Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "diffuse" []

  • To pour out and cause to spread freely. (verb-transitive)
  • To spread about or scatter; disseminate. (verb-transitive)
  • To make less brilliant; soften. (verb-transitive)
  • To become widely dispersed; spread out. (verb-intransitive)
  • Physics To undergo diffusion. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "diffuse" in a sentence
  • "This crisis has arisen, the Prof says, because intensive cultivation has given rise to an upward trend in "diffuse" pollution from nitrates and phosphates which is proving difficult to reverse."
  • "The object is felt to say something succinctly and forcibly that the inner vision reports vaguely, in diffuse feeling rather than organically."
  • "DESCRIPTION: Also called St. Anthony's Fire, erysipelas is characterized by diffuse inflammation of the skin, or of the subcutaneous cellular tissue, usually with accompanying fever."