From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Scatter \Scat"ter\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Scattered}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Scattering}.] [OE. scateren. See {Shatter}.]
1. To strew about; to sprinkle around; to throw down loosely; to deposit or place here and there, esp. in an open or sparse order.
And some are scattered all the floor about. --Chaucer.
Why should my muse enlarge on Libyan swains, Their scattered cottages, and ample plains? --Dryden.
Teach the glad hours to scatter, as they fly, Soft quiet, gentle love, and endless joy. --Prior.
2. To cause to separate in different directions; to reduce from a close or compact to a loose or broken order; to dissipate; to disperse.
Scatter and disperse the giddy Goths. --Shak.
3. Hence, to frustrate, disappoint, and overthrow; as, to scatter hopes, plans, or the like.
Syn: To disperse; dissipate; spread; strew.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Scattering \Scat"ter*ing\, adjective Going or falling in various directions; not united or aggregated; divided among many; as, scattering votes.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Scattering \Scat"ter*ing\, noun Act of strewing about; something scattered. --South.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: spreading by diffusion [syn: {diffusing(a)}, {diffusive}, {dispersive}, {disseminative}, {disseminating}, {spreading}]
noun
1: the physical process in which particles are deflected haphazardly as a result of collisions
2: a small number dispersed haphazardly; "the first scatterings of green" [syn: {sprinkling}]
3: a light shower that falls in some locations and not others nearby [syn: {sprinkle}, {sprinkling}]
4: spreading widely or driving off [syn: {dispersion}]
5: the act of scattering [syn: {scatter}, {strewing}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
89 Moby Thesaurus words for "scattering": a few, aloofness, anarchy, attenuation, attenuative, bit, breakup, broadcast, broadcasting, chaos, circumfusion, confusion, crack-up, diffraction, diffractional, diffractive, diffusion, diffusive, dilution, discontinuity, discreteness, disintegration, disjunction, dislocation, disorder, dispensation, dispersal, dispersion, dispersive, disruption, dissemination, disseminative, dissipation, dissipative, dissolution, distribution, distributive, divergence, emanation, entropy, evaporation, exfoliation, expansion, few, fragmentation, handful, hint, incoherence, inconsistency, limited number, nonadhesion, noncohesion, only a few, peppering, piddling few, piddling number, propagation, publication, radiance, radiation, radius, ray, revolution, scaling, scatterment, separateness, shattering, shotgun pattern, small number, smatter, smattering, soupcon, sowing, spatter, spattering, splay, spoke, spread, spreading, sprinkling, strewing, suggestion, too few, trickle, trifle, unadherence, unadhesiveness, untenacity, volatilization
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