Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To cause to spread out freely.
- intransitive verb To make known to or cause to be used by large numbers of people; disseminate.
- intransitive verb To make less brilliant; soften.
- intransitive verb To make less intense; weaken.
- intransitive verb Physics To cause to undergo diffusion.
- intransitive verb To become widely dispersed; spread out.
- intransitive verb Physics To undergo diffusion.
- adjective Widely spread or scattered; not concentrated.
- adjective Wordy or unclear: synonym: wordy.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To pour out and spread, as a fluid; cause to flow and spread.
- To spread abroad; scatter; send out or extend in all directions.
- Synonyms To scatter, disseminate, circulate, disperse, distribute, propagate.
- To spread, as a fluid, by the wandering of its molecules in amongst those of a contiguous fluid.
- Widely spread or diffused; extended; dispersed; scattered.
- Specifically
- In pathology, spreading widely and having no distinctively defined limits: as, a diffuse inflammation or suppuration: opposed to circumscribed.
- In boto, spreading widely and loosely.
- In embryology, applied to a form of non-deciduate placenta in which the fetal villi form a broad belt.
- In zoology, sparse; few and scattered, as markings; especially, in entomology, said of punctures, etc., when they are less thickly set than on a neighboring part from which they appear to be scattered off.
- Prolix; using many words; verbose; rambling: said of speakers and writers or their style.
- Hard to understand; perplexing; requiring extended effort.
- Synonyms Loose, rambling, wordy, long-winded, diluted, spun out.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To pour out and cause to spread, as a fluid; to cause to flow on all sides; to send out, or extend, in all directions; to spread; to circulate; to disseminate; to scatter; as to
diffuse information. - adjective Poured out; widely spread; not restrained; copious; full; esp., of style, opposed to
concise orterse ; verbose; prolix - intransitive verb To pass by spreading every way, to diffuse itself.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
spread over or through as inair ,water , or other matter, especially byfluid motion orpassive means. - verb intransitive To be
spread over or through as inair ,water , or other matter, especially byfluid motion orpassive means. - adjective Everywhere or throughout everything; not
focused orconcentrated .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb move outward
- adjective lacking conciseness
- adjective (of light) transmitted from a broad light source or reflected
- verb spread or diffuse through
- verb cause to become widely known
- adjective spread out; not concentrated in one place
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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This crisis has arisen, the Prof says, because intensive cultivation has given rise to an upward trend in "diffuse" pollution from nitrates and phosphates which is proving difficult to reverse.
Surely we should be debating this? Richard 2006
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The object is felt to say something succinctly and forcibly that the inner vision reports vaguely, in diffuse feeling rather than organically.
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The object is felt to say something succinctly and forcibly that the inner vision reports vaguely, in diffuse feeling rather than organically.
Mysterious Potencies 2010
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The object is felt to say something succinctly and forcibly that the inner vision reports vaguely, in diffuse feeling rather than organically.
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The object is felt to say something succinctly and forcibly that the inner vision reports vaguely, in diffuse feeling rather than organically.
June 2010 2010
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DESCRIPTION: Also called St. Anthony's Fire, erysipelas is characterized by diffuse inflammation of the skin, or of the subcutaneous cellular tissue, usually with accompanying fever.
THE NATURAL REMEDY BIBLE JOHN LUST 2003
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And in 1995, with Mike Jura at UCLA, we published a paper suggesting that if it was in space, it should be responsible for some very puzzling features that have been known for 90 years called the diffuse interstellar bands.
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And in 1995, with Mike Jura at UCLA, we published a paper suggesting that if it was in space, it should be responsible for some very puzzling features that have been known for 90 years called the diffuse interstellar bands.
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How about the definition for the word diffuse, courtesy of Dictionary. com?
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There are theories that Marie may have had a medical condition termed diffuse alopecia areata, which can result in sudden hair loss.
Archive 2009-02-01 The Verger 2009
oldwilliam commented on the word diffuse
In British English, "diffuse" should never be used to mean "defuse", and "diffusing a tense situation" is just plain wrong!
Comment added because of this error in "The Century Dictionary" (entry for "defuse").
August 4, 2023