dispersion

noun

• 1the action or process of distributing things or people over a wide area:some seeds rely on birds for dispersion
• the state of being dispersed:the study looks at the dispersion of earnings with OECD member countries
• Ecology the pattern of distribution of individuals within a habitat.
• (also the Dispersion)another term for diaspora.
• [count noun] a mixture of one substance dispersed in another medium:the virus is transmitted in the dispersion of droplets which results from sneezing or coughing

• 2 Physics the separation of white light into colours or of any radiation according to wavelength.

• 3 Statistics the extent to which values of a variable differ from a fixed value such as the mean.