Home / Antonyms / dissipate vs meetNo. 0367

dissipate vs meet

Dissipate and meet are opposites in direction and outcome. Dissipate is to scatter and gradually fade until nothing is left. Meet is to come together with someone or something, or to satisfy a requirement. Dissipate thins a thing out to nothing; meet brings things together at a point.

Quick rule
scatter and fade until nothing is left→dissipate
come into contact at the same point, or satisfy a requirement→meet
dissipate

Fig. 1a — dissipate.

/ˈdɪsɪpeɪt//ˈdɪsɪpeɪt/·verb
vs
meet

Fig. 1b — meet.

/miːt//miːt/·verb

One lets a thing fade to nothing; the other brings things together at a point. Dissipate, from dis- 'apart' and supare 'to throw', thins something out until it is gone. Meet, an old everyday word, means to come together at the same point — two roads, two people. A mist dissipates and is gone; two travellers meet at a junction. One fades away; the other converges to a meeting.

01What each means

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.

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.

02At a glance
dissipatemeet
Meaningscatter and fade away to nothingcome into contact; satisfy a requirement
Directionoutward, thinning to nothingtogether, to a point
The resultnothing leftthings in contact at a point
Often withfog, heat, energy, tensionpeople, roads, a deadline, a need
Noundissipationa meeting
ExampleThe mist dissipated.The roads meet here.
03How to remember

Ask whether a thing fades away or things come together. Dissipate thins a thing out until nothing remains — a fog lifting off the hills. Meet brings things into contact at a point — two travellers reaching the same junction. If a thing fades to nothing, that is dissipate; if things come together at a point, that is meet.

04In use

dissipate

  • iThe tension in the room dissipated once she laughed.
  • iiBy noon the fog had completely dissipated.
  • iiiHis early energy slowly dissipated over the evening.

meet

  • iLet's meet at the station at noon.
  • iiThe two rivers meet just below the town.
  • iiiThe design meets all the safety requirements.

Dissipate thins a thing out to nothing; meet brings things together at a point. They oppose in direction and outcome — a fading-away versus a coming-together. Meet also has a sense dissipate has no match for: to satisfy a requirement (meet a deadline).

05Asked
What is the difference between dissipate and meet?
Dissipate is to scatter and gradually fade until nothing remains, while meet is to come together with someone or something, or to satisfy a requirement. Dissipate thins a thing out to nothing; meet brings things together at a point. In the scenes above, a bank of fog thins away until nothing of it is left, whereas two travellers reach the same junction and walk on together.
Are dissipate and meet opposites?
In direction and outcome, yes: dissipate thins a thing out until it is gone, while meet brings things into contact at a point. One fades away, the other converges to a meeting. They are not a tight everyday pair, since they act on different things, but the contrast — fading versus coming-together — is exact.
What does it mean to meet a requirement?
To satisfy it — to reach or match a standard, need or deadline, as in 'the design meets the safety rules'. This is one of meet's most common senses and has no echo in dissipate, which always means a thing fading to nothing. So meet ranges from people coming together to standards being satisfied, while dissipate stays with a fading-away.
What does dissipate mean when a mood dissipates?
It means the feeling thins away until it is gone — 'the tension dissipated', 'her anger dissipated'. The mood spreads out and fades, like the fog burning off the hills in the scene above. Meet has no such sense; it is about things coming together or standards being satisfied. So dissipate fades a feeling away, meet brings things together.
What are the noun forms of dissipate and meet?
Dissipation and a meeting. 'Dissipation' names a fading-away, with a physics sense and a moral one; 'a meeting' names an occasion when people come together. The nouns keep the directions opposite: a vanishing versus a coming-together.
Which word fits two rivers coming together?
Meet. Two rivers meet where they come together at a point, as the travellers reach the junction in the scene above. Dissipate would mean a thing fading to nothing. The tell is direction: meet brings things together at a point, dissipate thins a thing away.
Which word fits tension fading from a room?
Dissipate. Tension dissipates when it thins away until nothing of it is left, as the fog does in the scene above. Meet would be the reverse — things coming together. The tell is outcome: dissipate fades to nothing, meet brings things to a point.
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dissipate — full entrymeet — full entry← All antonyms