Words / B2

di-SPACH/dɪˈspætʃ/

To dispatch is to send someone or something quickly: dispatch a crew; dispatch the goods. Send is everyday; despatch is an older UK spelling of the same word. The Met Office dispatched crews. As a noun: a dispatch from a correspondent. Do not mix with dispatch meaning “kill” in old-fashioned narratives unless the text is literary.

Meaning

To send a person, vehicle, or message quickly to a place.

Examples

• “The Met Office dispatched extra crews before the amber warning.”
• “A dispatch from Westminster, which is the noun in journalism.”

Good to know

dispatch someone / something to. Everyday: send. Variant spelling: despatch. Noun: a dispatch. Logistics and newsrooms. Secondary literary sense: kill.

Near in meaning

send

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