dissipate

Definition

To drive away, disperse.

Etymology

The verb is first attested in 1425, in Middle English, the adjective from 1606 to 1765; from Middle English dissipaten, from Latin dissipātus, perfect passive participle of dissipō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), also written dissupō (“to scatter, disperse, demolish, destroy, squander, dissipate”), from dis- (“apart”) + supō (“to throw”). Doublet of dissipe (“to dissipate”), now obsolete.

Example Sentences

• "August 1773, James Cook, journal entry I soon dissipated his fears."
• "The extreme tendency of civilization is to dissipate all intellectual energy."
• "The vast wealth […] was in three years dissipated."

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