Dissipated

How to spell dissipated

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce dissipated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dissipated mean?

1. verbScattered, dispersed, or gradually faded away until gone.
2. adjectiveGiven to excessive indulgence in pleasure; dissolute and self-indulgent.

Dissipated in a sentence

• verb

  The morning fog dissipated as the sun climbed higher over the valley.

• adjective

  He led a dissipated life of late nights, gambling, and heavy drinking.

• verb

  Her anger gradually dissipated once she heard the full explanation.

• adjective

  Years of dissipated habits had wrecked both his health and his savings.

Where does dissipated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb dissipare, which meant 'to scatter completely' or 'to throw apart in all directions'. It was formed from the prefix dis-, meaning 'apart', joined to a verb related to supare, meaning 'to throw' or 'to fling'. English adopted dissipate in the fifteenth century, first in the literal sense of scattering or driving something away, such as a cloud or a crowd, and the past form dissipated naturally followed. Over time a moral sense developed: a person whose energies, money, and self-control had been scattered through reckless living was said to be dissipated, hence the meaning 'dissolute' or 'given to vice'. The spelling trap lives in the original prefix and root: dis- supplies the double s, while the single p comes from the single p in supare, so the safe rule is double s, single p.

How the word is built

• dis- (apart)
• -sip- (from Latin supare: to throw, scatter)
• -ate (verb suffix)
• -ed (past tense/adjective ending)