scatter

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In Sahuarita, the election ended up being what the political science folks refer to as a scatter.

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Definitions (29)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. transitive verb To cause to separate and go in different directions.
  2. transitive verb To distribute loosely by or as if by sprinkling; strew: scattering confetti from the upper windows.
  3. transitive verb Physics To deflect (radiation or particles).
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (11)

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Examples (50)

  • They scatter, and he seizes his moment to ring a bell or bang a gong. —  A Man Lay Dead - Ngaio Marsh - Alleyn 01: 1934
  • In Sahuarita, the election ended up being what the political science folks refer to as a scatter. —  Rum, Romanism and Rebellion
  • Well, take them all, and go--scatter them wide In gardens where men love me, and be sure 174 Where even one flower falls, or one soft petal Next year shall see a hundred As they turn to go, enter LUCIA in hunting dress with bow in hand and a hound by her side. —  Poems: New and Old
  • As the insects began to scatter, they appeared like snow-flakes floating about in the air. —  In the Wilds of Africa
  • It is the nature of savages to scatter, and so to puzzle trained forces,--and no doubt those of his Majesty are well trained. —  Gascoyne, the Sandal-Wood Trader
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

scatter:   scattering ·  scattered ·  scatters
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English scateren, perhaps from northern dialectal alteration of Old English *sceaterian.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English scateren, skateren, schateren, scatter, from late Anglo-Saxon *scaterian, scateran = Middle Dutch scheteren, scatter; formed (with a freq. suffix) from √ scat, not found elsewhere in Teutonic, but answering to Greek √ σκεδ, in σκεδάννυσ, σ1θαι, sprinkle, scatter, σκέδασ, σ1ις, a scattering. Cf. shatter, an assibilated form of scatter.
 

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/ˈskætər/
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