Dispell

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To drive away or cause to vanish; to eliminate doubts, fears, or misconceptions; to remove or clear out something unwanted or harmful
2. To force out or scatter; to dispel negative emotions or superstitions; to remove or expel something from a place or mind
3. To make disappear or banish; to rid of misunderstandings, worries, or illusions; to clear away something undesirable or obstructive

Etymology: "Dispell" is an obsolete spelling of "dispel", and the modern form is the one that stuck. The verb came into Middle English as "dispelen", borrowed from Latin "dispellere", meaning "to disperse" or "to drive apart". The Latin word is built from "dis-", "apart" or "in different directions", and "pellere", "to drive or push", the same root that gives English "propel" and "expel". So at its core the word describes scattering things by force, like a wind breaking up a cloud. The sense of banishing abstract things such as doubts, fears, or illusions grew out of that physical image. Once something could be driven apart, it was natural to say a worry or a mistaken belief could be driven off in the same way. The spelling "dispell" lingered for a time before "dispel" became standard, and only the single-l form survives today.

Synonyms: dispel, scatter, disperse, banish

Antonyms: gather, assemble, collect