diffuse
verb · adjective
Simple meaning
To spread over or through.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihfyoosSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪfˈjus
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To spread (something) over or through as in air, water, or other matter, especially by fluid motion or passive means.
Spread or diffuse through
adjective
Everywhere or throughout everything; not focused or concentrated.
Wordy; verbose.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To spread (something) over or through as in air, water, or other matter, especially by fluid motion or passive means.
Used this way, diffuse is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Spread
Transmitted
Other combinations
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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Spread or diffuse through.
To deliver or pass out.
To spread or disseminate.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Baffle that distributes sound waves evenly.
Transmitted from a broad light source or reflected.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A transparent filter that reduces the light (or some wavelengths of the light) passing through it.
A cluster of stars within an intricate cloud of gas and dust.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.