dispatch

1. 1.

   send away towards a designated goal

   Synonymsdespatchsend off

   Broadertransport

   Narrowerbundle offroute
2. 2.

   complete or carry out

   “discharge one's duties”

   Synonymsdischargecomplete

   Broadercarry through
3. 3.

   kill intentionally and with premeditation

   “The mafia boss ordered his enemies murdered”

   Synonymsmurderslayhitbump offoffpolish offremove

   Broaderkill

   Narrowerburkeexecute
4. 4.

   dispose of rapidly and without delay and efficiently

   “He dispatched the task he was assigned”

   Broaderact
5. 5.

   kill without delay

   “the traitor was dispatched by the conspirators”

   Broaderkill

1. 1.

   an official report (usually sent in haste)

   Synonymsdespatchcommunique

   Broaderreport

   Partsdateline
2. 2.

   the act of sending off something

   Synonymsdespatchshipment

   Broaderdeparture

   Narrowerreshipment
3. 3.

   the property of being prompt and efficient

   “it was done with dispatch”

   Synonymsdespatchexpeditionexpeditiousness

   Broadercelerity
4. 4.

   killing a person or animal

   Synonymsdespatch

   Broaderkilling

Other forms of dispatch

plural

dispatches·

past tense

dispatched·

present participle

dispatching·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about dispatch

What does dispatch mean?

dispatch means "send away towards a designated goal". That is the primary sense; the word has 9 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in dispatch?

dispatch has 2 syllables: di-spatch. The stress falls on "spatch". In IPA it is /dɪˈspætʃ/.

What is another word for dispatch?

Close synonyms include despatch, send off, discharge, complete, murder. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is dispatch a common word?

dispatch is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.