dispense
Americanverb (used with object)
-
dispenses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dispensed,
past participle, past
-
dispensing
present participle
-
to deal out; distribute.
to dispense wisdom.
-
to administer.
to dispense the law without bias.
-
Pharmacology. to make up and distribute (medicine), especially on prescription.
-
Roman Catholic Church. to grant dispensation.
verb (used without object)
-
dispenses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dispensed,
past participle, past
-
dispensing
present participle
noun
verb phrase
verb
-
(tr) to give out or issue in portions
-
(tr) to prepare and distribute (medicine), esp on prescription
-
(tr) to administer (the law, etc)
-
to do away (with) or manage (without)
-
to grant a dispensation to (someone) from (some obligation of church law)
-
to exempt or excuse from a rule or obligation
Usage
Dispense with is sometimes wrongly used where dispose of is meant: this task can be disposed of (not dispensed with ) quickly and easily
Synonym Usage
See distribute.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
dispensesimple
-
dispensessimple
-
have dispensedperfect
-
has dispensedperfect
-
am dispensingprogressive
-
are dispensingprogressive
-
is dispensingprogressive
-
have been dispensingperfect progressive
-
has been dispensingperfect progressive
Past
-
dispensedsimple
-
had dispensedperfect
-
was dispensingprogressive
-
were dispensingprogressive
-
had been dispensingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dispense
1275–1325; Middle English dispensen < Medieval Latin dispēnsāre to pardon, exempt, Latin: to pay out, distribute, equivalent to dis- dis- 1 + pēnsāre, frequentative of pendere to weigh
Explanation
To dispense means to give out or distribute something. A school nurse can dispense students' medication and we all can dispense advice. The word dispense comes from the Old French word dispenser, meaning "give out." You can dispense anything from hand sanitizer to dating advice. When dispense is paired with with it means "get rid of it" or "skip." If you dispense with traditional Thanksgiving dishes, you might instead celebrate with pizza, pancakes, tacos — anything but turkey and all the fixings.
Vocabulary lists containing dispense
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
She retained the sensibility of a journalist on the road, eager to listen to strangers’ stories, but was constantly called on to dispense wisdom as well.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
One of the FDA’s concerns is that the agency doesn’t have any information about the containers that would be used by compounding pharmacies to dispense the medication.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
"If we allow this to happen, no judge will be able to dispense justice," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
In February, Monsanto proposed another multi-billion dollar class settlement to dispense with claims that Roundup causes cancer.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
But access to the Net and to other facets of one’s culture ought not be a toy that parents and teachers are willing to dispense to “good” and “normal” boys and girls.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
Perhaps due to a paucity of sources, Mr. Mancall dispenses quickly with events before 1450, depriving readers of a deep look at indigenous life before the arrival of Europeans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
His title, “Enemy of the People,” dispenses with the indefinite article — a decision he chalked up to “Chekhovian impulses.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
The NHS pays pharmacies a fixed price for each medicine it dispenses.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
She also conducts research for patients—from cancer treatment to skin care—and dispenses advice that other doctors might not; a patient recently texted to ask if the foundation makeup she was considering was “clean beauty.”
From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2025
“Your friend dispenses good advice,” the old beggar chimed in.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
People in her village, Bakau Serip, were now depending on tanker trucks that dispensed "dirty, cloudy and smelly" water, she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Prepared food and dispensed beverage same-store sales growth fell to 4.8%, from 5.6% the year before.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
As the show’s host, Queen Latifah dispensed uplifting thoughts about American idealism throughout the evening but also got a slot of her own to do her classic “U.N.I.T.Y.” with help from a rambunctious drum line.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026
Taylor also dispensed with tradition by not having any bridesmaids, while Travis similarly did not have groomsmen, her spokeswoman said.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Lexie was the one who dispensed advice, whether it had been asked for or not.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
Long before Oz entered politics, for example, he’d been discredited for dispensing a vast array of scientifically unsound medical advice on “The Dr. Oz Show,” which Winfrey’s Harpo Productions co-produced.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026
It would be one thing if Macklemore’s comments in New Jersey truly resembled the hate speech that Kraft accused him of dispensing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
At a centre called "Sniffspace", dogs test human samples on platforms equipped with automatic feeders dispensing dog treats.
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
Companies across the corporate spectrum are dispensing with managers who oversee just a few employees in favor of larger teams with flatter management structures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
“It’s about dispensing with punitiveness for its own sake and trying to produce an outcome that will be more healing for everyone involved.”
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
