dissipating 1 of 3

adjective

as in wasting

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dissipating

2 of 3

noun

as in squandering

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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

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

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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

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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
After dissipating, some of the storm’s remnant moisture then traveled into parts of New Mexico and West Texas, bringing heavy rainfall to the region. — Newsroom Meteorologist, San Antonio Express-News, 30 Sep. 2026 Rinsing also cools down the seed, dissipating heat that builds up from the sprouting seeds. — Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 14 Sep. 2026 Dull spells and lulls will crop up, building like waves, peaking, crashing, then dissipating. — Carlos Valladares, ARTnews.com, 11 Sep. 2026 As a result, each shell collapses sequentially, gradually absorbing and dissipating the kinetic energy. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 9 Sep. 2026 Others are content simply to provoke a few smiles, before dissipating like smoke with the very next breeze. — Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2026 The Cage felt like a useful spot to work out any resentments lingering in your psyche, all the old grievances dissipating with the clang of aluminum on cowhide. — Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026 With time dissipating memories of Lahti’s final days, there are few living people left to put into context the rumors of the bar fight, and even a less likely chance that the assailant is still alive. — Taylor Romine, CNN Money, 31 Aug. 2026 Parton was the standard-bearer of a dissipating breed of superstar. — Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 26 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissipating
  1. wasteful
  2. squandering
  3. dispersing
  4. spending
  5. dissolving
  6. profligate
  7. losing
  8. disappearing
Adjective
  • Supporters say the measure aims to cut wasteful government spending by requiring audits for new state special taxes.
    — Queenie Wong, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Congressional Republicans got rid of the EV tax credit last year after long arguing that markets, not the government, should influence what Americans drive, and dubbed the tax credit wasteful spending.
    — Willa Rubin, NPR, 30 Sep. 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
  • Other finds suggested that rather than dispersing, at least some of the town’s citizenry moved to Lauriacum along with the military.
    — Anne Doran, ARTnews.com, 29 Sep. 2026
  • Last year, Vought mandated that the NIH fund grants in their entirety up front, rather than dispersing funds on a yearly basis.
    — STAT, STAT, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of dispersing
Verb
  • In the employer market, more recent data suggest the volumes of prescriptions — which are proprietary — are driving up spending more than prices, although prices are still a factor.
    — Bob Herman, STAT, 5 Oct. 2026
  • Born and raised in Flushing, Queens, to a Chinese family, Liu developed an early interest in beauty, recalling spending hours painting her nails after school.
    — Ryma Chikhoune, Footwear News, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of spending
Verb
  • Its technology mechanically processes raw materials, such as wood pulp, into textile fibers without dissolving them.
    — Alexandra Harrell, Footwear News, 2 Oct. 2026
  • The practical effect is that the traditional boundaries between our roles are dissolving.
    — Abhishek Yadav, Forbes.com, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of dissolving
Adjective
  • Bournemouth were profligate, despite scoring through Marcus Tavernier and forcing a Malick Thiaw own goal, with multiple first-half chances wasted.
    — Chris Waugh, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
  • 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
Definition of profligate
Verb
  • Nearly all of the survey’s respondents — 96% — said losing the supplement would be a serious financial blow.
    — Max Klaver, Miami Herald, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Jack Wolf Westwood Lincoln Riley talks a big game about excelling in the Big Ten, but in losing badly to Oregon and its backup quarterback, USC probably couldn’t win the Pac-12 this year.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of losing
Verb
  • Worried about your package disappearing from your porch this holiday season?
    — Savannah Sicurella, AJC.com, 7 Oct. 2026
  • But Week 4 brought an especially jarring wave, with stars and indispensable starters disappearing from game after game, giving teams an early lesson in contingency planning.
    — Rick Maese, Washington Post, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of disappearing

Browse Nearby Words

dissipates
dissipating
dissipation
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Cite this Entry

“Dissipating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissipating. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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