<p><strong>Adjective:</strong></p><ul><li>distributed or occurring here and there at irregular intervals; scattered.</li><li>straggling, as an assemblage of parts.</li><li>(of votes) cast in small numbers for various candidates.</li><li>distributing, dispersing, or separating.</li></ul><p><strong>Noun:</strong></p><ul><li>a small, scattered number or quantity.</li><li>Physics: the process in which a wave or beam of particles is diffused or deflected by collisions with particles of the medium that it traverses.</li></ul>