Standard Lemma guide

disburse

verb · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /dɪsˈbɝs/
  • General-American: [dɪsˈpɝs]
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)s
  • homophone: disperse
  • CMU ARPABET: D IH0 S B ER1 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To pay out, expend; usually from a public fund or treasury.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: business, finance

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

expend, as from a fund

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pay out

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: pay

History

Etymology

From Old French desbourser (Modern French débourser). By surface analysis, dis- + burse (“purse”).

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: изплащам (izplaštam) — to pay out
  • Bulgarian: разплащам се (razplaštam se) — to pay out
  • Catalan: desemborsar — to pay out
  • Czech: vyplatit — to pay out
  • Czech: vydat (z fondu) — to pay out
  • Dutch: uitbetalen — to pay out
  • Finnish: maksaa — to pay out
  • Finnish: suorittaa maksu — to pay out
  • Finnish: antaa rahaa — to pay out
  • French: débourser — to pay out
  • Galician: desembolsar — to pay out
  • German: ausschütten — to pay out
  • Hungarian: folyósít — to pay out
  • Hungarian: kiutal — to pay out
  • Hungarian: kifizet — to pay out
  • Irish: íoc amach — to pay out
  • Plautdietsch: uttolen — to pay out
  • Polish: wypłacać — to pay out
  • Polish: wypłacić — to pay out
  • Portuguese: desembolsar — to pay out
  • Portuguese: despender — to pay out
  • Swedish: betala ut — to pay out
  • Vietnamese: giải ngân — to pay out
  • Welsh: gwario — to pay out