diffusion

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diffusion

  • /dɪˈfjuː.ʒən/ UK
  • /dɪˈfju.ʒən/ US

Rhymes with -uːʒən

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Latin diffūsiō, from diffundō; can be decomposed as diffuse + -ion.

noun diffusions

  1. countable, uncountable The act of diffusing or dispersing something, or the property of being diffused or dispersed; dispersion.
  2. countable, uncountable The scattering of light by reflection from a rough surface, or by passage through a translucent medium.
  3. countable, uncountable The intermingling of the molecules of a fluid due to random thermal agitation. gaseous diffusion
  4. countable, uncountable The spread of cultural or linguistic practices, or social institutions, in one or more communities. Even the false-necked vase, though it reaches its widest diffusion at this epoch, is, as we have seen, a type found existing in much earlier strata.
  5. countable, uncountable The gradual spread and adoption of goods or services. The chief salesman of the A.I. boom, Sam Altman of OpenAI, said there was more resistance to “the diffusion, the absorption” of A.I. into the culture and economy than he expected.
  6. countable, uncountable Exchange of airborne media between regions in space in an apparently random motion of a small scale.
  7. countable, uncountable The movement of water vapor from regions of high concentration (high water vapor pressure) toward regions of lower concentration.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: dissemination, diffused, disseminate, dispersal, spreading, disseminated, dispersion, scatter, scattering, propagation, spread, weighted, projection, circulation, circulate, extension

Translations

Every language

noun in physics, scattering of light

中文散射
हिन्दीविसरण visaraṇ
Françaisdiffusion
DeutschStreuung
Русскийрассе́ивание rasséivanije
العربيةاِنْتِشَار intišār

noun in physics, intermingling of molecules

Españoldifusión
日本語拡散 kakusan
中文擴散 /扩散 kuòsàn
हिन्दीविसरण visaraṇ
Portuguêsdifusão
Françaisdiffusion
DeutschDiffusion
Românădifuzie
Русскийдиффу́зия diffúzija

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MLA

"diffusion." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/diffusion. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

diffusion. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/diffusion

Chicago

"diffusion." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/diffusion.

BibTeX
@misc{diffusion_2026,
  title = {diffusion},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/diffusion},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}