dispersion

The state of being spread over a wide area or among many places.

• The population shows wide dispersion.
• The dispersion of settlements makes transport difficult.
• We measured the dispersion of particles across the surface.

How to use it: dispersion of something (The dispersion of houses increases delivery costs.)

Similar words: spread, scattering

Opposites: concentration

Common phrases: wide dispersion, geographic dispersion, dispersion of something

The process of spreading people or things over an area or in different directions.

• Wind helps the dispersion of seeds.
• Rain slowed the dispersion of dust.
• The rapid dispersion of the crowd left the square empty.

How to use it: dispersion of something (The dispersion of pollen depends on the wind.)

Similar words: dispersal, scattering

Opposites: concentration

Common phrases: seed dispersion, dispersion of something, rapid dispersion

How widely numbers in a set differ from each other or from their average.

• The scores show high dispersion.
• We calculated the dispersion of the measurements.
• Lower dispersion means the values are closer together.

Similar words: spread, variability

Common phrases: data dispersion, measure dispersion, high dispersion

The separation of waves with different frequencies as they travel, such as white light separating into colours.

• A prism causes dispersion of light.
• Dispersion separates white light into different colours.
• The experiment measured wave dispersion in the material.

Common phrases: optical dispersion, light dispersion, wave dispersion