Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between diffuse and defuse?
Many people find it difficult to remember the difference between defuse and diffuse, and when faced with the need for one of these words simply grab whichever one first comes to mind. Although these word sound quite similar, their meanings are rather distinct. Defuse means "to make less harmful, potent, or tense"; the word has another, helpfully literal, meaning, which is "to remove the fuse from." Diffuse means "not concentrated or localized"; it comes from the Latin word diffūsus ("spread over a wide area").
What is the difference between diffuse and infuse?
Diffuse is commonly found used as both adjective ("not concentrated or localized") and verb ("to pour out and permit or cause to spread freely," "to scatter"), while infuse is almost entirely restricted to use as a verb. While the meannings of diffuse are mainly concerned with outward movement, those of infuse are inward; the word has such meanings as "to steep in liquid (such as water) without boiling so as to extract the soluble constituents or principles," "to administer or inject by infusion," and "to cause to be permeated with something (such as a principle or quality) that alters usually for the better."
What does diffuse pain mean?
Diffuse pain is pain is pain that not concentrated or localized, being instead spread throughout a wider area of the body.
Synonyms
Examples of diffuse in a Sentence
Richard Vanderford, WSJ, 30 Mar. 2023
The researchers’ findings, published this week in the scientific journal Nature Genetics, associate lower alcohol tolerance with higher risk of diffuse stomach cancer, a rarer type of gastric cancer that affects more than one area of the stomach.
—Angela Yang, NBC News, 17 Mar. 2023
The red regions toward the top of this image are areas where dust clouds are relatively diffuse.
—Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2022
Dragonfly 44 and its ilk are known as ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs).
—Lyndie Chiou, Quanta Magazine, 7 Nov. 2022
First, there are two ultra-diffuse galaxies that appear to be satellite members of a massive group dominated by NGC 1052: DF2 and DF4.
—Ethan Siegel, Forbes, 22 June 2021
In Los Angeles County, the impacts of the pandemic have been relatively diffuse, with millions of residents suffering and grieving in isolation across a famously vast sprawl.
—Matthew Bloch, New York Times, 29 Jan. 2021
In large part, that’s because the CO2 in power plant emissions is relatively diffuse.
—Tim McDonnell, Quartz, 13 Aug. 2020
Kraftwerk’s studio albums have been sampled liberally (by Jay-Z, Afrika Bambaataa, Coldplay), but its influence feels even more diffuse and profound.
—Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 6 May 2020
Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Nov. 2023
For mattress pads, which are usually thinner and made of fabric, anything cotton or bamboo is a pretty safe bet for diffusing heat and staying breathable.
—Olivia Avitt, Peoplemag, 6 Oct. 2023
Blink is back together, the result of a harsh wake-up call that came after Hoppus was diagnosed with stage IV diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in 2021.
—Amy Kaufman, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2023
The venue contains a restaurant, a library and a showroom, and the company designed three scents that are diffused in different spaces.
—T.m. Brown, New York Times, 20 Oct. 2023
And so Reed’s influence as both a figurehead and a solo act diffused across generations—through Patti Smith, Television, Talking Heads, and the New York Dolls, on through to Sonic Youth and R.E.M. and the Cowboy Junkies, to, more recently, the Killers and (most self-consciously) the Strokes.
—Jeremy Lybarger, The New Republic, 17 Oct. 2023
The end result is a functional piece that makes a serious statement (a tea light candle warms the oil burner, and then diffuses the scent into the space).
—Christian Allaire, Vogue, 22 Aug. 2023
And, this spray doesn’t have that unpleasant odor many other bug repellents do but instead diffuses a citrus-vanilla scent.
—Jenna Clark, Southern Living, 20 Oct. 2023
This 1952 theory predicted that recognizable patterns in nature may appear spontaneously when chemicals within the objects or organisms diffuse and then react together.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 27 Sep. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'diffuse.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Adjective
Middle English, "dispersed, verbose (of speech or writing)," borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French diffus, borrowed from Latin diffūsus "spread over a wide area, (of writing) extensive, verbose," from past participle of diffundere "to pour out over a wide surface, spread, extend, squander" — more at diffuse entry 2
Verb
Middle English, in past participle diffusid, borrowed from Latin diffūsus, past participle of diffundere "to pour out over a wide surface, spread out, extend, squander," from dif-, assimilated form of dis- dis- + fundere "to pour, shed" — more at found entry 5
Adjective
1612, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb
15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a
Phrases Containing diffuse
Articles Related to diffuse
Dictionary Entries Near diffuse
Cite this Entry
“Diffuse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diffuse. Accessed 30 Nov. 2023.
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Kids Definition
diffuse
2 of 2 verb
Medical Definition
diffuse
1 of 2 adjective
More from Merriam-Webster on diffuse
Nglish: Translation of diffuse for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of diffuse for Arabic Speakers
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