Wiktionary

diffuse

See also: diffusé

English

edit
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology 1

edit

From Middle French diffuser, from Latin diffūsus, past participle of diffundere, from dis- fundere.

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

diffuse (third-person singular simple present diffuses, present participle diffusing, simple past and past participle diffused)

  1. (transitive) To spread over or through as in air, water, or other matter, especially by fluid motion or passive means.
    • 1837, William Whewell, “Earliest Stages of Astronomy”, in History of the Inductive Sciences, from the Earliest to the Present Times. […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […]; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: J. and J. J. Deighton, →OCLC, book III (History of Greek Astronomy), section 3 (Correction of the Civil Year. (Julian Calendar.)), page 121:
      We do not know by whom the insufficiency of the year of 365 days was first discovered; we find this knowledge diffused among all civilized nations, and various artifices used in making the correction.
  2. (intransitive) To be spread over or through as in air, water, or other matter, especially by fluid motion or passive means.
    Food coloring diffuses in water.
    The riot diffused quite suddenly.
Usage notes
edit

The words diffuse and defuse are frequently confused. To defuse a difficult situation would be to make it less potentially explosive (as if removing the fuse from a stick of dynamite); to diffuse it would be to spread it around.

Synonyms
edit
Derived terms
edit
Translations
edit

Etymology 2

edit

From Middle English *diffuse (attested in adverb diffuseli), from Latin diffūsus.

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

diffuse (comparative more diffuse, superlative most diffuse)

  1. Everywhere or throughout everything; not focused or concentrated.
    Such a diffuse effort is unlikely to produce good results.
  2. Wordy; verbose.
Synonyms
edit
Derived terms
edit
Translations
edit
edit

References

edit

Anagrams

edit

French

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

diffuse

  1. inflection of diffuser:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Adjective

edit

diffuse

  1. feminine singular of diffus

German

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

diffuse

  1. inflection of diffus:
    1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
    2. strong nominative/accusative plural
    3. weak nominative all-gender singular
    4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

edit

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /difˈfu.ze/
  • Rhymes: -uze
  • Hyphenation: dif‧fù‧se

Etymology 1

edit

Verb

edit

diffuse

  1. third-person singular past historic of diffondere

Etymology 2

edit

Participle

edit

diffuse f pl

  1. feminine plural of diffuso

Adjective

edit

diffuse

  1. feminine plural of diffuso

Latin

edit

Etymology

edit

From diffūsus (“scattered, spread”).

Adverb

edit

diffūsē (comparative diffūsius, superlative diffūsissimē)

  1. diffusely, in a scattered manner.
  2. copiously, fully
edit

References

edit
  • “diffuse”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, 1st edition. (Oxford University Press)

Norwegian Bokmål

edit

Adjective

edit

diffuse

  1. definite singular of diffus
  2. plural of diffus

Norwegian Nynorsk

edit

Adjective

edit

diffuse

  1. definite singular of diffus
  2. plural of diffus
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=diffuse&oldid=82706041"