dispatch
Americanverb (used with object)
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to send off or away with speed, as a messenger, telegram, body of troops, etc.
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to dismiss (a person), as after an audience.
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to put to death; kill.
The spy was promptly dispatched.
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to transact or dispose of (a matter) promptly or speedily.
verb (used without object)
noun
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the sending off of a messenger, letter, etc., to a destination.
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the act of putting to death; killing; execution.
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prompt or speedy transaction, as of business.
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expeditious performance; promptness or speed.
Proceed with all possible dispatch.
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Commerce.
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a method of effecting a speedy delivery of goods, money, etc.
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a conveyance or organization for the expeditious transmission of goods, money, etc.
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a written message sent with speed.
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an official communication sent by special messenger.
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Journalism. a news story transmitted to a newspaper, wire service, or the like, by one of its reporters, or by a wire service to a newspaper or other news agency.
idioms
verb
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to send off promptly, as to a destination or to perform a task
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to discharge or complete (a task, duty, etc) promptly
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informal to eat up quickly
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to murder or execute
noun
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the act of sending off a letter, messenger, etc
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prompt action or speed (often in the phrase with dispatch )
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an official communication or report, sent in haste
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journalism a report sent to a newspaper, etc, by a correspondent
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murder or execution
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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dispatchernoun
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predispatchnoun
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self-dispatchnoun
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outdispatchverb (used with object)
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redispatchverb (used with object)
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undispatchedadjective
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undispatchingadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dispatchsimple
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dispatchessimple
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have dispatchedperfect
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has dispatchedperfect
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am dispatchingprogressive
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are dispatchingprogressive
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is dispatchingprogressive
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have been dispatchingperfect progressive
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has been dispatchingperfect progressive
Past
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dispatchedsimple
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had dispatchedperfect
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was dispatchingprogressive
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were dispatchingprogressive
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had been dispatchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dispatch
1510–20; < Italian dispacciare to hasten, speed, or < Spanish despachar both ultimately < Old French despeechier to unshackle, equivalent to des- dis- 1 + -peechier < Late Latin -pedicāre to shackle; see impeach
Explanation
Anything that needs to be mailed, sent off, or quickly shipped needs to be dispatched. Letters, official reports, teams of police — if it has somewhere to be, you can dispatch it to get there. Sometimes spelled despatch, this word was first used in the early 1500s as a verb meaning “to send off in a hurry.” These days we get hurried dispatches in noun and verb form, from journalists sending in their war zone stories to emergency squads getting dispatched to the scene of an accident. And in its most sinister sense, dispatch means to kill off without delay.
Vocabulary lists containing dispatch
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his top defense officials in the wake of the incident, pledging to “act with full force against the terrorists and those who dispatch them.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
But we can wholeheartedly recommend this dispatch from Slate’s Alexander Sammon, who visited his local Taco Bell to eat chalupas with the brave Americans who aren’t letting the risk of a parasite ruin their appetite.
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026
Nearly three weeks later, audio of an emergency dispatch call to McConnell’s address in Washington, DC surfaced.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
The buzz: France, bidding to make its third consecutive World Cup final, needed a penalty kick from Kylian Mbappé to dispatch stubborn Paraguay, a third-place team, in the round of 16.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
The central dispatch station would be a black-owned downtown parking lot, manned by an on-call transportation committee.
From "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice" by Phillip Hoose
The clips were among thousands of reels, memes and first-person dispatches that flooded Instagram once protesters regained internet access.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Back on the road, Charlotte and Connor barely have time to make themselves available to the dispatches team before another job comes in.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
They ignored the numbers and filled their dispatches with adjectives indicating a doom that, hilariously, the study didn’t support.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
What follows is a story told in hasty paragraphs, pithy fragments and cynical dispatches from a conspiracy theory-infested America.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2026
When Adams received word of this outrageous ultimatum, he ordered the delegation to return home, but he also withheld the official dispatches describing the bribery scheme from the Congress and the public.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Canberra summoned the Laos ambassador and dispatched an envoy to Laos to convey the government's objections and urge justice for the two Australian women who died, the government said in a statement.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
In the game he missed at these finals, they were dispatched 4-1 by France.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the longest-serving Senate party leader in American history, has not been seen in public since he was hospitalized on June 14 after emergency responders were dispatched to his Washington residence.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Hundreds of agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York field office had been dispatched to assist the local police.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
Someone said they’d seen Dylan by the harbor, and a posse was dispatched to collect him.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
Saudi Arabia had diverted its oil exports to its Red Sea ports and out the Bab al Mandeb, dispatching some 4.5 million barrels via that route per day.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Martina Bergman Osterberg was a powerhouse liberal, a college owner and principal who strategically and scientifically set out to build "physically perfect" women before dispatching them to teach and create more in their likeness.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
In part by dispatching health workers with megaphones to remind residents in traffic-clogged streets not to shake hands or hug.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was dispatching a team to inspect the damage, calling the incident "deeply concerning".
From Barron's ● Jun. 7, 2026
After he got laid off, he took a dispatching job with Atlas Van Lines.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.