lexicow

scatter

/ˈskætər//ˈskætə/·verb
I watch a tight little triangle of balls sit perfectly still — and then one comes in hard and cracks straight into them, and all at once they're rushing off every which way, banging the rails and rolling to a stop wherever they happen to end up. No two trips alike, no pattern to where they rest. That first clean crack of order breaking apart is the bit I wait the whole rack for.
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Definition

To scatter is to send things flying apart so they land here and there with no order — a handful of gravel flung across a path, papers blown off a desk, a flock startled into the air. The word stresses irregularity and a little chaos: what scatters ends up unevenly spread, not neatly distributed. It works both ways, much like its cousin disperse — a crowd can scatter, or police can scatter it — but scatter always keeps that sense of sudden, random spreading.

Examples

  • The cue ball struck the rack and the balls scattered to every corner of the table.
  • A sudden bang made the pigeons scatter into the sky.
  • She tried to consolidate her notes, but a gust scattered them across the floor.

Collocations

scatter in all directions·scatter seeds·scattered showers·scatter to the winds·widely scattered

Synonyms

disperse·strew·sprinkle·spread·fling

Antonyms

gather·consolidate·converge

Word family

scattered (adjective)·scattering (noun)·scatterbrained (adjective)

In TOEFL & IELTS

Common in TOEFL science (the scattering of light, scattered populations) and in weather ('scattered showers'). Distinguish it from disperse: scatter stresses suddenness and randomness, while disperse suggests a more even thinning-out. The adjective scattered ('scattered evidence', 'scattered settlements') is frequent in academic prose.