dissipative (disipativ)

[ For as it is a distinction between living and non-living bodies that the first propagate while the second do not, it is also a distinction between them that certain actions di ipative which go on in the first are cumulative, instead of being, as in the second, di ipative. H. Spencer, Study of Sociol., p. 324. 2. Of or pertaining to the phenomenon of the di ipation of energy. See energy. - Di ipative function. Same as di ipativity (b). - Di ipative system, in physics, a system in which energy is di ipated. di ipativity (dis i-pa-tivi-ti), n. [