scatter

verb

1)

the papers were scattered by the sudden breeze

scatter the seeds as evenly as possible

Syn:

throw, strew, toss, fling; sprinkle, spread, distribute, sow, broadcast, disseminate; literary bestrew

Ant:

gather

2)

the crowd scattered

onlookers were scattered in all directions

Syn:

disperse, break up, disband, separate, move/go in different directions, go separate ways; dissipate, dissolve; drive, send, put to flight, chase

Ant:

assemble

••

scatter, broadcast, diffuse, dispel, disperse, disseminate, dissipate

If you scatter something, you throw it about in different directions, often using force (the wind scattered leaves around the yard). Disperse implies a scattering that completely breaks up a mass or assemblage and spreads the units far and wide (the crowd dispersed as soon as the storm arrived; the ships were so widely dispersed that they couldn't see each other). To dispel is to scatter or to drive away something that obscures, confuses, or bothers (to dispel her fears), while to diffuse is to lessen the intensity of something by spreading it out over a broader area (the curtains diffused the bright sunlight pouring in the window). Dissipate suggests that something has completely dissolved, disintegrated, or vanished (early-morning mist dissipated by the sun). Broadcast originally meant to scatter seed, but it is also used figuratively to mean make public (The news of the president's defeat was broadcast the next morning). Disseminate also means to publish or make public, but it implies a wider audience and usually a longer duration. You can spend a lifetime disseminating knowledge, in other words, but you would broadcast the news of the birth of your first grandchild.