dissipation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dissipacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin dissipātiō (“a scattering, dispersion, destruction”),^[4][3][5][6] a noun of action from dissipō (“to spread abroad, scatter, disperse; to squander”),^[4][3][5] formed from dis- (“apart”) and the archaic verb supō (“to throw, scatter”).^[4][3] Etymonline traces that verb, apparently, to Proto-Indo-European *supi- (“to throw, sling, cast”),^[3] and Klein to a base Proto-Indo-European *swep- (“to throw, swing, shake”).^[5] The Shorter Oxford allows a French source as well,^[7] and the OED compares French dissipation, recorded from the 16th century.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Disintegration or dissolution, of the body's constitution: before 1425, in the Middle English translation of Chauliac.^[2][3] The OED, whose entry is not fully revised, first records the word in 1545, in George Joye's exposition of Daniel, in the sense of a scattering or dispersal.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the senses of the Latin verb, from "breaking up" to "scattering" and "squandering".^[3][4] Its first senses were physical: dissolution, dispersal, then from 1615 the gradual loss of a substance or of energy by diffusion,^[4] the sense that survives in physics and electronics for energy lost as heat.^[7] From 1639 it was used of wasteful spending of money and powers,^[4][3] and since 1733, in Swift, of the scattering of the mind away from serious things, at first in a neutral sense and then of frivolous amusements.^[4][7] Johnson (1755) gave "the act of dispersion", "the state of being dispersed" and "scattered attention", quoting Swift's "a thousand avocations and dissipations".^[8] The moral sense, dissolute and intemperate living, appears in 1785 in Cowper's The Task,^[4] and Collins now gives it as the second sense of the word.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – disintegration, dissolution.^[2][3]
• 1545 – dispersal, scattering (obsolete).^[4]
• 1597 – reduction to atoms; complete disintegration.^[4]
• 1615 – the wasting away of a substance or of energy through dispersion or diffusion.^[4]
• 1639 – wasteful spending; squandering.^[4] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1630s.^[3]
• 1733 – distraction of the mind from serious matters.^[4]
• 1749 – in optics, the scattering of rays of light.^[4]
• 1785 – intemperate, dissolute living.^[4] Etymonline dates it to 1784.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of dispersing or scattering, or the state of being scattered: the dissipation of the morning fog.^[6][9][7]
2. The loss of energy, especially as heat, from a system or device.^[7][4]
3. Wasteful spending of money, strength or time; squandering.^[9][6][4]
4. Unrestrained indulgence in physical pleasures, especially drink; dissolute living.^[9][4][7]
5. An amusement or diversion, especially a frivolous one.^[9][7]
6. (archaic) Complete disintegration; dissolution.^[6][7]

Word family

• distrail
• dissipation trail

Related words

• dissipate
• dissipated
• dissipative

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 g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins