Build up and dissipate are opposites, often used of forces like tension or momentum. Build up means to increase, develop or strengthen gradually — pressure, tension, reserves and momentum build up, growing course by course. Dissipate means to scatter and fade to nothing — the same tension, heat or energy dissipates, thinning away until none is left. One develops a thing toward more; the other lets it fade toward nothing.
These two trace the rise and fall of a force. Build up, the everyday phrasal verb, grows something steadily — tension builds up over a long wait, pressure builds up in a boiler, momentum builds up behind a campaign. Dissipate, from dissipare ('to scatter'), lets that same thing break up and vanish: the tension dissipates, the pressure dissipates, the heat dissipates. Where one mounts, the other melts away.
build up
To build up is to increase or strengthen something step by step until it amounts to something solid — reserves, muscle, momentum, a reputation, or the tension before a release. It is the hands-on, everyday twin of accumulate: where things accumulate almost on their own, you build up by adding deliberately, one layer onto the last. The phrasal verb leans toward development and strength, and it cuts both ways — you can build up savings and stamina, or let pressure build up until something finally gives.
dissipate
To dissipate is to scatter and fade until nothing is left: fog dissipates as the sun climbs, tension dissipates after an argument, energy dissipates as heat. Unlike disperse, where a thing spreads out but still exists somewhere, what dissipates loses itself completely — it thins into the air and is gone. From the Latin dissipare, 'to scatter', it can also mean to squander: a fortune may dissipate as surely as mist. Either way, something concentrated ends as nothing.
| build up | dissipate | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | increase, develop or strengthen gradually | scatter and fade to nothing |
| Direction | mounts, grows stronger | thins, fades away |
| Of a force | tension builds up | tension dissipates |
| Often with | tension, pressure, momentum, reserves | tension, heat, energy, fog |
| Noun | buildup | dissipation |
| Example | Pressure built up. | The pressure dissipated. |
They are opposites — mount vs fade. Build up is the brick wall: a force or holding grows steadily, course by course (tension builds up, momentum builds up). Dissipate is the fog burning off: the same thing scatters and fades until nothing is left (tension dissipates, heat dissipates). If something grows stronger, it builds up; if it fades to nothing, it dissipates.
build up
- iTension built up through the long negotiation.
- iiPressure built up behind the dam.
- iiiMomentum built up week by week.
dissipate
- iThe tension dissipated the moment they laughed.
- iiHeat dissipates quickly once the lid is off.
- iiiThe team's momentum dissipated after the injury.
They are antonyms, neatly matched on forces: tension, pressure or momentum can build up and later dissipate. Build up is a steady developing; dissipate is a scattering away. The same energy that builds up over an evening can dissipate in an instant.