小词详解 | disperse

disperse 英 [dɪˈspɜːs] 美 [dɪˈspɜːrs]

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外刊例句

• The deaths tend to be more widely dispersed and do not involve the devastation of property as do the ravages of wind and water.
  热浪致死的案例往往更加分散，而且也不像飓风洪水那样损毁房屋。
  ——《经济学人》

• The soldiers, millions of them, came home from the war. They dispersed across the country, in big towns and small. It was not easy to recount what had happened to them, and for the dead it was impossible.
  数以百万计的士兵从战场归来，分散到全国各地的大小城镇。叙述他们身上发生的事情并不容易，这对于死者来说更是不可能。
  ——《纽约时报》

基本释义

[verb] distribute or spread over a wide area
[动词] 分布或散布在广阔区域

深入解读

Disperse 是一个容易与常见单词 disburse 相混淆的单词。该词由前缀 dis- （加强）+ 词根 spers （散开）+ e 构成，源自拉丁语 dispergere （分散）。

14世纪末进入英语后，先是用作及物动词表示“使烟、雾、云等分散、散开、消散”，以及“驱散、疏散”示威者、暴民、人群、船只、飞机等，侧重强调聚集体或者组合体朝着不同方向完全分解，也就是彻底驱散，相对于 scatter 而言构成单元的分离扩散更为广阔，比如：

• 那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
  The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.

• 警察用催泪弹驱散了抗议者。他们受到了特朗普的煽动。
  Police dispersed the protesters with tear gas. They were egged on by Mr Trump.

到了16世纪20年代后，也开始用作不及物动词表示示威者、暴民、人群、船只、飞机等“散去”以及烟、雾、云等“消散、消失”，比如：

• 成群结伙的年轻人昨天在城里横冲直撞。最后他们散开了，消失在夜幕之中。
  Gangs of youths went on the rampage in the city yesterday. At last they dispersed and melted into the darkness.

用在物理学中， disperse 还可以表示“使光色散”，比如：

• 三棱镜可使光色散。
  A prism disperses light.

名著用例

Then Clare again stole a chink of light from the window, and they shared another meal, till by-and-by they were enveloped in the shades of night which they had no candle to disperse.
接着克莱尔又悄悄把窗户打开一点，透进来一些亮光，一起把晚饭吃了，苍茫的夜色渐渐袭来，他们没有蜡烛驱散黑暗，也就只好呆在黑暗中了。

出自英国小说家托马斯·哈代的长篇小说《德伯家的苔丝》（Tess of the d'Urbervilles）。

同近义词

• sprinkle: scatter or pour small drops or particles of a substance over (an object or surface

• disseminate: spread (something, especially information) widely

• diffuse: spread or cause to spread over a wide area or among a large number of people

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