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dissipation

noun

Simple meaning

A dissolute course of life, in which health, money, etc., are squandered in pursuit of pleasure.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dihsihpayshuhn

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

dɪsɪˈpeɪʃən

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A dissolute course of life, in which health, money, etc., are squandered in pursuit of pleasure; profuseness in immoral indulgence, as late hours, riotous living, etc.; dissoluteness.

  2. physics

    A loss of energy, usually as heat, from a dynamic system.

  3. A trifle which wastes time or distracts attention.

  4. The act of dissipating or dispersing; a state of dispersion or separation; dispersion; waste.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A dissolute course of life, in which health, money, etc., are squandered in pursuit of pleasure; profuseness in immoral indulgence, as late hours, riotous living, etc.; dissoluteness.

Used this way, dissipation is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It suits reflective writing more than quick conversation.

Emotional tone
Positive
Formality
Slightly formal
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Rich and abundant
Usage feel
Reflective and slightly elevated

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.

Trifle

dissipation rate

Loss

heat dissipationenergy dissipation

Other combinations

dissipation factorpower dissipationdissipation functionplate dissipation

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Word Family

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Compound terms

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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.