dispel

From Middle English dispelen, from Latin dispellere (“to disperse; to dispel”).

• Rhymes: -ɛl
• IPA^(key): [dɪsˈpɛɫ]

dispel (third-person singular simple present dispels, present participle dispelling, simple past and past participle dispelled)

1. (transitive) To drive away or cause to vanish by scattering.
2. (transitive) To remove (fears, doubts, objections etc.) by proving them unjustified.
   • 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., OCLC 580270828, page 01:

     It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. […]. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.

• Common nouns collocating with "dispel": cloud, vapors, cares, doubts, illusions, objections.

dispel (plural dispels)

1. An act or instance of dispelling.
   • 2008, Caitlin Kittredge, Night Life

     “My dispel didn't work,” she said finally. “He wasn't a blood witch, Sunny,” I said.

• Spidle, diples, disple, lisped, pleids, spiled