Thursday, June 7, 2012

cast dispersions/cast aspersions: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Thursday, June 7, 2012

 cast dispersions/cast aspersions 
“Aspersions” is an unusual word whose main meaning is “false or misleading accusations,” and its only common use is in the phrase “cast aspersions.” To disperse a crowd is to break it up and scatter it, which perhaps leads some people to mistakenly associate “cast” (“throw”) with “disperse” but the expression is “cast aspersions.”


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