List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 342

SYNONYMS: scatter, disperse, dissipate, dispel.
These verbs are compared as they mean to cause a mass or an aggregate to separate and go in different directions.

Scatter usually refers to widespread, often haphazard distribution of components: There was scattered driftwood, bleached and dry.
Disperse implies the complete breaking up of the mass or aggregate: They were dispersed over the face of the whole earth.
Dissipate usually suggests a reduction to nothing: The money was dissipated in riotous living.
Dispel suggests driving away or off by or as if by scattering: Truth is a torch that gleams through the fog without dispelling it.