noun
Meaning 1
An act or instance of dispelling.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
dispel
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.
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[dɪˈspɛɫ]
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛl
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CMU ARPABET: D IH0 S P EH1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
verb
Meaning 2
To drive away or cause to vanish by scattering.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Examples
- The clouds and mist were soon enough dispelled by the sun.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: disperse
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 3
To remove (fears, doubts, objections etc.) by proving them unjustified.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: cast away, cast off
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To get rid of or manage without.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Africa, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
force to go away; used both with concrete and metaphoric meanings
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- Drive away potential burglars
- drive away bad thoughts
- dispel doubts
- The supermarket had to turn back many disappointed customers
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: chase away, drive out, turn back, drive away, drive off, run off
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: move, displace
Narrower terms: frighten, fire, clear the air, banish, shoo off, shoo, shoo away
verb
Meaning 6
to cause to separate and go in different directions
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- She waved her hand and scattered the crowds
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: disperse, dissipate, break up, scatter
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: separate, divide
Narrower terms: disband
History
Etymology
From Middle English dispelen, from Latin dispellere (“to disperse; to dispel”).
Across languages
Translations
74 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Armenian: ցրել (cʻrel) — to drive away by scattering
- Asturian: esvalixar — to drive away by scattering
- Belarusian: разве́йваць (razvjéjvacʹ) — to drive away by scattering
- Belarusian: рассе́йваць (rassjéjvacʹ) — to drive away by scattering
- Bulgarian: разсейвам (razsejvam) — to drive away by scattering
- Bulgarian: разпръсквам (razprǎskvam) — to drive away by scattering
- Catalan: dissipar — to drive away by scattering
- Chinese Mandarin: 打消 (dǎxiāo) — to drive away by scattering
- Chinese Mandarin: 驅散 /驱散 (qūsàn) — to drive away by scattering
- Czech: rozptýlit — to drive away by scattering
- Danish: henvejre — to drive away by scattering
- Dutch: verjagen — to drive away by scattering
- Dutch: verdrijven — to drive away by scattering
- Esperanto: dispeli — to drive away by scattering
- Estonian: purustama — to drive away by scattering
- Finnish: hälventää — to drive away by scattering
- Finnish: haihduttaa — to drive away by scattering
- Finnish: häivyttää — to drive away by scattering
- French: chasser — to drive away by scattering
- French: dissiper — to drive away by scattering
- German: zerstreuen — to drive away by scattering
- Hebrew: הֵפִיג (hefíg) — to drive away by scattering
- Hebrew: פִּזֵּר (pizér) — to drive away by scattering
- Hungarian: szétoszlat — to drive away by scattering
- Hungarian: eloszlat — to drive away by scattering
- Irish: ruaig — to drive away by scattering
- Irish: scaip — to drive away by scattering
- Khmer: លុបបំបាត់ជំនឿ (lup bɑmbat cumnɨə) — to drive away by scattering
- Latin: dispellō — to drive away by scattering
- Māori: whakamahea — to drive away by scattering
- Māori: tokotoko — to drive away by scattering
- Māori: whakakorara — to drive away by scattering
- Norwegian Bokmål: fordrive — to drive away by scattering
- Norwegian Bokmål: forjage — to drive away by scattering
- Norwegian Bokmål: spre — to drive away by scattering
- Norwegian Nynorsk: fordrive — to drive away by scattering
- Occitan: dissipar — to drive away by scattering
- Occitan: dispersar — to drive away by scattering
- Polish: rozwiewać — to drive away by scattering
- Portuguese: dissipar — to drive away by scattering
- Portuguese: dispersar — to drive away by scattering
- Romanian: spulbera — to drive away by scattering
- Russian: разве́ивать (razvéivatʹ) — to drive away by scattering
- Russian: разве́ять (razvéjatʹ) — to drive away by scattering
- Russian: рассе́ивать (rasséivatʹ) — to drive away by scattering
- Russian: рассе́ять (rasséjatʹ) — to drive away by scattering
- Russian: разгоня́ть (razgonjátʹ) — to drive away by scattering
- Russian: разогна́ть (razognátʹ) — to drive away by scattering
- Thai: ขจัด (kà-jàt) — to drive away by scattering
- Ukrainian: розві́ювати (rozvíjuvaty) — to drive away by scattering
- Ukrainian: розсі́ювати (rozsíjuvaty) — to drive away by scattering
- Welsh: gwasgaru — to drive away by scattering
- Welsh: chwalu — to drive away by scattering
- Arabic: بَدَّدَ (baddada) — to remove fears etc.
- Arabic: أَزَالَ (ʔazāla) — to remove fears etc.
- Czech: rozptýlit — to remove fears etc.
- Czech: rozptylovat — to remove fears etc.
- German: ausräumen — to remove fears etc.
- Hungarian: elűz — to remove fears etc.
- Hungarian: eloszlat — to remove fears etc.
- Irish: ruaig — to remove fears etc.
- Māori: whakamahea — to remove fears etc.
- Norwegian Bokmål: fordrive — to remove fears etc.
- Norwegian Bokmål: forjage — to remove fears etc.
- Norwegian Nynorsk: fordrive — to remove fears etc.
- Russian: развеивать (razveivatʹ) — to remove fears etc.
- Russian: развенчивать (razvenčivatʹ) — to remove fears etc.
- Russian: изобличать (izobličatʹ) — to remove fears etc.
- Russian: дезавуировать (dezavuirovatʹ) — to remove fears etc.
- Spanish: desvanecer — to remove fears etc.
- Spanish: despejar — to remove fears etc.
- Spanish: difuminar — to remove fears etc.
- Spanish: dispeler — to remove fears etc.
- Welsh: dileu — to remove fears etc.
Real reading context