dispel

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dispellen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin dispellō (“to drive apart, scatter”),^{[5][3][6][4][7]} formed from dis- (“apart, away”) and pellō (“to drive, push”).^[5][6][4][8] Watkins and Barnhart trace the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to thrust, strike, drive”),^[3][6][4] the root of pulse, compel, expel and repel.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To drive out or scatter people: in the Stanzaic Life of Christ, in a manuscript from before 1500 of a text perhaps composed about 1400.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to about 1400 and Barnhart probably before 1400,^[3][4] while the OED, whose entry has not been fully revised, has no record before John Donne's sermons (before 1631).^[5]

Semantic evolution

The Latin verb meant to drive asunder, and the English word kept the idea of scattering: the OED defines it as driving away in different directions, and its objects are typically clouds, darkness, doubts and fears.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to drive by scattering; to dissipate", quoting Milton's "as now light dispels the dark".^[11] The Shorter Oxford notes that it is now used of something immaterial or vaporous.^[12] An intransitive use, of a cloud or the like breaking up, is recorded from 1643.^[5][12]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – to drive out or scatter, of people.^[2][3]
• before 1631 – to drive away in different directions; to dissipate clouds, darkness, doubts or fears.^[5]
• 1643 – intransitive, to become dissipated, of a cloud.^[5]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as to drive by scattering.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To drive away or make disappear, especially a feeling, belief or rumour: The minister's statement dispelled fears of a strike.^[13][10][12]
2. To disperse or scatter something, such as mist or smoke: A breeze dispelled the morning fog.^[13][10][5]

Word family

• dispellable
• dispeller
• undispelled

Related words

• compel
• expel
• repel
• propel
• impel
• pulse
• appeal

Usage notes

Etymonline notes that because the verb means to drive away in different directions, its object should not be a single, indivisible thing: one can dispel suspicion, but not an accusation.^[3]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins