MEANING
1. To provide, distribute, or issue something, often in measured or authorized amounts.
2. To do without or choose not to use something.
3. To exempt someone from a rule, obligation, or requirement by an authorized dispensation.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- dispense medicine
- dispense advice
On the page
The attendant dispensed medicine while the callers waited for news.
He dispensed advice more readily than he offered help.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- dispense
- Past tense
- dispensed
- Past participle
- dispensed
- Present participle
- dispensing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- dispense
- Present continuous
- am/is/are dispensing
- Present perfect
- have/has dispensed
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been dispensing
- Past
- dispensed
- Past continuous
- was/were dispensing
- Past perfect
- had dispensed
- Past perfect continuous
- had been dispensing
- Future
- will dispense
- Future continuous
- will be dispensing
- Future perfect
- will have dispensed
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been dispensing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: dispense; dispenses; dispensed; dispensed; dispensing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: dispenses.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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