Disperse and meet are opposites in direction. Disperse is to spread a gathered crowd, substance or mass out over a wide area until it thins. Meet is to come together with someone or something, or to satisfy a requirement. Disperse spreads things out wide; meet brings things together at a point.
One spreads a gathering out over an area; the other brings things together at a point. Disperse, from dis- 'apart' and spargere 'to scatter', spreads a gathered mass out wide. Meet, an old everyday word, means to come together at the same point — two roads, two people. Wind disperses the seeds across the field; two travellers meet at a junction. One thins out everywhere; the other converges to a meeting.
disperse
To disperse is to break up a gathering and spread it out until it thins away — movement from concentration to diffusion. A crowd disperses when a concert ends; wind disperses seeds and smoke; light disperses through a prism. The word works both ways — things disperse on their own or are dispersed by some force — but it leans toward an even, gradual spreading that often fades to nothing, rather than a sudden, random fling. What was massed in one place ends up thinly distributed across many.
meet
To meet is for separate things to come together at one place or moment — two roads meet, old friends meet, a river meets the sea. From the Old English mētan, it has always carried this coming-together, but its real academic value is abstract: to meet a deadline, a target, or a demand is to be enough for it, to rise to what is asked. Where independent paths converge on the same point, they meet — and from that point they may go on together.
| disperse | meet | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | spread out over a wide area | come into contact; satisfy a requirement |
| Direction | outward, over an area | together, to a point |
| The result | a wide, thin spread | things in contact at a point |
| Often with | crowds, smoke, seeds, light | people, roads, a deadline, a need |
| Noun | dispersal / dispersion | a meeting |
| Example | The crowd dispersed. | The roads meet here. |
Ask whether a gathering spreads wide or things come together. Disperse spreads a mass out over a wide area — a dandelion head flung the width of a field. Meet brings things into contact at a point — two travellers reaching the same junction. If a gathering spreads out across space, that is disperse; if things come together at a point, that is meet.
disperse
- iPolice moved in to disperse the crowd before nightfall.
- iiThe morning wind dispersed the last of the smoke.
- iiiWind and birds disperse the seeds far from the parent plant.
meet
- iLet's meet at the station at noon.
- iiThe two rivers meet just below the town.
- iiiThe design meets all the safety requirements.
Disperse spreads a gathering out over an area; meet brings things together at a point. They oppose in direction — apart versus together. Meet also has a sense disperse has no match for: to satisfy a requirement (meet a deadline).