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   dif·fuse

   verb

   • 1. spread or cause to spread over a wide area or among a large number of people: "technologies diffuse rapidly"
   • ▪ become or cause (a fluid, gas, individual atom, etc.) to become intermingled with a substance by movement, typically in a specified direction or at specified speed: "oxygen molecules diffuse across the membrane"
   • ▪ cause (light) to glow faintly by dispersing it in many directions.

   adjective

   • 1. spread out over a large area; not concentrated: "the diffuse community centered on the church" Similar spread outdiffusedscattereddispersednot concentratedOpposite concentrated
   • ▪ (of disease) not localized in the body: "diffuse hyperplasia"
   • ▪ lacking clarity or conciseness: "the second argument is more diffuse" Similar verbosewordyprolixlong-windedoverlonglong-drawn-outprotracteddiscursiveramblingwanderingmeanderingmaunderingdigressivecircuitousroundaboutcircumlocutoryperiphrasticloosevagueinformal:windygassywafflingrare:pleonasticcircumlocutionaryambagiouslogorrheicOpposite succinct

   Word Origin late Middle English: from Latin diffus- ‘poured out’, from the verb diffundere, from dis- ‘away’ + fundere ‘pour’; the adjective via French diffus or Latin diffusus ‘extensive’, from diffundere.

   Derivatives

   • 1. diffusely adverb
   • 2. diffuseness noun

   Scrabble Points: 14

   • D

     2

   • I

     1

   • F

     4

   • F

     4

   • U

     1

   • S

     1

   • E

     1

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