dissipate
To scatter in various directions; to disperse, fade away, or wastefully expend energy or heat.
Dissipate implies that something is spreading out so thin that it eventually vanishes or becomes unusable. In engineering, it usually refers to safely venting or spreading out waste heat.
Word relationships
- disperse: Disperse means to scatter physical objects or people, while dissipate is more often used for abstract things like heat, energy, smoke, or emotions.
- accumulate: Accumulate means to gather, collect, or build up over time, which is the exact opposite of dissipating.
Commonly confused with
- disappear: Disappear simply means to go out of sight, whereas dissipate describes the process of gradual scattering or thinning out until gone.
Word family
- dissipation (noun): The act or process of dissipating or dispersing.
- dissipative (adjective): Tending to dissipate or waste.
Collocations
- dissipate heat
- dissipate energy
- quickly dissipate
- dissipate into
Example sentences
- "The aluminum fins on the CPU cooler help to quickly dissipate heat into the surrounding air." Engineering design for computer hardware
- "As the morning sun warmed the valley, the thick fog began to dissipate." Meteorological description
Memory hook
Think of a 'sip' of hot coffee—if you blow on it, you 'dissipate' the heat so you can drink it safely. Scatter and fade away.
When not to use
Do not use when energy is concentrated or gathered together; it must always refer to spreading out or disappearing.
Fun facts
- Spacecraft entering Earth's atmosphere must dissipate an incredible amount of kinetic energy as heat; their heat shields are designed to melt away slowly to carry this heat away.
Related words
Explore more words
disperse, attenuation, fritter, absorb, Irreversible, Energy
Our English vocabulary app: FSRS spaced repetition, 5,000+ curated words across 119 topic groups, CEFR A1 to C2. Explore your mastery with the beautiful Vocabulary World feature.