Translation guide
The English verb 'disperse' covers several related ideas: scattering things or people, spreading something over an area, and fading away or disappearing. This guide organizes the most useful Japanese expressions by these core meanings.
The crowd dispersed.
The police dispersed the protesters.
The fog dispersed.
To cause a group of people or animals to separate and go in different directions, or to describe them doing so.
Intransitive verb meaning 'to scatter' or 'to be dispersed'. Used when people or things spread out on their own.
The crowd dispersed in all directions.
Transitive verb meaning 'to scatter' or 'to disperse'. Used when someone actively causes the scattering.
Means 'to break up' or 'to dissolve' a gathering, meeting, or organization. Often used for formal disbanding.
The meeting dispersed at 5 p.m.
Literary or formal term meaning 'to scatter in all directions'. Often used in written descriptions.
The enemy troops dispersed.
To spread something like light, smoke, seeds, or information over a wide area.
Technical and general term for diffusion or dispersion of particles, light, heat, or information.
The light dispersed in the fog.
Means 'to scatter' or 'to distribute' over an area, often used for seeds, chemicals, or flyers.
The farmer dispersed seeds over the field.
Intransitive verb for scattering or being strewn about, often used for light or small objects.
The light is dispersing on the water surface.
To gradually become less dense and vanish, like fog, smoke, or a gathering of people.
Common verb for clouds, fog, or doubt clearing up. Natural for weather-related dispersion.
The fog dispersed and we could see the mountains.
General verb for disappearing. Can be used for crowds, smoke, etc., but less specific than 'disperse'.
Formal term for scattering and being lost, often used for documents, heat, or gas.
Heat disperses into space.
散らばる (chirabaru) is intransitive: things scatter by themselves. 散らす (chirasu) is transitive: someone scatters things. Use the correct one based on whether there is an agent.
The papers were dispersed by the wind.
He scattered the papers.
拡散する (kakusan suru) is often technical. For everyday scattering of people or objects, 散らばる/散らす or 解散する are more natural.
The police dispersed the demonstrators.
The smoke dispersed into the sky.