"dispense" meaning in English

See dispense in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /dɪsˈpɛns/ [UK] Audio: en-us-dispense.ogg [US] Forms: dispense [canonical], dispenses [third-person, singular], dispensed [past], dispensed [past, participle], dispensing [present, participle]
Head templates: {{verb|dispens|e}} [POS TABLE]
  1. When something dispenses an object, it means that it is issuing the object, to distribute it.
    Sense id: simple-dispense-en-verb-XESjvVne
  2. To throw away, or ignore.
    Sense id: simple-dispense-en-verb-ahWGjpIz
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dispense",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dispenses",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dispensed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dispensed",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dispensing",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "dispens",
        "2": "e"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "dis‧pense",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "When something dispenses an object, it means that it is issuing the object, to distribute it."
      ],
      "id": "simple-dispense-en-verb-XESjvVne"
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She made us all feel relaxed and comfortable by dispensing with the old formalities."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To throw away, or ignore."
      ],
      "id": "simple-dispense-en-verb-ahWGjpIz"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/dɪsˈpɛns/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-dispense.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "dispense"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dispense",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dispenses",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dispensed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dispensed",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dispensing",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "dispens",
        "2": "e"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "dis‧pense",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "When something dispenses an object, it means that it is issuing the object, to distribute it."
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She made us all feel relaxed and comfortable by dispensing with the old formalities."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To throw away, or ignore."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/dɪsˈpɛns/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-dispense.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "dispense"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-24 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-04-20 using wiktextract (813e02a and ea19a0a). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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