v., -tered, -ter·ing, -ters. v.tr.
- To cause to separate and go in different directions.
- To distribute loosely by or as if by sprinkling; strew: scattering confetti from the upper windows.
- Physics. To deflect (radiation or particles).
- To separate and go in different directions; disperse.
- To occur or fall at widely spaced intervals.
- The act of scattering or the condition of being scattered.
- Something scattered.
[Middle English scateren, perhaps from northern dialectal alteration of Old English *sceaterian.]
scatterer scat'ter·er n.SYNONYMS scatter, disperse, dissipate, dispel. These verbs mean to cause a mass or aggregate to separate and go in different directions. Scatter refers to loose or haphazard distribution of components: "the scattered driftwood, bleached and dry" (Celia Laighton Thaxter). Disperse implies the complete breaking up of the mass or aggregate: "only a few industrious Scots perhaps, who indeed are dispersed over the face of the whole earth" (George Chapman). Dissipate suggests a reduction to nothing: "The main of life is composed ... of meteorous pleasures which dance before us and are dissipated" (Samuel Johnson). Dispel suggests driving away or off by or as if by scattering: "But he ... with high words ... gently raised/Their fainting courage, and dispelled their fears" (John Milton).
