disperse
To scatter and go off in different directions.
disperse in a sentence
- When the rain started, the crowd began to disperse, everyone hurrying home a different way.
- Blow on a dandelion and watch the tiny seeds disperse across the garden in every direction.
Try an 11+ style question
Verbal reasoning papers often ask about a word like this.
Which word is closest in meaning to disperse?
- Agather
- Bcollect
- Cscatter
- Dmeet
Show the answer
C: scatter. The other three mean the opposite of disperse.
Which word is most nearly opposite in meaning to disperse?
- Agather
- Bscatter
- Cseparate
- Dspread
Show the answer
A: gather. The other three mean nearly the same as disperse.
Words that mean something similar
scatter, spread, separate
Words that mean the opposite
gather, collect, meet
More words about movement & action
- effortless: Done easily, without seeming to try hard at all.
- elevate: To lift something up to a higher position.
- elude: To cleverly escape from or avoid someone.
- embark: To begin a journey or a big new activity.
- emerge: To come out of somewhere and appear.
- encounter: To meet someone or something unexpectedly.
- energetic: Full of energy and always ready to be active.
- engulf: To swallow up or completely cover something.
More words to explore
Sitting the 11+ in Kent, Medway or Buckinghamshire?
Plain-English guides to each test, from the councils’ own pages: Kent Test · Medway Test · Bucks Secondary Transfer Test