Dispense

How to spell dispense

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce dispense

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dispense mean?

1. verbTo distribute or hand out something in measured amounts, especially medicine, goods, or services.
2. verbTo manage without something or set it aside as unnecessary, used in the phrase 'dispense with'.

Dispense in a sentence

• The pharmacist is qualified to dispense prescription medicines.

• The chairman asked everyone to dispense with the formalities and sit down.

• The new machine can dispense both hot and cold drinks.

• Modern software lets accountants dispense with paper ledgers entirely.

Where does dispense come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb dispensare, which meant 'to weigh out' or 'to pay out in portions'. It was a frequentative form of dispendere, built from dis- meaning 'out, apart' and pendere meaning 'to weigh' (the same root that gave us 'pendulum' and 'pension'). In medieval times a dispensator was a steward who weighed out provisions and money to a household, and from this came the sense of distributing measured amounts. English borrowed the word through Old French dispenser in the 1300s, first in church contexts where authorities granted a 'dispensation' that weighed out an exemption from a rule. The spelling trap lives in that pens core: the sound is an s, but the letter is borrowed straight from the Latin pendere/pensare family, so it is spelled with an s rather than a c.

How the word is built

• dis- (out, apart)
• pens (from Latin pendere/pensare: to weigh, pay out)
• -e