diffusion
noun
Simple meaning
Diffusing or dispersing something, or the property of being diffused or dispersed.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihfyoozhuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪfˈjuʒən
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.
noun
The act of diffusing or dispersing something, or the property of being diffused or dispersed; dispersion.
The act of dispersing or diffusing something
The spread of social institutions (and myths and skills) from one society to another
The spread of cultural or linguistic practices, or social institutions, in one or more communities.
marketing
The gradual spread and adoption of goods or services.
The movement of water vapor from regions of high concentration (high water vapor pressure) toward regions of lower concentration.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act of diffusing or dispersing something, or the property of being diffused or dispersed; dispersion.
Used this way, diffusion 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
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use diffusion
- “The diffusion of new ideas often takes time to reach everyone.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Vacuum pump used to obtain a high vacuum.
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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.