Library / English Dictionary

DISPEL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: dispelled    , dispelling   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Force to go away; used both with concrete and metaphoric meanings

Example:

The supermarket had to turn back many disappointed customers

Synonyms:

chase away; dispel; drive away; drive off; drive out; run off; turn back

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "dispel" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Verb group:

drive out; force out; rouse; rout out (force or drive out)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dispel"):

fire (drive out or away by or as if by fire)

clear the air (dispel differences or negative emotions)

banish (drive away)

shoo; shoo away; shoo off (drive away by crying 'shoo!')

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

To cause to separate and go in different directions

Example:

She waved her hand and scattered the crowds

Synonyms:

break up; dispel; disperse; dissipate; scatter

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "dispel" is one way to...):

divide; separate (make a division or separation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dispel"):

disband (cause to break up or cease to function)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

With all these circumstances, recollections and feelings, she could not hear that Captain Wentworth's sister was likely to live at Kellynch without a revival of former pain; and many a stroll, and many a sigh, were necessary to dispel the agitation of the idea.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Oh! the pains I have been at to dispel those gloomy ideas and give him cheerfuller views!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

They made many signs which I did not comprehend, but I saw that her presence diffused gladness through the cottage, dispelling their sorrow as the sun dissipates the morning mists.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

We gazed so eagerly that Arthur rose, for he had been seated on the ground, and came and looked too; and then a glad, strange light broke over his face and dispelled altogether the gloom of horror that lay upon it.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He then took us down between decks; and there, any lingering fears I had of his having heard any rumours of what had happened, were dispelled by Mr. Micawber's coming out of the gloom, taking his arm with an air of friendship and protection, and telling me that they had scarcely been asunder for a moment, since the night before last.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

My father observed with pain the alteration perceptible in my disposition and habits and endeavoured by arguments deduced from the feelings of his serene conscience and guiltless life to inspire me with fortitude and awaken in me the courage to dispel the dark cloud which brooded over me.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“Without more directly referring to any latent ability that may possibly exist on my part, of wielding the thunderbolt, or directing the devouring and avenging flame in any quarter, I may be permitted to observe, in passing, that my brightest visions are for ever dispelled—that my peace is shattered and my power of enjoyment destroyed—that my heart is no longer in the right place—and that I no more walk erect before my fellow man. The canker is in the flower. The cup is bitter to the brim. The worm is at his work, and will soon dispose of his victim. The sooner the better. But I will not digress. “Placed in a mental position of peculiar painfulness, beyond the assuaging reach even of Mrs. Micawber's influence, though exercised in the tripartite character of woman, wife, and mother, it is my intention to fly from myself for a short period, and devote a respite of eight-and-forty hours to revisiting some metropolitan scenes of past enjoyment. Among other havens of domestic tranquillity and peace of mind, my feet will naturally tend towards the King's Bench Prison. In stating that I shall be (D. V.) on the outside of the south wall of that place of incarceration on civil process, the day after tomorrow, at seven in the evening, precisely, my object in this epistolary communication is accomplished.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

These reflections have dispelled the agitation with which I began my letter, and I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillise the mind as a steady purpose—a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)