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Scatter vs Disperse vs Dissipate vs Dispel

Scatterdispersedissipatedispel can mean to cause a group, mass, or assemblage to separate or break up.

Scatter may imply the use or operation of force which drives the persons or things in different directions.

On the other hand, scatter may imply little more than throwing or casting so that the things thrown will fall by or as if by chance.

Disperse usually implies a wider separation of the units than scatter and a complete breaking up of the mass or assemblage.

Dissipate suggests definitely the idea of complete disintegration or dissolution (as by evaporation, crumbling, squandering, or blowing away) and consequent vanishing.

Dispel carries less suggestion of separation of units or particles than any of these words but it stresses a driving away as if by scattering of something that clouds, confuses, or bothers.