Dispatches

How to spell dispatches

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce dispatches

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dispatches mean?

1. verbSends off something or someone to a destination, usually promptly.
2. nounOfficial written reports or messages, especially those sent from a battlefield, embassy, or news correspondent.

Dispatches in a sentence

• verb

  The warehouse dispatches every online order within a single working day.

• noun

  The general's dispatches described the retreat in careful detail.

• verb

  The control room dispatches an ambulance the moment a call comes in.

• noun

  The foreign correspondent filed her dispatches from the besieged city.

Where does dispatches come from?

Language of origin: Spanish

This word traces back to the early 1500s and most likely entered English from the Spanish despachar or the Italian dispacciare, both meaning 'to hasten, to expedite, or to send off promptly'. Those verbs are thought to derive from a Late Latin root tied to the idea of removing an impediment, so the underlying sense was clearing something out of the way so it could move quickly. The 'dis-' element carries the meaning 'apart' or 'away', which fits the picture of sending a person, parcel, or message off with speed. From the verb came the noun sense of an official written message sent in haste, especially the military and diplomatic reports that gave us the phrase 'mentioned in dispatches'. The spelling has long wavered between 'dispatch' and the older British 'despatch', a variation often blamed on an eighteenth-century dictionary misprint, but 'dispatch' is now the dominant form across all regions.

How the word is built

• dis- (apart, away)
• patch (from Old Italian/Spanish for to hasten or set free)
• -es (plural/third-person ending)