How to Use dispersant in a Sentence

dispersant

noun
  • The theory is that without the use of dispersants, the oil would have surfaced and been dealt with.
    — al, 19 Apr. 2020
  • That Corexit would be the first line of dispersant defense in the Gulf makes sense.
    — Brandon Keim, WIRED, 7 May 2010
  • Sunlight impairs dispersants' ability to break up oil into droplets.
    — Tristan Baurick, NOLA.com, 25 Apr. 2018
  • Other studies indicate that dispersants harmed fish, crab and other marine life.
    — Tristan Baurick, NOLA.com, 15 Feb. 2018
  • The simulation found that the dispersants would not have achieved even minimum effectiveness.
    — Tristan Baurick, NOLA.com, 25 Apr. 2018
  • Too much of a specific dispersant can affect catalyst performance and reduce fuel economy.
    — Paul Weissler, Popular Mechanics, 31 Aug. 2020
  • Too much of a specific dispersant could affect catalyst performance and reduce fuel economy.
    — Paul Weissler, Popular Mechanics, 31 Aug. 2020
  • Each formulation has 10 to 12 ingredients, like binders and a dispersant that can interact with each other.
    — Interview By Patricia R. Olsen, New York Times, 29 Dec. 2016
  • The whale has already suffered through the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster and the spraying of potentially toxic oil dispersants.
    — Tristan Baurick, NOLA.com, 27 Oct. 2017
  • Only 25% of the oil was recovered, and much of it was forced deeper into the Gulf ecosystem through the use of dispersant, which would likely be used again if another such disaster occurs.
    — Christian Wagley, The Orlando Sentinel, 3 Jan. 2026
  • Many in the seafood industry were hired by BP to help with the cleanup, but afterward, when fishing restrictions were lifted, consumers were scared to eat shrimp from waters so recently rich with oil and dispersant.
    — Francesca Mari, The Atlantic, 16 Apr. 2020
  • Police in dozens of cities have used teargas as a crowd dispersant since George Floyd died under a policeman’s knee in Minneapolis on May 25.
    — Matt Sledge, NOLA.com, 10 Sep. 2020
  • But the heavy use of dispersants during Deepwater Horizon stirred controversy both over its effectiveness and biological effects.
    — Kevin McGill and Matthew Brown, Houston Chronicle, 21 Apr. 2020
  • In both lab experiments and fieldwork after Deepwater Horizon, scientists found that exposure to hydrocarbon compounds in oil and dispersants used to break down slicks during the spill harmed individual fish.
    — F. Joel Fodrie, The Conversation, 16 Apr. 2020
  • Past administrations have waived environmental reviews after disasters that require real-time decisionmaking, like managing debris after Hurricane Katrina or deploying oil dispersant after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
    — Scott Waldman, Scientific American, 5 June 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dispersant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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