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diffuse. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
diffuse, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
diffuse in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
diffuse you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology 1
From Middle French diffuser, from Latin diffūsus, past participle of diffundere, from dis- + fundere.
Pronunciation
Verb
diffuse (third-person singular simple present diffuses, present participle diffusing, simple past and past participle diffused)
- (transitive) To spread over or through as in air, water, or other matter, especially by fluid motion or passive means.
1837, William Whewell, “Earliest Stages of Astronomy”, in History of the Inductive Sciences, from the Earliest to the Present Times. , volume I, London: John W Parker, ; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: J. and J. J. Deighton, →OCLC, book III (History of Greek Astronomy), section 3 (Correction of the Civil Year. (Julian Calendar.)), page 121:We do not know by whom the insufficiency of the year of 365 days was first discovered; we find this knowledge diffused among all civilized nations, and various artifices used in making the correction.
- (intransitive) To be spread over or through as in air, water, or other matter, especially by fluid motion or passive means.
Food coloring diffuses in water.
The riot diffused quite suddenly.
Usage notes
The words diffuse and defuse are sometimes confused.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
(transitive) to spread over or through
- Bulgarian: разпръсвам (bg) (razprǎsvam), разсейвам (bg) (razsejvam), разпространявам (bg) (razprostranjavam)
- Catalan: difondre (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 扩散 (zh) (kuòsàn), 渗出 (zh) (shènchū)
- Danish: diffus
- Finnish: levittää (fi), hajottaa (fi)
- French: diffuser (fr)
- German: diffundieren (de)
- Hungarian: szór (hu), szétszór (hu), szétterít (hu), terjeszt (hu), áraszt (hu)
- Ido: difuzar (io)
- Irish: idirleath
- Maori: tūrererere, tūringiringi
- Middle English: toscheden
- Norwegian: diffundere
- Portuguese: difundir (pt)
- Russian: рассе́ивать (ru) impf (rasséivatʹ), рассе́ять (ru) pf (rasséjatʹ), распространя́ть (ru) impf (rasprostranjátʹ), распространи́ть (ru) pf (rasprostranítʹ)
- Swedish: diffundera (sv)
- Tagalog: ikalat
- Vietnamese: khuếch tán (vi), lan toả
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(intransitive) to be spread over or through
- Bulgarian: разпръсвам се (razprǎsvam se), разсейвам се (razsejvam se)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 被扩散, 使渗出
- Finnish: levitä (fi), hajota (fi), hajaantua (fi), (science) diffundoitua
- French: se diffuser (fr)
- German: diffundieren (de)
- Hungarian: terjed (hu), árad (hu), szóródik (hu), szétszóródik (hu), szétterjed (hu)
- Maori: kona
- Norwegian: diffundere
- Portuguese: difundir (pt)
- Russian: рассе́иваться (ru) impf (rasséivatʹsja), рассе́яться (ru) pf (rasséjatʹsja), распространя́ться (ru) impf (rasprostranjátʹsja), распространи́ться (ru) pf (rasprostranítʹsja)
- Swedish: diffundera (sv)
- Tagalog: kumalat
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Etymology 2
From Middle English *diffuse (attested in adverb diffuseli), from Latin diffūsus.
Pronunciation
Adjective
diffuse (comparative more diffuse, superlative most diffuse)
- Everywhere or throughout everything; not focused or concentrated.
- Such a diffuse effort is unlikely to produce good results.
- Wordy; verbose.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
not focused or concentrated
Related terms
References
Anagrams
French
Pronunciation
Verb
diffuse
- inflection of diffuser:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- second-person singular imperative
Adjective
diffuse
- feminine singular of diffus
German
Pronunciation
Adjective
diffuse
- inflection of diffus:
- strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
- strong nominative/accusative plural
- weak nominative all-gender singular
- weak accusative feminine/neuter singular
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /difˈfu.ze/
- Rhymes: -uze
- Hyphenation: dif‧fù‧se
Etymology 1
Verb
diffuse
- third-person singular past historic of diffondere
Etymology 2
Participle
diffuse f pl
- feminine plural of diffuso
Adjective
diffuse
- feminine plural of diffuso
Latin
Etymology
From diffūsus (“scattered, spread”).
Adverb
diffūsē (comparative diffūsius, superlative diffūsissimē)
- diffusely, in a scattered manner.
- copiously, fully
Related terms
References
- “diffuse”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, 1st edition. (Oxford University Press)
Norwegian Bokmål
Adjective
diffuse
- definite singular of diffus
- plural of diffus
Norwegian Nynorsk
Adjective
diffuse
- definite singular of diffus
- plural of diffus