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dispatch

dih-SPATCH /dɪˈspætʃ/

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GeneralBusiness

To send off a vehicle, driver, or messenger to a destination; or the central system that manages ride assignments.

Implies official, organized sending with speed and purpose.

The story behind the word. Entered English in the 16th century via military communications. It stems from early Romance languages combining prefixes meaning 'undo' with root concepts of hindrance or entanglement—literally meaning 'to remove obstacles and speed something on its way'.

Word relationships

send: 'Send' is general, while 'dispatch' implies urgency, official routing, or tactical distribution.
deploy: 'Deploy' emphasizes placing resources strategically into functional positions.

recall: 'Recall' means calling back or summoning a vehicle back to base.
hold: 'Hold' means keeping vehicles in place rather than sending them out.

Commonly confused with

despatch: 'Despatch' is simply an older British variant spelling of 'dispatch'.

Word family

dispatcher (noun): A person or system that coordinates and routes vehicles.

Collocations

dispatch center
dispatch a driver
computer-assisted dispatch
dispatch operator

Idioms & expressions

with speed and dispatch

Example sentences

"The taxi company's central office immediately dispatched a car to the hotel lobby." Fleet operations
"Automated dispatch algorithms match nearby drivers to passengers in milliseconds." Rideshare tech

Memory hook

DISPATCH gets the car onto the PATH without DELAY. Send off with speed.

When not to use

Do not use 'dispatch' to describe casual individual travel like going for a stroll.

Fun facts

Before GPS and digital apps, cab dispatchers relied on high-speed voice radio, regional paper maps, and physical magnet boards.