dispose
dispose Lexical Profile
dispose Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To get rid of by throwing away, giving away, or selling (used with 'of').
"Please dispose of all hazardous laboratory materials in the designated safety containers."
To incline someone toward a particular activity, mood, or attitude; to make willing or susceptible.
"His years of diplomatic service disposed him to seek compromise rather than confrontation."
To settle, resolve, or deal with conclusively (used with 'of').
"The appellate court quickly disposed of the procedural objection before hearing the main arguments."
To arrange or position in a particular order or place.
"The curator carefully disposed the ancient sculptures around the central atrium."
Word Nuance & Usage
When meaning to discard, demolish, or settle something, 'dispose' is intransitive and requires the preposition 'of' ('dispose of the waste'). When meaning to incline someone toward a feeling or to arrange items, it is used transitively with a direct object.
• Rhymes for dispose
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late 14th century from Old French disposer ('to arrange, order, control'), blended from Latin disponere ('to put in order, arrange, distribute'), from dis- ('apart') and ponere ('to put, place').