scatter
/ˈskætɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.39 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse.
Example Sentences
- "The crowd scattered in terror."
- "Scatter and disperse the giddy Goths."
- "Her ashes were scattered at the top of a waterfall."
- "Why should my muse enlarge on Libyan swains, / Their scattered cottages, and ample plains?"
- "Chasca's ring is unique. It appears to be, for lack of a better term, a massive piece of alien "installation art." The rings are made of small pieces of synthetic material, and are almost invisible from space. From the ground, they catch and scatter the light of Matano in picturesque ways. It is not known who created the ring or when."
- "to scatter hopes or plans"
Etymology
From Middle English scateren, skateren, also schateren, * probably a variant of shatter, which is imitative; * or from Old English *sceaterian, probably akin to a dialect of Old Norse, possibly ultimately related to Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, split, shatter”). Compare Middle Dutch scheteren (“to scatter”), Low German schateren, Dutch schateren (“to burst out laughing”); and is apparently remotely akin to Ancient Greek σκεδάννυμι (skedánnumi, “scatter, disperse”). and Tocharian B kät- (“to scatter, sow seeds”). Doublet of shatter.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: scateren, *sceaterian, -, *skey-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈskætɚ/
- British English: /ˈskætə/