# dispatch

> English word · Verb · IPA /dɪˈspætʃ/ · frequency rank #10,198

## Definitions
1. To send (a shipment) with promptness.
2. To send (a person) away hastily.
3. To send (an important official message) promptly, by means of a diplomat or military officer.
4. To send (a journalist) to a place in order to report.
5. To dispose of speedily, as business; to execute quickly; to make a speedy end of; to finish; to perform.
6. To eat, especially quickly.
7. To rid; to free.
8. To destroy (someone or something) quickly and efficiently.
9. To defeat
10. To pass on for further processing, especially via a dispatch table (often with to).
11. To hurry.
12. To deprive.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish despachar or Italian dispacciare, replacing alternate reflex depeach, which is from French dépêcher. Further, several steps omitting, from Latin dis- + impedicō (whence impeach). The first known use in writing (in the past tense, spelled as dispached) is by Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall in 1517. This would be unusually early for a borrowing from a Romance language other than French, but Tunstall had studied in Italy and was Commissioner to Spain, so this word may have been borrowed through diplomatic circles. The alternative spelling despatch was introduced in Samuel Johnson's dictionary, probably by accident.
Compare typologically deliver (for the meaning to bring or transport) (< Latin dē- + līberō).

## Easily confused with
- **dispatcher** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dispatch-vs-dispatcher)
- **despatch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/despatch-vs-dispatch)

## Common misspellings (13)
`ddispatch`, `dipsatch`, `disaptch`, `dispacth`, `dispatcch`, `dispatchh`, `dispathc`, `dispattch`, `disppatch`, `disptach`, `disspatch`, `dsipatch`, `idspatch`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/dispatch