dispersiveadj.
/dɪˈspəːsɪv/ a. Having the character or quality of dispersing; serving or tending to disperse.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being scattered or dispersed > [adjective] > serving or tending to scatter
dispersive1628
disseminative1660
dissipative1684
respersive1898
1628 O. Felltham Resolves: 2nd Cent. liii. sig. R6v A fond popularity bewitches the soule, to strow about the wealth, and meanes: and to feed that dispersiue humour, all wayes shall be trodden.
1737 M. Green Spleen 730 Nor wanting the dispersive bowl Of cloudy weather in the soul.
1800 W. Herschel in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 90 443 The dispersive power of different mediums with respect to heat.
1874 J. Morley On Compromise 104 Thought has become dispersive, and the centrifugal forces of the human mind..have..become dominant.
b. Optics. Of a refractive medium: Having the quality of causing the different-coloured rays of light to diverge: see dispersion n. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > light > chromatism > [adjective]
dispersive1802
chromatic1841
photochromatic1856
1802 W. H. Wollaston in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 92 ii. 373 The dispersive power of fluor spar is the least of any substance yet examined.
1831 D. Brewster Treat. Optics viii. §66 Flint glass is said to have a greater dispersive power than crown glass, because..it separates the extreme rays of the spectrum..farther from the mean ray.
1893 R. S. Ball Story of Sun 113 The dispersive apparatus of the spectroscope.
Derivatives
diˈspersively adv. in a dispersive manner, by dispersion.
diˈspersiveness n. the quality of being dispersive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being scattered or dispersed > [noun]
dissemblance1556
dissipation1761
dispersiveness1841
1841 H. Alford Jrnl. in Life, Jrnls. & Lett. (1873) iv. 133 An indolence and dispersiveness about my efforts.
1878 J. Morley Diderot ii. 18 The characteristic of his activity is dispersiveness.
Draft additions July 2010
Molecular Biology. Designating a model or type of replication of double-stranded nucleic acid in which the daughter strands are composed of parts of the original (parental) strand together with newly synthesized strands; relating to this mode of replication. Cf. conservative adj. 5a, semi-conservative adj. Now chiefly historical.
ΚΠ
1957 M. Delbruck & G. S. Stent in W. D. McElroy & B. Glass Chem. Basis Heredity 707 The considerable number of proposed schemes may be divided into three general classes as conservative, semi-conservative, and dispersive.
1964 Topley & Wilson's Princ. Bacteriol. & Immunity (ed. 5) I. ix. 354 The parental and newly synthesized DNA could be mixed in each chain in the daughter cells (dispersive replication).
1990 A. T. Annunziato in P. R. Strauss & S. H. Wilson Eukaryotic Nucleus II. xxix. 699 One consequence of dispersive segregation during replication in vitro would be the transfer of some parental histone octamers to the retrograde arm.
2005 R. Garrett & C. M. Grisham Biochemistry (ed. 3) xxviii. 900 It remained conceivable that DNA replication might follow a dispersive model.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1896; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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adj.1628