disparate

Borrowed from Middle French desparat, from Latin disparātus, past participle of disparō (“to divide”), from dis- (“apart”) + parō (“to arrange”), ultimately from PIE *dwóh₁ (“two”) and *per- (“carry forth”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪsp(ə)ɹət/, /ˈdɪsp(ə)ɹɪt/^[1]
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪsp(ə)ɹət/, /dɪˈspæɹət/, /dɪˈspɛɹət/^[2]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (US) -æɹət, (US) -ɛɹət

disparate (comparative more disparate, superlative most disparate)

1. Composed of inherently different or distinct elements; incongruous.

   The board of the company was decidedly disparate, with no two members from the same social or economic background.

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 269:

     The London Transport Museum was established, from disparate collections, at Covent Garden in 1980.

   • 2023 February 8, Tony Streeter, “Kirkdale: home to Merseyrail's new '777s'”, in RAIL, number 976, page 36:

     Although third-rail operation in the region dates back more than a century, it was in the 1970s that tunnels under Liverpool's city centre opened to bring together previously disparate routes.

2. Essentially different; of different species, unlike but not opposed in pairs
3. Utterly unlike; incapable of being compared; having no common ground.
   • 1898, John Wesley Powell, Truth and Error:

     Then disparate sense impressions come to disparate organs, as light to the eye, taste to the mouth, etc.

   • 1912, Bertrand Russell, The Philosophy of Bergson:

     M. Bergson’s philosophy, unlike most of the systems of the past, is dualistic: the world, for him, is divided into two disparate portions, on the one hand life, on the other matter, or rather that inert something which the intellect views as matter.

• (composed of distinct elements): incongruous, mismatched, uncoordinated
• (markedly different): different, dissimilar, unalike
• (incapable of being compared): incommensurable

• dispair
• disparately
• disparateness
• disparity

• “disparate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “disparate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

disparate (plural disparates)

1. (chiefly in the plural) Any of a group of unequal or dissimilar things.

• aspirated

Borrowed from Latin disparātus, past participle of disparō (“to divide”), from dis- (“apart”) + parō (“to make equal”), from par (“equal”).

• IPA^(key): /dis.pa.ʁat/

• Audio (Switzerland):

  (file)

disparate (plural disparates)

1. disparate; incongruous

• “disparate”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• Audio:

  (file)

disparate

1. inflection of disparat:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

disparate

1. feminine plural of disparato

• derapasti, disperata

disparāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of disparō

Deverbal from disparatar or borrowed from Spanish disparate.

disparate m (plural disparates)

1. nonsense (meaningless words or actions)

   Synonyms: asneira, contrassenso, desconchavo, despautério, dislate, tolice

   Você fala um disparate, meu amigo.

   You speak nonsense, my friend.

2. a great amount; a lot

   O povo recebia um disparate de turistas no verão.

   The town was deluged with tourists in summer.

   (literally, “The town received a great amount of tourists in the summer.”)

disparate

1. inflection of disparatar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• IPA^(key): /dispaˈɾate/ [d̪is.paˈɾa.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ate
• Syllabification: dis‧pa‧ra‧te

Deverbal from disparatar.

disparate m (plural disparates)

1. nonsense (meaningless words or actions)

   Synonym: dislate

   • (Can we date this quote?), Don Quijote:

     — […] Y no me amaño a dejarle, por más disparates que haga.

     and I can't leave him, no matter how many mistakes he makes.

   • 2010, Alberto Lema, translated by Iris Cochón, Sidecar, Caballo de Troya (Random House):

     — […] Y todo ese disparate sobre la supuesta infinitud de las personas; cuanto más sabes más quieres saber, más sabes que no sabes, etc.; es una estupidez.

     And all that hogwash about the supposed infinity of people; the more you know the more you want to know, the more you know that you don't know, etc.; it's all silliness.

2. a great amount; a lot
3. crazy idea

disparate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of disparar combined with te

disparate

1. inflection of disparatar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• “disparate”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28