1. Fundamentally distinct or different in kind; entirely dissimilar: “This mixture of apparently disparate materials—scandal and spiritualism, current events and eternal recurrences—is not promising on the face of it” (Gary Wills, Atlantic Monthly July 1997). 2. Containing or composed of dissimilar or opposing elements: a disparate group of people who represented a cross section of the city.
ETYMOLOGY:
Latin dispartus, past participle of disparre, to separate : dis-, apart; see dis– + parre, to prepare; see per-1 in Appendix I.
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s
p
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r
tus, past participle of dispar
