THE FIRST WORD

dispositive

PRONUNCIATION:

(dis-POZ-i-tiv) 

MEANING:

adjective: Relating to or bringing about the settlement of a case.

ETYMOLOGY:

From dispose, from Old French disposer, from Latin disponere (to arrange), from dis- (apart) + ponere (to put). Ultimately from the Indo-European root apo- (off or away), which is also the source of pose, apposite, after, off, awkward, post, puny, apposite, and apropos. Earliest documented use: 1483.

USAGE:

"The Justice Department subsequently asked the National Academy of Sciences to re-examine the Dictabelt evidence and it concluded it was not dispositive, which naturally led to years of debate among forensic acoustic experts."
Ron Rosenbaum; Seeing Zapruder; Smithsonian (Washington, DC); Oct 2013.