dis-

apart, away; reversal or negation

Forms

dis-
di- — Shortened in certain Latin compounds.
dif- — Used before f in Latin.

Origin

Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *dis, ‘apart,’ associated with the idea of ‘two.’

Note

Separating things supplied a route from physical apartness to undoing an action.

90 / 147

noun

disposition

The final handling of a matter or property.

The court determines the final disposition of the property.

Etymology

dispositionLatinarrange; settle

The Latin root concerns arrangement. A final disposition settles what is to happen to a matter or property, putting its outstanding business into an established order.

More examples

She reviewed the disposition of each case.
Several dispositions were recorded.
The agreement governed the assets' disposition.

Forms

disposition · dispositions

Similar words

resolution: Emphasizes settling a problem rather than distributing property.
disposal: The act of dealing with or transferring something.