DISPERSAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does dispersal mean? 

• DISPERSAL (noun)
  The noun DISPERSAL has 1 sense:

1. the act of dispersing or diffusing something

  Familiarity information: DISPERSAL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISPERSAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of dispersing or diffusing something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

diffusion; dispersal; dispersion; dissemination

Context example:

the diffusion of knowledge

Hypernyms ("dispersal" is a kind of...):

spread; spreading (act of extending over a wider scope or expanse of space or time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dispersal"):

crop-dusting; spraying (the dispersion of fungicides or insecticides or fertilizer on growing crops (often from a low-flying aircraft))

Derivation:

disperse (cause to become widely known)

 Context examples 

Researchers believe the virus does this to facilitate its own dispersal.

(Virus genes help determine if pea aphids get wings, National Science Foundation)

They measured the animals' fruit consumption as well as the ensuing seed dispersal and seed viability.

(Thai Elephants Help Spread Jungle Fruit's Seeds, Sadie Witkowski/VOA)

Amphibians are sold in restaurants or as pets, creating a functional Pangaea for infectious diseases, effectively breaking down geographical barriers that once stopped the dispersal of organisms.

(Deadly fungal disease ‘caused greatest biodiversity loss ever recorded’, SciDev.Net)

Authors also found indications that the rise in deforestation and the construction of dams could threaten the natural dynamics of fish dispersal.

(Amazon fish ‘face new threats’, SciDev.Net)

Dispersal of a beam of light into a range of directions as a result of physical interactions.

(Light Scattering, NCI Thesaurus)

The chemical processes that influence biodiversity by stimulating the sprouting and blossoming of plants, fruiting and seed dispersal, are regulated partly by fires.

(Fire control harms biodiversity in Brazilian savannah, SciDev.Net)