as in distributes
to give out (something) to appropriate individuals
a conscientious pharmacist never dispenses pills to people without assurances that they understand the instructions
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Recent Examples of dispenses
First seen at a night-club table of menacing lowlifes, Ida, whose mother tongue is Brooklynese, suddenly switches to a heavy British accent and dispenses a torrent of highly literary sarcasms.
—
Richard Brody, New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2026
Of course, the real issue isn’t advice itself, but rather the wisdom of whomever dispenses it—and finding them in the first place is harder to admitting someone else’s opinion just may be savvier than your own.
—Mark Ellwood, Robb Report, 3 Mar. 2026
By the coffee station is a faucet that immediately dispenses either ice-cold or boiling water—a feature all hotels should adopt immediately.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Feb. 2026
That unit dispenses prescriptions in CVS’ more than 9,000 retail pharmacies and provides other services, such as vaccinations and diagnostic testing.
—Annika Kim Constantino, CNBC, 10 Feb. 2026
Congress has repeatedly waded into establishing an overarching federal law that would encompass AI that dispenses mental health advice.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 30 Jan. 2026
In autonomous tests, the robot unscrews bottle caps, extracts individual pills from organizers despite occlusion, dispenses precise syringe volumes under variable resistance, and selects small metal parts from cluttered containers.
—Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 28 Jan. 2026
The company previously brought us a slide-out tool that dispenses keys and other items with the flick of a thumb, and a modular multitool that allows users to pick and choose which tools to include.
—New Atlas, 27 Jan. 2026
DaCosta dispenses with irony; instead, there’s a Manson Family-meets-Village of the Damned vibe to these feral kids, notably in a chilling, Straw Dogs-style siege on a remote farmhouse.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 13 Jan. 2026
Richard Brody, New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2026
Of course, the real issue isn’t advice itself, but rather the wisdom of whomever dispenses it—and finding them in the first place is harder to admitting someone else’s opinion just may be savvier than your own.
—Mark Ellwood, Robb Report, 3 Mar. 2026
By the coffee station is a faucet that immediately dispenses either ice-cold or boiling water—a feature all hotels should adopt immediately.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Feb. 2026
That unit dispenses prescriptions in CVS’ more than 9,000 retail pharmacies and provides other services, such as vaccinations and diagnostic testing.
—Annika Kim Constantino, CNBC, 10 Feb. 2026
Congress has repeatedly waded into establishing an overarching federal law that would encompass AI that dispenses mental health advice.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 30 Jan. 2026
In autonomous tests, the robot unscrews bottle caps, extracts individual pills from organizers despite occlusion, dispenses precise syringe volumes under variable resistance, and selects small metal parts from cluttered containers.
—Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 28 Jan. 2026
The company previously brought us a slide-out tool that dispenses keys and other items with the flick of a thumb, and a modular multitool that allows users to pick and choose which tools to include.
—New Atlas, 27 Jan. 2026
DaCosta dispenses with irony; instead, there’s a Manson Family-meets-Village of the Damned vibe to these feral kids, notably in a chilling, Straw Dogs-style siege on a remote farmhouse.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 13 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dispenses
Verb
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Putting healthcare at the top of his affordability list, Coghill, 46, runs a business which imports and distributes timber products.—
Steve Sadin,
Chicago Tribune,
11 Mar. 2026
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Some of the bikes are used in Metro’s Adopt A Bike Grant Program, which distributes them to those in need.—
Karen Garcia,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Or, this versatile, lightweight neck pillow from Trtl is much less bulky than your average option but still provides support by keeping your neck upright while padding it.—
Kristin Braswell,
Travel + Leisure,
8 Mar. 2026
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Bluehost provides a more streamlined, beginner-friendly experience owing to its Wondersuite website creation tools.—
Gabriel Zamora,
PC Magazine,
8 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Christian schools and the students who attend them are, by far, the biggest beneficiaries, according to data from Step up for Students, a non-profit organization that administers most of the program.—
Annie Martin,
The Orlando Sentinel,
4 Mar. 2026
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Connecticut administers some of the most expansive public benefit programs in the country.—
Timothy M. Herbst,
Hartford Courant,
2 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Congress is meant to approve an annual authorization bill to set NASA’s priorities and an appropriations bill that allocates money, but the former is often neglected; the most recent finalized NASA authorization bill dates to 2022.—
Meghan Bartels,
Scientific American,
6 Mar. 2026
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While this program allocates $50 billion to rural health over five years, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which created the program, will result in $58 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade.—
Daniel Torrent,
STAT,
25 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Dispenses.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dispenses. Accessed 12 Mar. 2026.
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