Translation guide
The English word 'dissipation' has several distinct meanings. This guide covers the most common uses: wasteful spending or lifestyle, the process of energy or heat dispersing, and the gradual disappearance of something like fog or tension. It does not include obscure technical terms.
To describe the act of squandering money, resources, or living in a dissolute, pleasure-seeking way.
General term for waste, squandering, or dissipation of money, time, or resources. Often used in contexts like 'waste of money' or 'waste of time'.
He dissipated his fortune when he was young.
You should avoid dissipation of time.
Stronger term for squandering or dissipating a fortune, often implying reckless or complete waste. More literary or emphatic than 浪費.
He dissipated his inheritance.
Refers to a dissipated, debauched lifestyle, focusing on moral dissipation rather than just financial waste.
He ruined himself after a life of dissipation.
Means scattering money, i.e., spending wastefully or frittering away money. Less common than 浪費.
Stop your wasteful dissipation of money.
To describe the process by which energy, heat, or a force spreads out and becomes less concentrated, often in physics or engineering contexts.
General term for dissipation, dispersion, or scattering of energy, heat, fog, etc. Used in both technical and everyday contexts.
Often used for dissipation or diffusion of heat, light, or smell. Slightly more technical than 消散.
Means dissipation or dispersion, especially of energy or gases. Often used in physics or formal writing.
To describe how something like tension, fear, or a feeling slowly fades away or vanishes.
Also used for intangible things like tension or anxiety dissipating. See above for energy sense.
The tension dissipated.
Means to fade, become dim, or thin out. Commonly used for feelings, memories, or light dissipating.
To vanish completely, to disappear. Stronger than 薄れる, implying total dissipation.
English 'dissipation' in the sense of a dissolute lifestyle does not have a single direct equivalent. Using 消散 for this meaning would be incorrect. Use 浪費 or 放蕩生活 depending on whether you emphasize waste of money or moral decay.
消散 is the most general and can be used for both physical and intangible things. 放散 is more about active emission or diffusion, often used for heat or smell. 散逸 is technical and often used in physics for energy dissipation.
The fog dissipated.
熱を放散する装置。
A device that dissipates heat.
エネルギーが散逸する。
Energy dissipates.
恐怖心が薄れた。
The fear dissipated.
The anxiety quickly dissipated.