despatch

Other spellings

• dispatch

Pronunciation

• (AU) IPA ^(key): /dəˈspætʃ/
• (UK) (US) IPA ^(key): /dɪˈspætʃ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

Plain form despatch

Third-person singular despatches

Past tense despatched

Past participle despatched

Present participle despatching

1. (transitive) If you despatch people or equipment somewhere, you send them there to do a particular task.
   • Synonym: send
   • Antonym: recall

   The government has reportedly despatched elite army troops to Baghdad.

   Vietnam despatched ships and aircraft Saturday to the mouth of the Gulf of Thailand.

2. (transitive) If you despatch a message, package, etc., you send it.

   Before long, Edison was regularly despatching instructions to his lab up north.

3. (transitive) If you despatch a living thing, you kill it.

   If the immune system has seen the viruses before, it can despatch them swiftly.

   His men swiftly despatched any French prisoners by beheading them.

Noun

Singular despatch

Plural despatches

1. (countable) A despatch is a message or report sent by a someone in a distant location.

   The New York Times ran 10 stories on Rwanda, half of them brief wire service despatches.

2. (uncountable) despatch is part of an emergency response system, such as police or ambulance, which sends personnel to deal with emergencies.

   When despatch couldn't contact him, they called and asked me to check on him.

3. (uncountable) The despatch of someone to a place is the act of sending them there to do a particular task.

   They recommended to the President the despatch of six thousand to eight thousand American combat forces.

4. (uncountable) If you do something with despatch you finish it without wasting time.

   We want to make sure that that work continues with all due despatch and speed.

Related words

• despatcher