dispersion
NounWordNet 3.0
Noun (3)
- spreading widely or driving offSynonyms: scattering
- the spatial or geographic property of being scattered about over a range, area, or volume“worldwide in distribution”“the distribution of nerve fibers”“in complementary distribution”Synonyms: distribution
- the act of dispersing or diffusing something“the dispersion of the troops”“the diffusion of knowledge”Synonyms: dispersaldisseminationdiffusion
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onerousadjective
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Dis·per′sion noun
Origin: CF. F. dispersion.
1. The act or process of scattering or dispersing, or the state of being scattered or separated; as, the Jews in their dispersion retained their rites and ceremonies; a great dispersion of the human family took place at the building of Babel.
The days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished.— Jer. xxv. 34.
2. Opt. The separation of light into its different colored rays, arising from their different refrangibilities.
Dispersion of the optic axes Crystallography, the separation of the optic axes in biaxial crystals, due to the fact that the axial angle has different values for the different colors of the spectrum.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54