scattered 1 of 2

scattered

2 of 2

verb

past tense of scatter
1
2
as in sprayed
to cover by or as if by scattering something over or on the hillside was scattered with boulders deposited by the last ice age

Synonyms & Similar Words

3
as in dissipated
to go off in different directions and cease to exist as a body or unified whole these drunken revelers will quickly scatter when the police arrive

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of scattered
Adjective
That rainfall was predicted to arrive in the form of light, scattered showers. — Austin Turner, CBS News, 11 Oct. 2026 Security is thin and scattered downtown, and that morning was no different. — Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 15 Sep. 2026 The scattered pieces of the former storm will likely drift over the Caribbean and soak Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Hispaniola with a few inches of rain, some of which will reach Florida. — Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 31 Aug. 2026 The right words can turn scattered details into a workable plan. — Tarot.com, The Orlando Sentinel, 27 Aug. 2026 While scattered thunderstorms may provide temporary improvement in localized areas, smoke conditions are expected to remain variable over Lake Huron as winds shift. — Natalie Davies, Freep.com, 17 July 2026 The right conversation could turn scattered effort into a working plan. — Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 5 July 2026 If your data is messy, scattered or stale, the AI output fails. — Sagi Eliyahu, Forbes.com, 26 June 2026 At Mariposa Market in Willits, grocery items, wine bottles and other merchandise tumbled from shelves, leaving aisles littered with broken glass and scattered products. — Sofia Williams, Sacbee.com, 24 June 2026
Verb
Her killer left evidence scattered at the scene of the crime and along a highway back to Chicago. — Natasha Holt, FOXNews.com, 17 Oct. 2026 This included the intersection of Stockton Boulevard and Fruitridge Road, where roughly 50 people were scattered holding signs. — Graham Womack, Sacbee.com, 17 Oct. 2026 From water bottles and shopping bags to tools, chargers, and emergency supplies, everyday items can quickly become scattered throughout your vehicle. — New Atlas, 16 Oct. 2026 Answers are scattered across systems that were never built to talk to each other. — Ryan Austin, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026 From that point on, this martial arts video game adaptation becomes disastrously scattered, between setups and payoffs at complete odds, confounding ADR, and a total lack of any actual conclusion. — Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 15 Oct. 2026 In a standard-sized, relatively flat yard, a few small swales, scattered around, can meaningfully slow down water. — Pedro Moura, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2026 During the response, a tree crushed the vehicle as responders scattered. — Erika Angulo, NBC news, 11 Oct. 2026 The designer remains, following cremation on September 17, were scattered at sea off the coast of San Diego County in California. — Greg Evans, Deadline, 10 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scattered
Adjective
  • Belting out random songs while delivering high-level physical comedy and acting takes skill.
    — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Furthermore, the whiskers are in front, preventing the drone from detecting sideways obstacles like random jagged branches in a forest.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 14 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • There are seven bedrooms and six full bathrooms dispersed throughout, with additional spaces including a billiards room with a bar, a cozy reading nook, and a sun porch with wraparound windows.
    — Tori Latham, Robb Report, 16 Oct. 2026
  • This jagged microscopic debris, easily dispersed by meteorite impacts and rocket exhaust, is corrosive, abrasive and adhesive.
    — Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 8 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Prosecutors say Campbell then sprayed Mobley with mace and stabbed him in the neck.
    — Asal Rezaei, CBS News, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The shared affinity was clear in the celebration, as Mesa sprayed Cash with alcohol, and Vilade and Erik Neander, the team’s president of baseball operations, embraced while Vilade was interviewed.
    — Nicolas Villamil, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Nearly half a million utility customers were without power after Isaias slowly pushed through the Southeast and dissipated into a post-tropical cyclone tonight.
    — Erika Angulo, NBC news, 11 Oct. 2026
  • The late-week threat is tied to a slow-moving front and remnant moisture from former Hurricane Polo, which dissipated over northwestern Mexico Tuesday night.
    — Newsroom Meteorologist, Houston Chronicle, 30 Sep. 2026
Adjective
  • The 2-1 decision rejected Anthropic's argument that the Department of Defense's ban on its Claude models was arbitrary, unauthorized and unconstitutional.
    — Lora Kolodny, CNBC, 13 Oct. 2026
  • But labor campaigners said in the statement that their wage demand wasn’t arbitrary.
    — Jasmin Malik Chua, Footwear News, 8 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • There’s Ellipse, a lineup of sculptural gold links sprinkled with diamond pavé; Modern Pavé, with its playful arrangements of diamonds; and SIX by Royal Asscher, an exclusive collection with the legendary Dutch diamond-cutting house.
    — Lilah Ramzi, Vogue, 15 Oct. 2026
  • The Fort Worth list indicates restaurants mostly downtown, the Shops at Clearfork and a few sprinkled in the Stockyards.
    — Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Lin was subsequently disappeared from the film, all sources concurred, and Belgrad stepped in as the primary Netflix exec overseeing the project (until, of course, he was laid off last week).
    — Matt Donnelly, Variety, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared in their Lockheed Electra 10-E while on a journey around the world.
    — Marlene Lenthang, NBC news, 19 Oct. 2026
Adjective
  • Moments after driving away, the occupants realized Valdes had been struck in the abdomen by a stray bullet.
    — Ana Maria Soler, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Staffonly’s designers Shimo Zhou and Une Yea made stray dogs the stars of their show, drawing a parallel with these animals considered difficult to adopt with the pressure people face to conform.
    — Tianwei Zhang, Footwear News, 16 Oct. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Scattered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scattered. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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