disponer
verbCEFR B2
What does “disponer” mean in English?
to have available, to have at one's disposal
to have available, to have at one's disposal (disponer de + noun — no dispone de los medios necesarios)
Example sentences
La organización no dispone de los recursos necesarios para hacer frente a la dimensión actual de la crisis.
The organisation does not have the necessary resources to cope with the current scale of the crisis.
El hospital no disponía de suficientes camas para atender a todos los pacientes durante el pico de la pandemia.
The hospital did not have enough beds to attend to all patients during the peak of the pandemic.
Disponemos de un plazo de quince días para presentar las alegaciones correspondientes.
We have fifteen days at our disposal to submit the corresponding representations.
How to use it
Disponer de means 'to have available', 'to have at one's disposal'. It implies having access to or control over something. Formal register. Common negation: no dispone de los recursos/medios para. Distinct from tener (have, general) — disponer de implies access and practical availability, often with a sense of institutional or financial resource.
Common mistake
Disponer always takes de: disponer de algo (not *disponer algo). Disponer de is formal — in informal speech, tener is used. The other main sense of disponer is 'to arrange, to order' (el juez dispuso que…) — a different construction with que + subjunctive.