scatter

Formsscatters, scattering, scattered

Pluralscatters

1. 1
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To separate and move off in different directions, or to cause something to do so.

   When the alarm sounded, the workers scattered across the parking lot.

   A single gust can scatter dry leaves across the whole yard.

   Similardisperse, spread, separate, dissipate

   Oppositegather, assemble, collect, congregate

   Note

   The oldest picture behind the word is breaking apart. Middle English scateren, probably from a Norse dialect, had a variant schateren that gave English shatter, and both may go back to a root meaning "to cut, split." The verb works in both directions without changing form: a crowd scatters, or something scatters the crowd, as in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus: "Scatter and disperse the giddy Goths."

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To distribute something loosely over an area, as if by sprinkling it.

   He scattered breadcrumbs along the trail to mark the way.

   Farmers scatter fertilizer evenly across the fields each spring.

   Similarsprinkle, strew, spread, sow, broadcast

   Oppositegather, collect

   Note

   Where the dispersing sense is about things moving apart, here someone does the spreading, and the material stays where it lands: ashes scattered at the top of a waterfall, seed across a field. The past participle easily turns adjective. Dryden's Virgil of 1697 speaks of "scattered cottages," where nothing was ever thrown and the word simply means set far apart.

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To occur or fall at widely spaced intervals across an area or stretch of time.

   Lonely farmhouses scatter across the open prairie.

   Power outages scattered through the week, never lasting long.

   Similarstraggle, spread, sprawl

   Oppositecluster

4. 4
   nounusually singular

   The action of separating and dispersing in different directions.

   The dancers' sudden scatter left the stage empty within seconds.

   Biologists studied the scatter of the herd when predators approached.

   Similardispersal, dispersion, flight

   Oppositegathering, convergence

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A loosely spread set of objects distributed across an area.

   A scatter of papers covered the entire desk.

   From the hill we could see a scatter of small islands across the bay.

   Similarsprinkling, smattering, spread, litter, clutter

   Oppositecluster, concentration

   Note

   A noun that does much of its work in scholarly prose, usually in the frame a scatter of plus a plural. David W. Anthony's The Horse, the Wheel, and Language (2007) describes "a broad scatter of kurgan graves"; sea-level researchers plot a scatter of data points. The word suggests things found here and there, forming a spread rather than an arrangement.

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To deflect radiation or particles so that they travel off in various directions.

   Air molecules scatter blue light more strongly than red, which is why the sky looks blue.

   The metal foil scattered the incoming beam of electrons.

   Similardiffuse, deflect, disperse

   Oppositefocus

   Note

   A physicist's word for what happens when radiation or particles meet matter and leave their original paths at a range of angles. The thing doing the deflecting is usually the subject (dust scatters sunlight), or it follows by in the passive (the beam was scattered by the foil). In technical writing the -ing form, scattering, commonly names the whole process.

7. 7
   verbslangUSintransitive

   To leave a place, especially quickly.

   We'd better scatter before the manager notices us.

   They scattered the moment they heard sirens.

   Similarscram, split, scoot, skedaddle, leave

   Note

   Here the dispersing idea shrinks to a single person or a small group simply getting out: "When the police showed up, I scattered." It belongs to casual American speech and implies a hasty, unceremonious exit, often from trouble. It is not a word for leaving a meeting, a job or a dinner party politely.

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To lie dispersed across a surface, dotting it at intervals.

   Countless stars scatter the night sky.

   Fallen petals scattered the garden path.

   Similardot, stud, strew, litter, pepper

   Note

   An inversion worth noticing: the scattered things become the subject, and the surface they dot becomes the object. Desiccated stalks scatter the fields, and trash scatters the countryside in J. D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy (2016). Compare the intransitive "spaced out" sense, which needs a preposition: farmhouses scatter across the prairie, but farmhouses scatter the prairie. Nothing moves here. The verb describes a settled state.

9. 9
   verbtransitive

   Of a pitcher, to allow hits or walks but keep them spread out so they rarely lead to runs.

   She scattered seven hits across the complete game without allowing a run.

   A good starter can scatter base runners and escape every inning unscathed.

   Note

   Box-score language that turns a pitcher's concessions into praise. The object is the hits or walks themselves, usually with a number attached (scattered six hits, scattered three walks over seven innings). It tells the reader that the opposing team reached base but could never bunch those runners together into real damage.

10. 10
    verbtransitive

    To frustrate and overthrow someone's plans, hopes, or massed forces.

    The general's bold attack scattered the enemy's defenses completely.

    A single setback should not scatter your ambitions.

    Similarrout, shatter, dash, break, thwart

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