V n adv/prep] He dispatched scouts ahead. □ [V n to-inf] The Italian government was preparing to dispatch 4,000 soldiers to search the island. ● N‑UNCOUNT Dispatch is also a noun. □ [+ of ] The despatch of the task force is purely a contingency measure.
2 VERB If you dispatch a message, letter, or parcel, you send it to a particular person or destination. [FORMAL ] □ [V n prep/adv] The victory inspired him to dispatch a gleeful telegram to Roosevelt. □ [be V -ed] Free gifts are dispatched separately so please allow 28 days for delivery. [Also V n] ● N‑UNCOUNT Dispatch is also a noun. □ We have 125 cases ready for dispatch.
3 N‑COUNT A dispatch is a special report that is sent to a newspaper or broadcasting organization by a journalist who is in a different town or country. □ …this despatch from our West Africa correspondent.
4 N‑COUNT A dispatch is a message or report that is sent, for example, by army officers or government officials to their headquarters. □ I was carrying dispatches from the ambassador.
5 VERB To dispatch a person or an animal means to kill them. [OLD-FASHIONED ] □ [V n] The hunters caught the bear and dispatched him immediately.
dis|pel /d I spe l/ (dispels , dispelling , dispelled ) VERB To dispel an idea or feeling that people have means to stop them having it. □ [V n] This result should dispel the notion that developing countries are dependent on exports of agricultural products.
dis|pen|sable /d I spe nsəb ə l/ ADJ [usu v-link ADJ ] If someone or something is dispensable they are not really needed. □ All those people in the middle are dispensable.
dis|pen|sa|ry /d I spe nsəri/ (dispensaries ) N‑COUNT A dispensary is a place, for example in a hospital, where medicines are prepared and given out.
dis|pen|sa|tion /d I spense I ʃ ə n/ (dispensations )
1 N‑VAR A dispensation is special permission to do something that is normally not allowed. □ [+ from ] They were promised dispensation from military service.
2 N‑UNCOUNT Dispensation of something is the issuing of it, especially from a position of authority. [FORMAL ] □ [+ of ] …our application of consistent standards in the dispensation of justice.
dis|pense /d I spe ns/ (dispenses , dispensing , dispensed )
1 VERB If someone dispenses something that they own or control, they give or provide it to a number of people. [FORMAL ] □ [V n] The Union had already dispensed £40,000 in grants. □ [V n + to ] I thought of myself as a patriarch, dispensing words of wisdom to all my children.
2 VERB If you obtain a product by getting it out of a machine, you can say that the machine dispenses the product. □ [V n] For two weeks, the cash machine was unable to dispense money.
3 VERB When a chemist dispenses medicine, he or she prepares it, and gives or sells it to the patient or customer. □ [V n] Some shops gave wrong or inadequate advice when dispensing homeopathic medicines. □ [V ] Doctors confine themselves to prescribing rather than dispensing. [Also V n + to ]
▸ dispense with PHRASAL VERB If you dispense with something, you stop using it or get rid of it completely, especially because you no longer need it. □ [V P n] Now supermarkets are dispensing with checkouts, making you scan your own groceries.
dis|pens|er /d I spe nsə r / (dispensers ) N‑COUNT [oft n N ] A dispenser is a machine or container designed so that you can get an item or quantity of something from it in an easy and convenient way. □ …cash dispensers.
dis|per|sal /d I spɜː r s ə l/
1 N‑UNCOUNT Dispersal is the spreading of things over a wide area. □ Plants have different mechanisms of dispersal for their spores.
2 N‑UNCOUNT The dispersal of a crowd involves splitting it up and making the people leave in different directions. □ [+ of ] The police ordered the dispersal of the crowds gathered round the building.
dis|perse /d I spɜː r s/ (disperses , dispersing , dispersed )
1 VERB When something disperses or when you disperse it, it spreads over a wide area. □ [V ] The oil appeared to be dispersing. □ [V n] The intense currents disperse the sewage.
2 VERB When a group of people disperses or when someone disperses them, the group splits up and the people leave in different directions. □ [V n] Police fired shots and used teargas to disperse the demonstrators. □ [V ] The crowd dispersed peacefully after prayers.
dis|persed /d I spɜː r st/ ADJ Things that are dispersed are situated in many different places, a long way apart from each other. □ …his widely dispersed businesses.
dis|per|sion /d I spɜː r ʃ ə n/ N‑UNCOUNT Dispersion is the spreading of people or things over a wide area. [FORMAL ] □ [+ of ] The threat will force greater dispersion of their forces.
dis|pir|it|ed /d I sp I r I t I d/ ADJ If you are dispirited , you have lost your enthusiasm and excitement. □ I left eventually at six o'clock feeling utterly dispirited and depressed.
dis|pir|it|ing /d I sp I r I t I ŋ/ ADJ Something that is dispiriting causes you to lose your enthusiasm and excitement. □ It's very dispiriting for anyone to be out of a job.