From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdispeldi‧spel /dɪˈspel/ verb (dispelled, dispelling) [transitive] STOP something THAT IS HAPPENINGto make something go away, especially a belief, idea, or feeling We want to dispel the myth that you cannot eat well in Britain. Light poured into the hall, dispelling the shadows.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
dispel• Fearsome worry about the horrible outcomes of not doing schoolwork is difficult to dispel.• Such anxieties, however, were soon dispelled.• We shall never be friends until both your anger is dispelled and my guilt atoned.• Her foster brother's misinformation must be dispelled, but what did she say?• But that discomfiture is considerably dispelled by the infrequency of prior-restraint cases.• In an interview Monday, the Foreign Affairs Secretary tried to dispel doubts about his handling of the crisis.• Milton has already dispelled our traditional view of an awesome, bestial figure, in favour of one who possesses a destroyed beauty.• The Central Bank attempted to dispel rumours of a possible financial crisis.• We hope to dispel the belief that scientists work in isolation in windowless rooms.• Rising to his feet, he touched the light switch, dispelling the gathering gloom, before striding through to his office.dispel ... myth• It aims at dispelling the myths about old age and at building a network of associations concerned with the issues of aging.• It further calls for discussion within the trade union movement on this question, with a view to dispelling the myths that surround homosexuality.Origin dispel (1400-1500) Latin dispellere, from pellere “to drive, beat” 