disposing

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of dispose.

   The committee is disposing of surplus equipment through a public auction.

   Disposing of hazardous waste safely requires a special permit.

   Note

   The -ing form of a verb with two lives. With of, it means getting rid of something, as in disposing of surplus equipment. Without of, it means arranging, assigning or inclining. That of is the quickest way to tell the verb from the adjectives spelled the same way. A disposing mind or a disposing clause takes no of, while disposing of waste is always the verb at work.

2. 2
   adjective

   Tending to predispose or incline someone toward a particular feeling or course of action.

   The mentor's steady encouragement proved a disposing influence on the young writer's ambitions.

   Soft lighting and quiet music create disposing conditions for relaxation.

   Similarconducive, favorable, encouraging, formative

   Oppositediscouraging, unfavorable

   Note

   A word of causes and tendencies, at home in writing on medicine and the mind. Opium's indifference to life is called "the most disposing excitement to suicide," and autumn "the season most disposing to melancholy." It is usually graded with more or most and followed by to plus whatever is being encouraged. The pattern to reach for is most disposing to seizures, or more disposing to a modern outlook.

3. 3
   adjective

   Agreeable, and leaving one feeling kindly inclined toward a person or thing.

   Her disposing courtesy softened even the most reluctant negotiators.

   There was a disposing gentleness in the way he answered every question.

   Similardisarming, winning, engaging, endearing, agreeable

   Oppositeoff-putting, alienating, disagreeable, repellent

   Note

   Here the inclination is toward goodwill, and what does the inclining is a manner: a demeanor, a tone, a warm smile and intelligent blue eyes. Unlike the predisposing sense, it takes no to-phrase. It sits before its noun or after very or more, as in "a more disposing demeanor" or "very disposing." Use it for the impression a person or style makes, not for a cause and its effect.

4. 4
   adjective

   Involving the disposal or legal transfer of property from one party to another.

   The disposing clause transferred the estate to the named beneficiaries.

   Lawyers reviewed the disposing provisions carefully before the sale closed.

   Similardispositive

   Note

   In property law the word marks an instrument that actually passes an interest from one party to another. Courts ask whether an agreement has a "disposing effect." Emma Lees's The Principles of Land Law (2020) shows why the answer matters: a contract with that effect could be void if it was not made in writing. A person with a disposing power over funds has the authority to move them.

5. 5
   adjective

   Capable of setting out a complete and reasonable distribution of one's estate.

   The judge ruled that the testator had a sound and disposing mind at the time of signing.

   Doubts about her disposing capacity led the family to challenge the will.

   Similartestamentary

   Note

   Wills and probate are this word's home, and it rarely appears without its noun: a sound and disposing mind, a disposing memory. Lord Coke, in the Marquis of Winchester's case, set the bar. A testator must do more than answer familiar questions; he must hold the whole estate in view. Older law separated a disposing mind from a disposing power. A married woman under coverture had the first without the second.

6. 6
   noununcountable

   The act by which things are arranged or set out in a particular order.

   The general's disposing of the troops along the ridge proved decisive.

   A thoughtful disposing of the exhibits guided visitors smoothly through the gallery.

   Similararrangement, deployment, placement, positioning, ordering

Showing meanings only. Show all 6