dispersedi‧sperse /dɪˈspɜːs $ -ɜːrs/ ●○○ verb [intransitive, transitive] 
Word Origin Examples
Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd.2if something disperses or is dispersed, it spreads in different directions over a wide area: The clouds dispersed as quickly as they had gathered.
Word OriginWORD ORIGINdisperse
Verb TableOrigin:
1300-1400 French disperser, from Latin dispergere ‘to scatter’VERB TABLE
disperse
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | disperse |
| he, she, it | disperses | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | dispersed |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have dispersed |
| he, she, it | has dispersed | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had dispersed |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will disperse |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have dispersed |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am dispersing |
| he, she, it | is dispersing | |
| you, we, they | are dispersing | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was dispersing |
| you, we, they | were dispersing | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been dispersing |
| he, she, it | has been dispersing | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been dispersing |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be dispersing |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been dispersing |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- National Guard troops were called in to disperse the crowd.
- Once the ambulance had left, the crowd began to disperse.
- One resident said the student protesters dispersed peacefully.
- The arrival of armed police made the students disperse.
- The crowd began dispersing as soon as the ambulance had driven away.
- The oil had been dispersed by chemicals sprayed on the water.
- Twenty five officers were injured when police moved in to disperse a crowd of 200-300 youths.
- Federal troops were used to disperse a crowd that tried to storm the jail.
- He said those details include determining where and how firefighting and emergency medical equipment will be dispersed throughout the city.
- It was at this point that police initially peacefully and totally unsuccessfully, sought to persuade the protesters to disperse.
- People are being advised to stay away until the fumes have dispersed.
- Police dispersed the crowds with teargas, and tanks were stationed in the city.
- Such ambiguity is dispersed by the Maastricht Treaty.
- They dispersed a crowd of whites and seized weapons in the black section of town.
- Yet, Lee knew very well that supplies were always short and had to be dispersed carefully, often during battle itself.
Longman Language Activatorto make a crowd separate► disperse
Collocations if the police or the army disperses a crowd, they make it separate, and people leave in different directions: · National Guard troops were called in to disperse the crowd.
► break up if someone, especially the police, breaks up a crowd, they make it separate, and people go away in small groups: · The police had to use tear gas to break up the protest.
when a crowd separates► disperse if a crowd disperses , people begin to move away from it: · Once the ambulance had left, the crowd began to disperse.
► break up if a crowd breaks up , people start to leave and move away in small groups: · When the police arrived, the crowd broke up very quickly.
► thin out if a crowd thins out , people gradually leave so that there are fewer of them in the crowd: · By midnight, the crowds outside the concert hall were beginning to thin out.· I decided to wait until the crowd thinned out a bit before trying to leave.
► melt away if a crowd melts away , the people leave gradually and quietly, hoping that no one will notice: · The excitement of the arrest was over and the crowd began to melt away.
when a crowd of people leave a place► disperse if police or soldiers disperse a crowd, or if a crowd disperses , all the people in the crowd leave in different directions: · Twenty five officers were injured when police moved in to disperse a crowd of 200-300 youths.· The crowd began dispersing as soon as the ambulance had driven away.· The arrival of armed police made the students disperse.
► scatter if a crowd scatters ,the people in the crowd leave quickly in different directions, especially because they are frightened: · There was a sudden crack of gunfire, and the crowd scattered.· The demonstrators suddenly turned and scattered in all directions.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES► a crowd disperses/breaks up
1if a group of people disperse or are dispersed, they go away in different directions: (=goes away in different directions)· Seeing there would be no more entertainment, the crowd began to disperse.
► disperse/break up a crowd (=make a crowd go away in different directions)· A few warning shots were fired in an attempt to disperse the crowd.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB► geographically· There are obviously more overheads when the client group is geographically dispersed rather than grouped together in a home.· Teams are likely to be geographically dispersed and culturally diverse.· To decentralise and geographically disperse political and economic power.· On the contrary, far-flung, geographically dispersed organizations may remain centralized for some important business functions.
► widely· They are widely dispersed and are engaged in a wide variety of activities.· When a user browses the Web, objects are retrieved in rapid succession from often widely dispersed servers.· Such papers are widely dispersed at present, in specialist clinical, radiological, pathological, and epidemiological journals.· The suspicions of some are also aroused by weekend get-togethers of Volunteers working in widely dispersed communities.· At other times, the animals will disperse widely.· When cash flows are widely dispersed, M 2 will be a large number.· The widely dispersed suburbs proved less hospitable to party machines than the closely packed cities.
NOUN► crowd· Then the crowd began to disperse slowly; silently.· The crowd began to disperse and I was startled to realize it was over.· Within minutes the crowd had dispersed, leaving the frontage of the Theater an der Wien unlit and deserted.· As the firing commenced the crowd began to disperse.· Thirty more minutes elapsed without any further progress before she and several others appealed to the crowd to disperse.· The policemen within the plaza began warning the crowd to disperse.· When the crowd was beginning to disperse.· The crowd of bystanders dispersed, and even the demolition crew drove away before the dust had finished settling.
► gas· Several demonstrators were badly injured as police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd in Revolution Square last Saturday.· On Aug. 24 Delhi police used tear gas to disperse demonstrating students outside Parliament.
► group· It was dispersed in terms of client groups.
VERB► begin· Then the crowd began to disperse slowly; silently.· The crowd began to disperse and I was startled to realize it was over.· And then the assembly began to disperse.· As the firing commenced the crowd began to disperse.· The blanket of fog above their heads began to disperse, sparkling the mushroom-shaped domes with soft diamonds of moisture.
Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd.2if something disperses or is dispersed, it spreads in different directions over a wide area: The clouds dispersed as quickly as they had gathered.