dispose
Americanverb (used with object)
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to give a tendency or inclination to; incline.
His temperament disposed him to argue readily with people.
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to put in a particular or the proper order or arrangement; adjust by arranging the parts.
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to put in a particular or suitable place.
The lamp was disposed on a table nearby.
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to make fit or ready; prepare.
Your words of cheer dispose me for the task.
verb (used without object)
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to arrange or decide matters.
to do as God disposes.
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Obsolete. to make terms.
noun
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Archaic. disposition; habit.
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Obsolete. arrangement; regulation; disposal.
verb phrase
verb
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to deal with or settle
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to give, sell, or transfer to another
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to throw out or away
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to consume, esp hurriedly
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to kill
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to arrange or settle (matters) by placing into correct or final condition
man proposes, God disposes
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(tr) to make willing or receptive
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(tr) to adjust or place in a certain order or position
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to accustom or condition
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disposesimple
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disposessimple
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have disposedperfect
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has disposedperfect
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am disposingprogressive
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are disposingprogressive
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is disposingprogressive
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have been disposingperfect progressive
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has been disposingperfect progressive
Past
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disposedsimple
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had disposedperfect
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was disposingprogressive
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were disposingprogressive
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had been disposingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dispose
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French disposer, equivalent to dis- dis- 1 + poser “to place” ( see pose 1), on the model of Latin dispōnere
Explanation
If you dispose of something, you get rid of it. Don't want that sweatshirt with the clown's face on it? Give it away, throw it out, even sell it — these are all ways to dispose of that awful shirt. The verb dispose comes from the Latin word disponere, meaning “put in order,” “arrange,” or “distribute" — like when you dispose volunteers to collect trash at a park. The word of usually follows dispose when it means "getting rid of something." Another meaning is "make willing or open to something," like your childhood love of reading that disposes you to becoming a life-long reader.
Vocabulary lists containing dispose
Life Is So Good
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Good Riddance
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Henry David Thoreau "Civil Disobedience" (1849)
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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:
“The focus during the results will be the signing of the already announced plans to dispose of the ContiTech division as well as the potential distribution of the proceeds in FY26.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
Waste companies have called for a deposit of up to £5 to be charged on vapes to encourage people to dispose of them properly.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
This system helps cells correctly build, maintain, and dispose of proteins.
From Science Daily ● May 29, 2026
Among the first issues to be addressed is how to dispose of Iran's stocks of enriched uranium.
From Barron's ● May 28, 2026
“Since the Crochan is yours,” she said, “you’re entitled to know how to dispose of it. There’s only one way, though very simple and neat it is.”
From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander
A senior administration official Sunday detailed a three-part framework in which Iran reopens the Strait of Hormuz and disposes of its enriched uranium while the U.S. unwinds its blockade in Iranian ports.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
Do they think there is some sort of pickup service that comes along and disposes of their carefully collected excrement?
From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2024
La Mariana said in addition to waste and recycling material, it takes electronic waste and disposes of it for free for residents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2023
Equally important, there’s no way to ignore the spectacularly difficult institutional hurdles of how society manages and disposes of its nuclear waste.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 18, 2023
Collectively, the Party owns everything in Oceania, because it controls everything and disposes of the products as it thinks fit.
From "1984" by George Orwell
"At present, there's somewhere in the region of 125,000 tonnes of blades across the world getting disposed of by one means or another, but very rarely is it done in a sustainable way."
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Conventional desalination produces liquid brine that must be treated, disposed of, or discharged into the environment.
From Science Daily ● May 31, 2026
US officials and journalists traveling to China to cover the summit were advised to use phones and laptops that could be wiped or disposed of back home to preserve cybersecurity.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
He bent down, picked up a straw wrapper and disposed of it in the nearest trash can, then kept walking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2026
"No. You should do it here, I think. I need to be sure it's all disposed of properly."
From "The Lemonade War" by Jacqueline Davies
Properly collecting and disposing of spent fireworks could help reduce these environmental effects.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 4, 2026
Merely disposing of the “highly enriched uranium” doesn’t work when enrichment even to the low-seeming 3.67% is already 70% of the way to weapons-grade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
The urgency in disposing of the body was because the whale was now sitting on a popular beach, according to Abildstrøm.
From BBC ● May 31, 2026
It makes much of its money on water that those companies need to use in their operations, and by recycling and disposing of that water.
From Barron's ● May 14, 2026
In truth, though she hasn’t admitted it out loud until now, Molly has virtually given up on the idea of disposing of anything.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
Definitions 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.
