Scatter vs Sift - What's the difference?
scatter | sift |
(ergative) To (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse.
* Shakespeare
To distribute loosely as by sprinkling.
* Dryden
(physics) To deflect (radiation or particles).
To occur or fall at widely spaced intervals.
To frustrate, disappoint, and overthrow.
To sieve or strain (something).
To separate or scatter (things) as if by sieving.
To examine (something) carefully.
* 1748 . David Hume. Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. ยง 28.
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As verbs the difference between scatter and sift
is that scatter is to (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse while sift is to sieve or strain (something).scatter
English
Verb
(en verb)- the police scattered the crowds
- the crowd scattered
- Scatter and disperse the giddy Goths.
- Her ashes were scattered at the top of a waterfall.
- Why should my muse enlarge on Libyan swains, / Their scattered cottages, and ample plains?
- to scatter hopes or plans
Derived terms
* scatterbrain * scatterplot * scattershotsift
English
Verb
- But if we still carry on our sifting humour, and ask, What is the foundation of all conclusions from experience ? this implies a new question.
- It immediately occurred to him to sift her on the subject of Isabella and Theodore.
