dissipating 1 of 3

adjective

as in wasting

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

dissipating

2 of 3

noun

as in squandering

Related Words

Dissimilar Words

dissipating

3 of 3

verb

present participle of dissipate
1
as in dispersing
to cause (members of a group) to move widely apart dissipated the enemy forces with unremitting artillery fire

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in spending
to use up carelessly dissipated the family fortune in reckless business ventures

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in dissolving
to go off in different directions and cease to exist as a body or unified whole the fog should dissipate once the sun comes out in full force

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dissipating
Noun
Between these times, every stage moves from fullness and being a light to finding your light dissipating and toward the crescent. — Lizz Schumer, PEOPLE, 5 Jan. 2026 Hubble’s more recent imagery shows the dissipating remains of the smash encounter. — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 18 Dec. 2025
Verb
If a black hole had a secret identity as an imperfect, energy-dissipating, viscous fluid, then an effective field theory for imperfect, energy-dissipating, viscous fluids should exist, too. — Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 17 Aug. 2026 Fears about the decline of the big-screen experience amid the rise of at-home streaming seem to have begun dissipating. — David Sims, The Atlantic, 14 Aug. 2026 The storm is expected to head east-northeast and slow its forward speed while dissipating on Thursday. — Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 12 Aug. 2026 The ruckus around Cunningham does not appear to be dissipating, in any event. — Brian Hamilton, New York Times, 9 Aug. 2026 When these four things align, effort stops dissipating and starts compounding. — Jeff Winters, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026 The system then turned southeastward and southward before dissipating just west of northern Portugal on October 15. — Laura Payne, Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 July 2026 The storm was forecast to reach the upper Texas coast on Thursday before dissipating inland in Texas by Friday. — ABC News, 23 July 2026 The storm was forecast to reach the upper Texas coast today before dissipating inland by tomorrow. — Daniela Suarez, NBC news, 23 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissipating
  1. wasteful
  2. squandering
  3. dispersing
  4. spending
  5. dissolving
  6. profligate
  7. losing
  8. disappearing
Adjective
  • Take a look at who is spending tax money responsibly — on ballfields, water-quality projects, help for victims of crime, no-kill animal shelters and other popular priorities — and who is being wasteful.
    — Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 23 Aug. 2026
  • Republican response But conservatives said those policies inflated enrollment by attracting fraudulent and wasteful coverage.
    — Christine Mai-Duc, NPR, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of wasteful
Noun
  • An everyman figure squeezing every bit of talent from his frame, a boy who returned to working as a fisherman after the first squandering of his football dream, from a family that could not always afford to buy him studded boots.
    — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 19 June 2026
  • Watching students use that platform to walk out on the CEO of one of the world’s most consequential companies clearly struck him as a squandering of rare privilege.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 15 June 2026
Definition of squandering
Verb
  • The Retired Police Canine Foundation was selected as the recipient of these funds and is in charge of dispersing them to handlers across the state.
    — Sofia Saric, Miami Herald, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Open clusters are young clusters of stars that were born together and are now gradually dispersing, and Auriga’s open clusters are some of the best and brightest of their kind in the night sky.
    — Gemma Lavender, Space.com, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of dispersing
Verb
  • Willy Kurniawan | Reuters Indonesia may have trouble meeting its economic-growth goals for the coming year, after spending 2026 on the defensive amid questions about fiscal outlays and the prospects of a downgrade from MSCI.
    — Celestine Iyer, CNBC, 26 Aug. 2026
  • For now, the Coalition for Prediction Markets is spending a fraction of Kalshi’s direct lobbying expenses.
    — Dan Bernstein, Sportico.com, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of spending
Verb
  • Swedish textile recycler Renewcell filed for bankruptcy in 2024 after struggling to ramp sales of its Circulose dissolving pulp quickly enough to support its industrial-scale facility.
    — Alexandra Harrell, Footwear News, 28 Aug. 2026
  • The president directed McMahon to put herself out of a job by dissolving the department using all necessary steps permitted by law.
    — Arthur Jones II, ABC News, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of dissolving
Adjective
  • This shift occasioned the profligate production that would mark her oeuvre, with Kusama going on to make hundreds of paintings in which forests of lines and dots cradled variously floral and phallic figures.
    — News Desk, Artforum, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Just as life in industrial urban centers in the nineteenth century caused hardship in rural villages, the profligate lifestyles enjoyed by those of us in the Global North are underwritten by the immiseration of those in the Global South.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 July 2026
Definition of profligate
Verb
  • A week after losing 49-35 to Batavia, Maine South came out strong in all three phases of the game.
    — Bobby Narang, Chicago Tribune, 29 Aug. 2026
  • The Chiefs continue their preseason losing streak, but as The Star’s Sam McDowell writes, the next one counts.
    — Dominick Williams, Kansas City Star, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of losing
Verb
  • Choose softer pacing without disappearing into everyone else’s needs.
    — Tarot.com, The Orlando Sentinel, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Some couples and families even choose a code word that means the conversation is pausing, Wilson says—not that the relationship is disappearing.
    — Angela Haupt, Time, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of disappearing

Browse Nearby Words

dissipates
dissipating
dissipation
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Dissipating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissipating. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of dissonant

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Why does English have so many silent letters?

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
skateboard-dog-hat
Wordmaxxing Slang Quiz Give your vocabulary a glow up by getting sendy w...
See All