dispatched

Dispatched is the past tense and past participle of the verb dispatch. It denotes having been sent off to a destination or assigned to a purpose, often with a sense of promptness or efficiency. In logistics and commerce, items are dispatched when they are prepared and sent to a customer, carrier, or warehouse. In journalism, a news dispatch is a report filed from a field location. In emergency services, units are dispatched to incidents, meaning they have been sent to respond. In the military or policing contexts, to dispatch someone can also mean to kill or neutralize them, a usage that is older and less common today.

The word dispatch derives from Old French despatcher; the related noun despatch is a British spelling variant, with despatch or dispatch used in different dialects. In American English, dispatch is the common form; in British English, both spellings are seen, with despatch sometimes preferred in formal writing.

In computing and software engineering, dispatch refers to routing a task or message to a particular handler; a dispatched event has been routed for handling. The term also appears in dispatch centers and service industries to describe the coordination of personnel and resources efficiently. Overall, dispatched describes the completion of sending, directing, or carrying out a task or transmission.