dispose
Americanverb (used with object)
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disposes,
present (3rd person singular)
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disposed,
past participle, past
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disposing
present participle
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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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disposes,
present (3rd person singular)
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disposed,
past participle, past
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disposing
present participle
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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:
Over the longer term, Public Bank might dispose its Public Financial stake to unlock value and free up capital, given Hong Kong’s competitive market, he adds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
The researchers found that tissue-resident macrophages, a type of immune cell that lives permanently within organs, become less able with age to dispose of another class of immune cells.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
Jegede said if the leaves or fruit are too delicate to wash or ash is still visible, it would be best to dispose of the produce.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Passing the bill would also start to relieve a logjam of legislation that Congress is seeking to dispose of before its August recess and the November midterm elections.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
Somehow Ellsworth had blundered—either through carelessness or a clerical error—and didn’t pay $480 that was owed, and as contractually agreed upon, the company had the right to dispose of the storage room’s contents.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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
St. Damien has scheduled her first pickup with Ridwell, a subscription service that picks up and disposes of hard-to-recycle trash.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2024
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
After the Second World War ended, the Allies disposed of tons of ammunition by dumping it into the ocean so it could not fall into the wrong hands.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
One remaining animal was disposed of on 30 June.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
And California recently enacted a law requiring retailers to manage how clothing waste is disposed of, in a bid to keep clothes from further bloating landfills.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
“For far too long, tow companies have sold or disposed of servicemembers’ vehicles in violation of federal law,” Assistant Atty.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
He disposed of other spent material in his kiln or in pits filled with quicklime.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
In Arizona, streams are mostly dry, and the state has many water-intensive mining projects, each with systems for draining stormwater and disposing of water used in minerals processing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
In May, posts emerged online accusing refugees of not properly disposing of animals sacrificed during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha and quickly went viral.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Using a plastic bag to collect the soil and disposing of it in the garbage — not green yard waste bins — will help to reduce the spread of airborne chemicals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Properly collecting and disposing of spent fireworks could help reduce these environmental effects.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 4, 2026
Tons of animal manure are produced with no good way of disposing of it.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
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.
