Definition of "dispersive" [dis•pers•ive]

• Tending to become dispersed. (adjective)
• Tending to produce dispersion. (adjective)

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.

• "Now let a prism be placed in the path of such rays of different wave length from a single molecule, and what is called the dispersive action of the prism will separate the rays in the order of their wave lengths, the longer waves being less refracted than the shorter ones; but the energy of any one of these will depend upon the _amplitude of undulation_, which in turn will depend upon the amplitude of vibration of the part of the molecule that originated it, but in general the longer waves have greater amplitude, though not necessarily so."
• "Buddhism, however, on the 'dispersive' view of the evolution of religion, is not the only radiation from the common centre, of which we have to take account, in addition to fetishism, polytheism, and monotheism."
• "It seems equally capable of being fitted in to the 'dispersive' theory, and of being regarded as an emanation or radiation proceeding direct from the human heart."