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to dispose

to dispose

4 3.9
To put things in a particular order or position
  • verb
  • /dɪˈspoʊz/
translation icon : colocar
  • The artist carefully disposed the colors on the palette to create a beautiful painting.

Something is hot now, so it's disposed in such a way as to give off heat, right?

Examples

  • When industries must dispose of hazardous wastes, they are careful to choose reputable transporters and disposal methods.

    Academic text (1993)
  • Were you aware of the arrangements Mrs French made to dispose of her money?

  • We'll dispose the guards, here... here... and here

  • With the sale of the horses, he had succeeded in disposing of the last of the livestock.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • By virtue of this cooperation, many of the problems are immediately disposed of, whereas that would take months in a specialized institute.

    Academic text (2005)
  • TSAP is focused mainly on how students receive the ball and how students dispose of the ball, and although these data are quantitative, they have much qualitative meaning about how students played the game.

    Academic text (2015)
  • At these moments, seated behind his father's old desk, disposing of the messages, Axel thought of himself as a builder of bridges.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • Before starting the project, she disposed the materials in an organized manner to ensure efficiency.

  • He disposed the seating arrangements for the meeting to facilitate easy communication among participants.

Synonyms

to put away
vsto dispose
225 2.0

To place something in its usual place for storage

positions items to form an order rather than to store or hide them
to settle
vsto dispose
5 3.0

To put things in the order you want

places or arranges items without stressing a desired final order
to redispose
vsto dispose
8.5

To arrange something again in a different way

places or arranges items initially rather than rearranging them

Antonyms

187 2.8

To spread small things like leaves or seeds over an area without order

To make something messy or not in the right order

Phrasal Verbs

56 4.1

Deal with and finish a problem or task so it no longer causes trouble

How Organized

to systematize
  • US
3 6.7
to organize
  • US
662 1.6
to dispose
4 3.9
to place
1.0

Surface Forms

dispose infinitive
disposed past
disposed past participle
disposing present participle
disposes third person singular

Morphology

dispose = pose (semi-transparent) = dis + pose

The prefix 'dis-' suggests a reversal or negation, but in 'dispose', it indicates an arrangement, which is not fully intuitive.

Etymology

Dispose comes from Latin parts dis- 'apart' and ponere 'to put', so it originally meant to 'put things in place'. Think of the word position, which has the same root and shows the idea of placing; so to dispose things is to place or arrange them.