Disposed

How to spell disposed

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce disposed

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does disposed mean?

1. verbPast tense of dispose: arranged, dealt with, or got rid of something, typically used with 'of'.
2. adjectiveHaving a particular inclination, attitude, or willingness toward something.

Disposed in a sentence

• verb

  The council disposed of the old furniture during the office move.

• adjective

  The manager seemed kindly disposed toward the new proposal.

• verb

  The estate was disposed of according to the terms of the will.

• adjective

  He was not disposed to lend money to a stranger.

Where does disposed come from?

Language of origin: French

This word is the past form of the verb dispose, which English took from the Old French disposer, meaning to arrange, control, or settle. That French verb was modelled on the Latin disponere, built from dis-, meaning apart or in different directions, and ponere, meaning to put or to place; the literal sense was therefore to set things out in their proper places. Latin had the past participle dispositus, which is why the spelling carries that hidden Latin pos root rather than the French poser. English adopted the verb in the late 1300s, and the meaning quickly branched: from physically arranging objects, to settling a matter, to getting rid of something, and to being inclined or minded toward something. That last sense, as in feeling well disposed toward a plan, simply extends the idea of having your inner attitude arranged in a particular direction. The same pos root sits inside relatives such as position, deposit, and compose.

How the word is built

• dis- (apart, away)
• pos (place, set; from Latin ponere/positus)
• -ed (past tense and adjectival suffix)