Word.ws English Dictionary

scattered

Syllables: scat·teredUK/ˈskætəd//ˈskætɚd/

scattered is the simple past and past participle of scatter.

Adjective

scattered (comparative more scattered, superlative most scattered)

  1. Dispersed, spread apart into disunited units.
    • scattered applause
    • And when their ſcattered armie is ſubdu’d:
      And you march on their ſlaughtered carkaſſes,
      Share equally the gold that bought their liues,
      And liue like Gentlmen in Perſea, […]c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
  2. Seemingly randomly distributed.
    • There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs,[…], and all these articles[…] made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and...1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
  3. Covering three eighths to four eighths of the sky.
  4. Affecting 30 percent to 50 percent of a forecast zone.
    • Scattered showers.

Meaning of scatter

Verb

scatter (third-person singular simple present scatters, present participle scattering, simple past and past participle scattered)

  1. (ergative) To (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse.
    • The crowd scattered in terror.
  2. (transitive) To distribute loosely as by sprinkling.
    • Her ashes were scattered at the top of a waterfall.
  3. (transitive) To deflect (radiation or particles).
    • Chasca's ring is unique. It appears to be, for lack of a better term, a massive piece of alien "installation art." The rings are made of small pieces of synthetic material, and are almost invisible from space. From the ground, they catch and scatter the light of Matano in picturesque ways. It is...2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Chasca planetary description
  4. (intransitive) To occur or fall at widely spaced intervals.
  5. (transitive) To frustrate, disappoint, and overthrow.
    • to scatter hopes or plans
  6. (transitive) To be dispersed upon.
    • Desiccated stalks scattered the fields.

See all 10 meanings of scatter

Forms of scattered

comparativemore scattered
superlativemost scattered

Words formed from scattered

Phrases with scattered

Questions about scattered

What does scattered mean?
Scattered means dispersed, spread apart into disunited units.
What is scattered the simple past and past participle of?
Scattered is the simple past and past participle of scatter.
What part of speech is scattered?
Scattered is an adjective.
How do you pronounce scattered?
Scattered is pronounced /ˈskætɚd/ (US).

Words near scattered in the dictionary

  1. scatterations
  2. scatterbrain
  3. scatterbrained
  4. scatterbrainedness
  5. scatterbrains
  6. scattered
  7. scattered disc
  8. scattered disc object
  9. scattered disc objects
  10. scattered disk
  11. scattered disk object

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scattered (page history and authors); scatter (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-scattered.ogg.

Cite this entry: “scattered.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scattered. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.