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scattered

   Also found in: Medical, Legal, Financial, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
scat·ter  (sktr)
v. scat·tered, scat·ter·ing, scat·ters
v.tr.
1. To cause to separate and go in different directions.
2. To distribute loosely by or as if by sprinkling; strew: scattering confetti from the upper windows.
3. Physics To deflect (radiation or particles).
v.intr.
1. To separate and go in different directions; disperse.
2. To occur or fall at widely spaced intervals.
n.
1. The act of scattering or the condition of being scattered.
2. Something scattered.

[Middle English scateren, perhaps from northern dialectal alteration of Old English *sceaterian.]

scatter·er n.
Synonyms: scatter, disperse, dissipate, dispel
These verbs mean to cause a mass or aggregate to separate and go in different directions. Scatter refers to loose or haphazard distribution of components: "the scattered driftwood, bleached and dry" (Celia Laighton Thaxter).
Disperse implies the complete breaking up of the mass or aggregate: "only a few industrious Scots perhaps, who indeed are dispersed over the face of the whole earth" (George Chapman).
Dissipate suggests a reduction to nothing: "The main of life is composed ... of meteorous pleasures which dance before us and are dissipated" (Samuel Johnson).
Dispel suggests driving away or off by or as if by scattering: "But he ... with high words ... gently raised/Their fainting courage, and dispelled their fears" (John Milton).
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adj.1.scattered - occurring or distributed over widely spaced and irregular intervals in time or space; "scattered showers"; "scattered villages"
distributed - spread out or scattered about or divided up
2.scatteredscattered - lacking orderly continuity; "a confused set of instructions"; "a confused dream about the end of the world"; "disconnected fragments of a story"; "scattered thoughts"
incoherent - without logical or meaningful connection; "a turgid incoherent presentation"
Translations
scattered [ˈskætəd] ADJdisperso
the village is very scatteredlas casas del pueblo son muy dispersas
scattered showerschubascos mpl dispersos
scattered [ˈskætərd] adjépars(e), dispersé(e)
scattered showers nplaverses fpl éparses
scattered
adj populationweitverstreut; objects, villagesverstreut; treeseinzeln stehend; clouds, showers, fightingvereinzelt; my relatives are scattered all over the countrymeine Verwandten sind über das ganze Land verstreut; the books were scattered (about) all over the roomdie Bücher lagen im ganzen Zimmer herum or verstreut; a piano scattered with photographsein mit Fotos übersätes Klavier
scattered [ˈskætəd] adj (books, houses) → sparso/a, sparpagliato/a; (population) → sparso/a
scattered showers → precipitazioni fpl sparse
scattered with (strewn) → cosparso/a di
scattered [ˈskætəd] adj (books, houses) → sparso/a, sparpagliato/a; (population) → sparso/a
scattered showers → precipitazioni fpl sparse
scattered with (strewn) → cosparso/a di


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But they get dreadfully scattered and mixed up, at times, and then you can't do anything with them.
She was really a little gold-haired blue-eyed dryad, whose true home was a wild white cherry-tree that grew in some scattered woodland behind the old country-house of my boyhood.
I have scattered her misgivings to the winds; she is obliged to submit to evidence, and to own that she can make the happiness of my life.
 
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