dispenser

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman dispensour, from Old French despenseor, from Latin dispensator. By surface analysis, dispense +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈspɛnsə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

dispenser (plural dispensers)

1. Something or someone that dispenses things.
   • 2014 October 30, Ben Brantley, “When the head leads the heart: 'The Real Thing,' With Ewan McGregor and Maggie Gyllenhaal, opens on Broadway [print version: When the witty head is far ahead of the heart: Maggie Gyllenhaal and Ewan McGregor star in revival of 'Real Thing', International New York Times, 4 November 2014, p. 9]”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     While we know – because the script tells us so – that the people we are watching are in love and in pain and in trouble, they never come across as more than dispensers of sparkling aperçus.

   1. An object used to dispense other items.

      a toilet-paper dispenser

   2. A person who makes up prescriptions, such as an optician or pharmacist.

Derived terms

• autodispenser
• cash dispenser
• coin dispenser
• microdispenser
• nanodispenser
• soap dispenser
• tape dispenser

Translations

object used to dispense other items

• Catalan: dispensador m
• Danish: dispenser c
• Finnish: jakelulaite, annostelija (fi)
• French: distributeur (fr) m, dévidoir (fr) m (for adhesive tape), dérouleur (fr) m
• German: Abroller m, Austeiler m, Spender (de) m, Verteiler (de) m
• Greek: διανεμητής (el) m (dianemitís)
• Hungarian: adagoló (hu)
• Irish: riarthóir m
• Italian: distributore (it) m, erogatore m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: dispenser m

  Nynorsk: dispenser m

• Polish: dozownik (pl) m
• Romanian: distribuitor (ro) m, dispensator (ro) m (rare)
• Russian: доза́тор (ru) m (dozátor), автома́т (ru) m (avtomát) (slot-machine)
• Sicilian: dispinzeri m
• Spanish: dispensador (es) m
• Swedish: utdelare c, fördelare c, dosa (sv) c

person who makes up prescriptions

• Danish: farmaceut (da) c

Anagrams

• derpiness

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dispēnsāre. Compare dépenser.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dis.pɑ̃.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

dispenser

1. (transitive) to excuse, exempt (de from)
2. (transitive, literary) to dispense, give out, radiate
3. (transitive) to distribute, dispense
4. (reflexive) to avoid, refrain (de from)

Conjugation

Conjugation of dispenser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	dispenser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	dispensant /dis.pɑ̃.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		dispensé /dis.pɑ̃.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	dispense /dis.pɑ̃s/	dispenses /dis.pɑ̃s/	dispense /dis.pɑ̃s/	dispensons /dis.pɑ̃.sɔ̃/	dispensez /dis.pɑ̃.se/	dispensent /dis.pɑ̃s/
	imperfect	dispensais /dis.pɑ̃.sɛ/	dispensais /dis.pɑ̃.sɛ/	dispensait /dis.pɑ̃.sɛ/	dispensions /dis.pɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	dispensiez /dis.pɑ̃.sje/	dispensaient /dis.pɑ̃.sɛ/
	past historic2	dispensai /dis.pɑ̃.se/	dispensas /dis.pɑ̃.sa/	dispensa /dis.pɑ̃.sa/	dispensâmes /dis.pɑ̃.sam/	dispensâtes /dis.pɑ̃.sat/	dispensèrent /dis.pɑ̃.sɛʁ/
	future	dispenserai /dis.pɑ̃.sʁe/	dispenseras /dis.pɑ̃.sʁa/	dispensera /dis.pɑ̃.sʁa/	dispenserons /dis.pɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/	dispenserez /dis.pɑ̃.sʁe/	dispenseront /dis.pɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	dispenserais /dis.pɑ̃.sʁɛ/	dispenserais /dis.pɑ̃.sʁɛ/	dispenserait /dis.pɑ̃.sʁɛ/	dispenserions /dis.pɑ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	dispenseriez /dis.pɑ̃.sə.ʁje/	dispenseraient /dis.pɑ̃.sʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	dispense /dis.pɑ̃s/	dispenses /dis.pɑ̃s/	dispense /dis.pɑ̃s/	dispensions /dis.pɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	dispensiez /dis.pɑ̃.sje/	dispensent /dis.pɑ̃s/
	imperfect2	dispensasse /dis.pɑ̃.sas/	dispensasses /dis.pɑ̃.sas/	dispensât /dis.pɑ̃.sa/	dispensassions /dis.pɑ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/	dispensassiez /dis.pɑ̃.sa.sje/	dispensassent /dis.pɑ̃.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	dispense /dis.pɑ̃s/	—	dispensons /dis.pɑ̃.sɔ̃/	dispensez /dis.pɑ̃.se/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Related terms

• dépenser
• dispensable
• dispensaire
• dispensateur
• dispensation
• dispensatoire
• dispense

Further reading

• “dispenser”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Indonesian

Etymology

From English dispenser, from Anglo-Norman dispensour, from Old French despenseor, from Latin dispensator.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [dɪsˈpɛnsər]
• Hyphenation: dis‧pèn‧sêr

Noun

dispènsêr (plural dispenser-dispenser)

1. dispenser
   1. (colloquial) water dispenser

Further reading

• “dispenser”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English dispenser.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /disˈpɛn.ser/
• Rhymes: -ɛnser
• Hyphenation: di‧spèn‧ser

Noun

dispenser m (invariable)

1. dispenser

   Synonyms: distributore, erogatore

Derived terms

• dispenser di sapone

Further reading

• “dispenser”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026

Latin

Verb

dispēnser

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of dispēnsō

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From English dispenser.

Noun

dispenser m (definite singular dispenseren, indefinite plural dispensere, definite plural dispenserne)

1. a dispenser (object used to dispense)

Related terms

• dispensere (verb)

References

• “dispenser” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “dispenser” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From English dispenser.

Noun

dispenser m (definite singular dispenseren, indefinite plural dispenserar, definite plural dispenserane)

1. a dispenser (object used to dispense)

Related terms

• dispensere (verb)

References

• “dispenser” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Swedish

Noun

dispenser

1. indefinite plural of dispens