SCATTERING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does scattering mean? 

• SCATTERING (noun)
  The noun SCATTERING has 5 senses:

1. a small number (of something) dispersed haphazardly

2. the physical process in which particles are deflected haphazardly as a result of collisions

3. a light shower that falls in some locations and not others nearby

4. spreading widely or driving off

5. the act of scattering

  Familiarity information: SCATTERING used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SCATTERING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A small number (of something) dispersed haphazardly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

scattering; sprinkling

Context example:

a sprinkling of grey at his temples

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

small indefinite amount; small indefinite quantity (an indefinite quantity that is below average size or magnitude)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The physical process in which particles are deflected haphazardly as a result of collisions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

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

action; activity; natural action; natural process (a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings))

Holonyms ("scattering" is a part of...):

extinction (the reduction of the intensity of radiation as a consequence of absorption and radiation)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A light shower that falls in some locations and not others nearby

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

scattering; sprinkle; sprinkling

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

rain shower; shower (a brief period of precipitation)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Spreading widely or driving off

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

dispersion; scattering

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

spread; spreading (process or result of distributing or extending over a wide expanse of space)

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

Diaspora (the dispersion of the Jews outside Israel; from the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 587-86 BC when they were exiled to Babylonia up to the present time)

dissipation (breaking up and scattering by dispersion)

Derivation:

scatter (to cause to separate and go in different directions)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The act of scattering

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

scatter; scattering; strewing

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

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

Derivation:

scatter (sow by scattering)

scatter (move away from each other)

scatter (to cause to separate and go in different directions)

scatter (strew or distribute over an area)

 Context examples 

The four shots came in rather a scattering volley, but they did the business: one of the enemy actually fell, and the rest, without hesitation, turned and plunged into the trees.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Recent observations have resolved a larger pocket of cooler dust that may be indirectly scattering the light from the central stars.

(Hubble Observes One-of-a-Kind Star Nicknamed 'Nasty', NASA)

A blue sky often results from scattering of sunlight by very small particles.

(New Horizons Finds Blue Skies and Water Ice on Pluto, NASA)

Light-scattering spectroscopy can diagnose early epithelial cancers based on the scattering of light through their enlarged nuclei.

(Light-Scattering Spectroscopy, NCI Thesaurus)

The scattering effect dust has is known as "reddening" — dust scatters the blue light coming from an object, making it appear redder.

(All we are is dust in the interstellar wind, NSF)

An instrument that can perform laser Doppler velocimetry and phase analysis light scattering to determine the zeta potential of a sample.

(Laser Doppler Velocimetry-Phase Analysis Light Scattering System, NCI Thesaurus)

A technique that combines laser Doppler velocimetry and phase analysis light scattering to determine the zeta potential of a sample.

(Laser Doppler Velocimetry-Phase Analysis Light Scattering, NCI Thesaurus)

That causes the blue colors in the mixed light coming from the sun to stay closer to sun's part of the sky, compared to the wider scattering of yellow and red colors.

(Sunset in Mars' Gale Crater, NASA)

There was an instantaneous scattering of the four men who had carried it in, and from safe perches on top the wall they prepared to watch the performance.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

A static light scattering technique involving measurement of the amount of light scattered by a suspension at multiple angles relative to the incident laser beam.

(Multi-Angle Laser Light Scattering, NCI Thesaurus)