Definition of dispense in English:

dispense

Pronunciation /dəˈspens/ /dəˈspɛns/

verb

1with object Distribute or provide (a service or information) to a number of people.
‘he dispensed a gentle pat on Claude's back’
- ‘It's their job to dispense information effectively and accurately.’
- ‘So they use the public sector not to provide services but to dispense patronage; they use trade protection to distribute favours.’
- ‘Another thing, the purpose of this column is not to dispense medical information.’
- ‘As they dispensed care and advice to them, they realized a much larger audience could benefit from their advice if they put it in writing.’
- ‘University programs reported increased interest from potential candidates, providing an opportunity to dispense program information widely.’
- ‘The 5 p.m. embargo gives the Pentagon plenty of time to dispense the information to Capitol Hill and other agencies.’
- ‘We look to the media to dispense information to help us make our choices.’
- ‘Mrs Canas said there was no one organisation to take responsibility for dispensing information and professionals assumed people already knew things.’
- ‘One of the biggest problems during that disaster was getting and dispensing accurate information, especially in Topanga's isolated canyon enclaves.’
- ‘So all you guys out there listen up, I am going to dispense this information to you all, free of charge.’
- ‘Partly, I suspect, this is because many health campaigners dispense factual information devoid of social context.’
- ‘Being educated to study the human body and being able to dispense care and get paid for it is a privilege, and the best doctors realize this.’
- ‘And the doctor must be familiar with the issues that are important to young people and know how to draw out information and dispense advice without sounding preachy.’
- ‘There is no central nursing station for gathering or dispensing information.’
- ‘As we walk past snake after snake, Myers dispenses facts.’
- ‘It also dispensed pastoral care to the white settlers.’
- ‘The gravel-voiced bar-owner Phil dispenses drink and advice in about equal measure and is like a father figure to her.’
- ‘Yet, she dispenses advice about marriage and childraising with no second thoughts.’
- ‘A mine of information, Johnston also dispenses the type of wisdom not necessarily included in the book.’
distribute, pass round, pass out, hand out, deal out, dole out, share out, divide out, parcel out, allocate, allot, apportion, assign, bestow, confer, supply, disburse
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1. 1.1(of a machine) supply (a product or cash)
  ‘the machines dispense a range of drinks and snacks’
  ‘Based on iris recognition technology, the machines will dispense cash, cinema tickets and postage stamps, and the company intends offering further applications including on-line shopping and bill payment.’
  ‘The screen of the cash dispenser displays the ironic message, ‘We apologise for the inconvenience, but this machine does not dispense cash at the moment.’’
  ‘Banks estimate that only 85% of ATM machines will be dispensing cash by the end of January 1.’
  ‘The automated teller machine that dispenses cash and other banking transactions has become ubiquitous in many parts of the world.’
  ‘Ask about the availability of cash dispensing machines in the area you are visiting.’
  ‘Newry will be the first town in Northern Ireland to have a bank machine dispensing the new Euro banknotes when the currency comes into circulation in January 2002.’
  ‘Customers buy credit on a smartcard, which they swipe when they want to try a wine, and the machine dispenses it.’
  ‘An antiquated water fountain and a battered Coke machine dispensed beverages on hot days.’
  ‘This machine can only dispense a maximum of £400.00.’
  ‘Up to 200 of the country's 2,250 ‘hole in the wall’ cash dispensing machines have run out of cash.’
  ‘Look for ATM-like machines dispensing DVDs to pop up across the U.S. this year.’
  ‘A pharmacist at a remote 24-hour location will pop up on a screen and consult with the patient before a machine dispenses the drugs.’
  ‘She contained a smile and walked over to the food dispensing machine.’
  ‘There's a coin-operated machine that dispenses holy water, a battery, and a steam engine.’
  ‘Well, I've still never seen any on the Tube myself but on Saturday I saw my first ever umbrella dispensing machine at Windsor Central station.’
  ‘He suggested a ticket dispensing machine at the car park.’
  ‘After my money was dispensed from the machine, I grabbed the receipt and started walking off, when I noticed that the ATM had spat out a second piece of paper.’
  ‘They enquired where was the machine that dispensed the parking discs.’
  ‘Water and soap were dispensed from a machine incorporating a sink and resembling a coffee dispenser, which also had a hot air dryer.’
  ‘To suit varying demands, some machines have facilities to dispense a half-cup for customers who prefer to linger over a tea for a long time.’
  prepare, make up, mix
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2. 1.2(of a pharmacist) make up and give out (medicine) according to a doctor's prescription.
  ‘he was stopped from dispensing prescriptions’
  ‘There is still the image that chemists simply dispense medicine after a visit to the doctor.’
  ‘Saudi chemists dispense medicine only in packets.’
  ‘But there are also huge savings available from legitimate Canadian pharmacies dispensing quality medicines.’
  ‘These all depended on hand cutting and rolling of the pills, usually done by the druggist who dispensed the medicine.’
  ‘When the pharmacist dispenses your medicine, you have another opportunity to clarify information or to ask other questions.’
  ‘The Act also prevents doctors from dispensing medicines without a new, costly and scarce licence which is supposed to be restricted to those who are more than five kilometres from a pharmacy.’
  ‘There are also a large number of mobile dispensaries and clinics where doctors are busy dispensing medicines to pilgrims.’
  ‘The figures exclude prescriptions that were dispensed by hospital pharmacies and medicines purchased over the counter.’
  ‘Doctors without licences would have to stop dispensing medicine from today, or run foul of the law.’
  ‘My primary role is as a pharmacist dispensing prescriptions and selling medicines with advice and counselling but I am the manager of the staff that work here and do everything that's involved in running a business.’
  ‘Electronic prescribing is common in America, with some internet chemists dispensing thousands of medicines an hour.’
  ‘This is different from our traditional role of training students to dispense medicines.’
  ‘Megan started work in the pharmacy, dispensing medicine and travelling with the mobile medical team as they visited outlying villages.’
  ‘Will it be considered a pharmaceutical product that requires a prescription and will be dispensed by a pharmacy or will it be available directly to physicians via the laboratory?’
  ‘Such medicines may only be dispensed under a prescription, made usually only by a medical practitioner or dentist.’
  ‘It has been alleged though that the decision to restrict private nurses from dispensing medicine came from private doctors who thought that many patients are flocking to the private clinics.’
  ‘Already, four states allow doctors to give pharmacists standing prescriptions to dispense the pills.’
  ‘Relaxation of rules governing the opening of pharmacies could see supermarkets become a major force in dispensing medicines.’
  ‘Often the doctor (almost always a man) would dispense the necessary medicine himself!’
  ‘An angry pharmacist says Government moves to allow supermarket chains to provide dispensing services may destroy the community.’
2dispense withno object Manage without or get rid of.
‘let's dispense with the formalities, shall we?’
- ‘When Alf came to manage England, he dispensed with the winger altogether and built his wingless wonders.’
- ‘I am now recovering well and have managed to dispense with my crutches.’
- ‘For fans, the big clear-out is always an emotional attic - much-loved souvenirs and total junk are dispensed with simultaneously.’
- ‘At his best, Reynolds manages simultaneously to acclaim and to dispense with the trappings of fame.’
- ‘It had also cut costs by dispensing with its management board and centralising some technology functions.’
- ‘So too is dispensing with managers that are no longer achieving results.’
- ‘I have no problems with men who have poured millions of pounds into football clubs deciding to dispense with the manager on a whim.’
- ‘Turnpikes put lengthy stretches of road under unified management, thereby dispensing with the need for coordination among a multiplicity of local governments to improve roads.’
- ‘Graham has a rather unique approach to transport management - mainly by dispensing with the transport element, and then also getting rid of the management angle as well.’
- ‘This is taken as dispensing with the ‘management’ of the cultural agenda of copyright.’
- ‘Index funds dispense with a manager and simply follow a stock index, such as the Standard & Poor's 500.’
- ‘The General Medical Council has also been informed, and hospital managers have revealed that they have dispensed with the services of the locum registrar on duty during the delivery.’
- ‘The first-time penalty should be the cutting off of the water supply, the second, dispensing with electricity.’
- ‘By dispensing with these often-meaningless boundaries and thinking these ostensibly different things together, the choice is not either/or but the more meaningful both/and.’
- ‘By dispensing with any requirement of knowledge of the contents of the book on the part of the seller, the ordinance tends to impose a severe limitation on the public's access to constitutionally protected matter.’
- ‘A vast array of beers including an ever-changing guest beer seem to qualify it as a serious pub, dispensing with its duty to offer any kind of lager or bitter you could desire in sober fashion.’
- ‘It was decided that the best way forward was through the separation of religious belief from political power, dispensing with the age old over-reliance on tradition, the past and religious orthodoxy.’
- ‘Public sector general insurance companies are quietly dispensing with compassionate appointments in a bid to rationalise manpower utilisation.’
- ‘This communication preserves the structure of the courses whilst dispensing with the pressure of deadlines, or pre-set scheduling procedures.’
- ‘In some places they're dispensing with the sledges altogether these days and are sliding downhill sitting on plastic bags.’
waive, omit, drop, leave out, forgo, give up, relinquish, renounce
get rid of, throw away, throw out, cast aside, do away with, dispose of, discard, shed
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1. 2.1Give special exemption from (a law or rule)
  ‘the Secretary of State was empowered to dispense with the nationality requirement in individual cases’
  ‘If wrong about that, Mr Bowen submits that if the claim form must be treated as served on 7 November, an order should be made under CPR Rule 6.9 dispensing with service of the claim form completely.’
  ‘And rules can be dispensed with in the Court's inherent power if the interests of justice require.’
  ‘We will dispense with the rule relating to time for bringing the application but refuse special leave.’
  ‘In our view it is not a case where the Court should make an order dispensing with compliance with Order 69A rule 3.’
  ‘Ord 52, rule 4, allows the court to dispense with service of the notice of motion if it thinks it just so to do.’
2. 2.2with object Grant (someone) an exemption from a religious obligation.
  ‘the Pope personally nominated him as bishop, dispensing him from his impediment’
  ‘Diocesan bishops can dispense men from the obligations that go with the diaconate and suspend priests from the exercise of their order for a long or short period, but only the bishop of Rome can expel them from the priesthood.’
  ‘The designated cardinal however can petition the pope to dispense him from this requirement.’
  ‘Leo X gave as the reason for dispensing him from some of the requirements of canon law the expectation that as a native bishop he would be more effective in promoting the faith among his people.’
  exempt, excuse, except, release, relieve, reprieve, absolve
  View synonyms

Phrases

dispense with someone's services

Dismiss someone from a job.
‘the club has no option but to dispense with his services’
- ‘Eames was sacked late on Wednesday night after a disciplinary hearing found him guilty of gross misconduct, concluding he deliberately misled three employees when dispensing with their services.’
- ‘When Kenneth Williams, 58, returned to his Horsforth home from holiday last summer to find a letter from his employer dispensing with his services, he thought his working life was over.’
- ‘But if she isn't, her once supportive German bosses will not waste any time in dispensing with her services.’
- ‘If I don't see it through, it will be because they have dispensed with my services.’
- ‘What we do know is that no publisher made an offer and Mark, frustrated with Harris's failure, dispensed with his services.’
- ‘I put it to him that if someone else were head coach he, as chief executive, would surely consider whether to dispense with their services.’
- ‘He would make certain that, in future, any group or artist he managed never had the power to dispense with his services.’
- ‘If he did, I would have dispensed with his services and gone it alone and won.’
- ‘He never dispensed with her services, or those of his solicitor.’
- ‘After he has begun my father can dispense with my services and the routine becomes a monologue which moves on its own.’