dispense
Syllables: dis·penseUK/dɪˈspɛns/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/dɪˈspens/
dispense verb: to issue, distribute, or give out.
Verb
dispense (third-person singular simple present dispenses, present participle dispensing, simple past and past participle dispensed)
- To issue, distribute, or give out.
- He is delighted to dispense a share of it to all the company.1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown...
- The smoky spray seemed to trap whatever light there was and to dispense it subtly.1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, published 2005, page 40
- To apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct.
- to dispense justice
- While you dispense the laws, and guide the state.1662, John Dryden, To the Lord Chancellor Hyde
- To supply or make up a medicine or prescription.
- The pharmacist dispensed my tablets.
- An optician can dispense spectacles.
- To give a dispensation to (someone); to excuse.
- After his victories, he often gave them the reines to all licenciousnesse, for a while dispencing them from all rules of military discipline[…].1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 34, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
- Of evils the first and greatest is, that hereby a most absurd and rash imputation is fixt upon God and his holy Laws, of conniving and dispensing with open and common adultery among his chosen people; a thing which the rankest politician would think it shame and disworship, that his Laws should...1643, John Milton, Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
- To compensate; to make up; to make amends.
- One loving howre / For many yeares of sorrow can dispence1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30
- His synne was dispensed with golde, wherof it was compensedc. 1386–1390, John Gower, edited by Reinhold Pauli, Confessio Amantis of John Gower: Edited and Collated with the Best Manuscripts, volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Bell and...
Noun
dispense (countable and uncountable, plural dispenses)
- Cost, expenditure.
- The act of dispensing, dispensation.
- […] what euer in this worldly state / Is sweet, and pleasing vnto liuing sense, / Or that may dayntiest fantasie aggrate, / Was poured forth with plentifull dispence […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
dispense meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
dispense in Tamil
- வழங்கல், மருந்து தயாரித்துக் கொடுத்தல்
dispense in Urdu
- باٹنا, دوا دینا, تقسیم کرنا
dispense in Bengali
- বিতরণ করা, সরবরাহ করা, বিচার
dispense in Malayalam
- വിതരണം ചെയ്യുക, പകർന്നു കൊടുക്കുക, നിയമത്തിലോ ആചാരത്തിലോ ഇളവനുവദിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- dispense in Kannada
- ಕೊಡು, ಹಂಚು, ಕಲಸಿಕೊಡು, ಹೊರತುಪಡಿಸು
Examples of dispense in a sentence
- Every spring, the passive aggressive archbishop suffered from a brief flu that dispensed him from needing to provide Easter service to the king.
- She was dispensed from her vows and married Captain von Trapp.
- It was resolved that all members of the House who held commissions, should be dispensed from parliamentary attendance.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify...
Forms of dispense
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | dispenses |
| present participle | dispensing |
| past participle | dispensed |
| past | dispensed |
| alternative form | dispence |
| Noun | |
| plural | dispenses |
Origin of dispense
From Middle English, from Old French dispenser, from Latin dispēnsāre (“to weigh out, pay out, distribute, regulate, manage, control, dispense”), frequentative of dispendere (“to weigh out”), from dis- (“apart”) + pendere (“to weigh”).
Words formed from dispense
Words that rhyme with dispense
Questions about dispense
- What does dispense mean?
- Dispense means to issue, distribute, or give out.
- What is dispense in Tamil?
- Dispense in Tamil is வழங்கல், மருந்து தயாரித்துக் கொடுத்தல். See Dispense meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use dispense in a sentence?
- Every spring, the passive aggressive archbishop suffered from a brief flu that dispensed him from needing to provide Easter service to the king.
- What part of speech is dispense?
- Dispense can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce dispense?
- Dispense is pronounced /dɪˈspɛns/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of dispense?
- The past tense of dispense is dispensed.
Words near dispense in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dispense (page history and authors); dispense (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dispense (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Dispense (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dispense (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dispense (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “dispense.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dispense. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.