scattered; scattering; scatters
1
a
: to cause to separate widely
b
: to cause to vanish
2
archaic
: to fling away heedlessly : squander
3
: to distribute irregularly
4
: to sow by casting in all directions : strew
5
a
: to reflect irregularly and diffusely
b
: to cause (a beam of radiation) to diffuse or disperse
6
: to divide into ineffectual small portions
1
: to separate and go in various directions : disperse
2
: to occur or fall irregularly or at random
1
: the act of scattering
2
: a small quantity or number irregularly distributed or strewn about : scattering
3
: the state or extent of being scattered
especially
: dispersion
Synonyms
Examples of scatter in a Sentence
Verb
The wind scattered the pile of leaves.
The marbles scattered across the floor.
She scattered the books on the table.
He scatters his toys all around the house.
Noun
played before only a scatter of spectators in that huge stadium
Recent Examples on the Web
John Kelly, Washington Post, 23 Sep. 2023
Is sighting an omen of another playoff disaster? Sept. 21, 2023
Advertisement
Instead, the Giants’ hitters outlasted him, extending at-bats and scattering foul balls until Sheehan — who threw 34 pitches in the inning and 93 overall, his most since July — finally ran out of gas.
—Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 22 Sep. 2023
The other five farm sites scattered throughout the Boston area, including Astoria Quarter Acre Farm in Mattapan and Garrison-Trotter Farm in Roxbury, are small lots ranging from 12,000 to 14,000 square feet.
—Kajsa Kedefors, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Sep. 2023
During the peak years of the pandemic, Mustafa identified and collected witness statements against a trio of Syrian ISIS members who had been active in a remote village in the deserts of central Syria and were now scattered across Western Europe.
—Ben Taub, The New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2023
Clothes were scattered everywhere and dirty dishes and trash littered the floor.
—Jenisha Watts, The Atlantic, 13 Sep. 2023
And on a 4-by-5-foot square of AstroTurf, 17 true-to-scale ceramic butts by Taylor Lee Nicholson, 32, were scattered like the contents of an overturned ashtray.
—Alexa Brazilian Sharon Radisch, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2023
Corey Reid was supposed to walk down the aisle and scatter flower petals before his cousin’s grand entrance at her wedding this past Sunday.
—Caroline Silva, ajc, 13 Sep. 2023
While Miami’s rivals Florida State look primed to ascend to the top of the ACC the balance of power in that conference is scattered with Clemson taking a step back.
—Jonathan X. Simmons, cleveland, 9 Sep. 2023
Quinlan Bentley, The Enquirer, 25 Aug. 2023
His property is exactly the aesthetic the F & F production people are trying to fake, with a genuine scatter of cars and cycles, a school bus, an old Volvo, mysteriously torched.
—Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 5 Jan. 2023
When the water is stagnant and still, the bass scatter, suspend, and become hard to catch.
—Shaye Baker, Field & Stream, 18 Apr. 2023
And follows in the trail the scatter of light.
—Jason Lamphier, EW.com, 31 Oct. 2022
While there’s some scatter, the pattern of better results in late afternoon is very pronounced, with a lot of thick, dark, non-dashed lines.
—Alex Hutchinson, Outside Online, 19 Sep. 2021
There is, of course, plenty of scatter: the study applied to real-world runners in real-world marathons.
—Richard A. Lovett, Outside Online, 6 Oct. 2020
The surprising thing is that people seemed to underestimate African ancestry from apparent physical features (looking at the scatter of apparent to genomic ancestry).
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 12 Nov. 2012
Aerosols can both absorb and scatter radiation from the sun.
—Kasha Patel, Anchorage Daily News, 31 Jan. 2023
See More
Verb
During it, the seed canister burst, scattering the seeds inside the vacuum chamber.
—John Kelly, Washington Post, 23 Sep. 2023
Is sighting an omen of another playoff disaster? Sept. 21, 2023
Advertisement
Instead, the Giants’ hitters outlasted him, extending at-bats and scattering foul balls until Sheehan — who threw 34 pitches in the inning and 93 overall, his most since July — finally ran out of gas.
—Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 22 Sep. 2023
The other five farm sites scattered throughout the Boston area, including Astoria Quarter Acre Farm in Mattapan and Garrison-Trotter Farm in Roxbury, are small lots ranging from 12,000 to 14,000 square feet.
—Kajsa Kedefors, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Sep. 2023
During the peak years of the pandemic, Mustafa identified and collected witness statements against a trio of Syrian ISIS members who had been active in a remote village in the deserts of central Syria and were now scattered across Western Europe.
—Ben Taub, The New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2023
Clothes were scattered everywhere and dirty dishes and trash littered the floor.
—Jenisha Watts, The Atlantic, 13 Sep. 2023
And on a 4-by-5-foot square of AstroTurf, 17 true-to-scale ceramic butts by Taylor Lee Nicholson, 32, were scattered like the contents of an overturned ashtray.
—Alexa Brazilian Sharon Radisch, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2023
Corey Reid was supposed to walk down the aisle and scatter flower petals before his cousin’s grand entrance at her wedding this past Sunday.
—Caroline Silva, ajc, 13 Sep. 2023
While Miami’s rivals Florida State look primed to ascend to the top of the ACC the balance of power in that conference is scattered with Clemson taking a step back.
—Jonathan X. Simmons, cleveland, 9 Sep. 2023
Noun
Rapid-fire gunshots can be heard and people on the sidewalk scatter.
—Quinlan Bentley, The Enquirer, 25 Aug. 2023
His property is exactly the aesthetic the F & F production people are trying to fake, with a genuine scatter of cars and cycles, a school bus, an old Volvo, mysteriously torched.
—Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 5 Jan. 2023
When the water is stagnant and still, the bass scatter, suspend, and become hard to catch.
—Shaye Baker, Field & Stream, 18 Apr. 2023
And follows in the trail the scatter of light.
—Jason Lamphier, EW.com, 31 Oct. 2022
While there’s some scatter, the pattern of better results in late afternoon is very pronounced, with a lot of thick, dark, non-dashed lines.
—Alex Hutchinson, Outside Online, 19 Sep. 2021
There is, of course, plenty of scatter: the study applied to real-world runners in real-world marathons.
—Richard A. Lovett, Outside Online, 6 Oct. 2020
The surprising thing is that people seemed to underestimate African ancestry from apparent physical features (looking at the scatter of apparent to genomic ancestry).
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 12 Nov. 2012
Aerosols can both absorb and scatter radiation from the sun.
—Kasha Patel, Anchorage Daily News, 31 Jan. 2023
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'scatter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Verb
Middle English scateren, schateren to disperse, break up, destroy; akin to Middle Dutch schaderen to scatter
First Known Use
Verb
14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a
Noun
1642, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Time Traveler
The first known use of scatter was
in the 14th century
Phrases Containing scatter
Dictionary Entries Near scatter
Cite this Entry
“Scatter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scatter. Accessed 30 Sep. 2023.
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Kids Definition
scatter
verb
scat·ter
ˈskat-ər
1
: to cause to separate widely
wind scattered the dry leaves
2
: to place or leave here and there
scattered their toys all over the house
3
: to sow widely and without pattern
4
: to separate and go in different directions
the crowd scattered
5
: to occur or fall without pattern
lakes scattered everywhere in the hills
Medical Definition
scatter
1 of 2 transitive verb
scat·ter
ˈskat-ər 
: to cause (a beam of radiation) to diffuse or disperse
scatter
2 of 2 noun1
: the act of scattering
2
: the state or extent of being scattered
especially
: scattering
More from Merriam-Webster on scatter
Nglish: Translation of scatter for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of scatter for Arabic Speakers
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