■ verb dɪ'fju:z spread over a wide area.
↘ Physics intermingle with another substance by movement of particles.
■ adjective dɪ'fju:s
1》 spread out over a large area; not concentrated.
↘(of disease) not localized in the body.
2》 lacking clarity or conciseness.
Derivatives
~ly dɪ'fju:sli adverb
~ness dɪ'fju:snɪs noun
~r (also diffusor ) noun
diffusible adjective
Origin
ME: from L. diffus- , diffundere 'pour out'; the adjective is via Fr. diffus or L. diffusus 'extensive'.
Usage
The verbs ~ and defuse sound similar but have different meanings. Diffuse means ‘spread over a wide area’, while defuse means ‘reduce the danger or tension in’. Thus sentences such as Cooper successfully ~d the situation are wrong, while Cooper successfully defused the situation would be correct.