To disburse means to pay out money from a fund, especially in an official or organized way. When a school disburses scholarship money, it sends the funds to students who earned them. When a company disburses payroll, it distributes wages to all its employees.

The word suggests a formal, systematic distribution rather than casual spending. Your parents might spend twenty dollars at the grocery store, but a treasurer disburses funds from the club's account to pay for supplies. A bank disburses loan money to borrowers. Relief organizations disburse aid to communities after natural disasters.

Notice the difference between disburse and disperse. To disburse means to pay out money, while to disperse means to scatter or spread out, like when a crowd disperses after a concert. The words sound similar but mean completely different things. If you write that “the foundation will disperse scholarships,” you're accidentally saying the scholarships will scatter everywhere instead of being paid out to students.

A disbursement is the actual payment being made. When you see “quarterly disbursements” in a financial document, it means payments made every three months. Understanding disbursement matters when you're managing any kind of organized fund, from a lemonade stand's profits to a charity's donations.