These words mean to separate and distribute widely. Scatter is the most general word of this group, and simply indicates the act of driving away or throwing about in different directions.

• The wind scatters seed everywhere; With one bound the cat scattered the flock of pigeons.

Broadcast and disseminate both suggest the scattering of seed, but disseminate is now used exclusively in figurative senses, whereas broadcast retains its literal meaning of sowing by scattering : to broadcast seed. In a related sense broadcast and disseminate both mean to make public or publish: to broadcast gossip; to disseminate the Gospel. Disseminate is broader in scope than broadcast and implies a wider audience and usually a longer duration: a lifetime disseminating knowledge and spiritual guidance to those in need of it. Broadcast , on the other hand, may indicate only a single occurrence of making something public; in the sense here considered it has a decidedly formal tone and sounds more appropriate in old-fashioned contexts than in contemporary ones: It was indelicate of the man to broadcast the intelligence that his wife was cuckolding him. Today broadcast has become more widely used to refer to the transmission of sounds by radio or television: a radio station that broadcasts news every hour on the hour; to broadcast a prize fight. Although broadcast is used of television as well as radio, "telecast," formed on analogy with broadcast and the more common "televise" seem in time likely to replace it in such context.

Diffuse emphasizes the relationship between the area covered and the relative density of the material spread out over it: the greater the area, the lower the density of the material.

• The cloud cover diffused the light of the sun; The diffused light of the candles on every table lent a pleasant, intimate air to the restaurant.

Whereas diffused often indicates a graduated lessening of intensity over a broad area, disperse suggests a wide and sometimes forcible scattering of elements or individual things: The mounted police quickly dispersed the unruly crowd. Disperse is often used figuratively: to disperse doubts and fears and instil confidence.