distribute
verbUK /dɪˈstɹɪbjuːt/ · US /dɪˈstɹɪbjut/
Etymology PIE word *tréyes From Latin distributus, past participle of distribuere (“to divide, distribute”), from dis- (“apart”) + tribuere (“to give, impart”); see tribute.
11 senses
- 1To divide into portions and dispense.
- 2To supply to retail outlets.
- 3To deliver or pass out.
- 4To scatter or spread.
- 5To apportion (more or less evenly).
- 6To classify or separate into categories.
- 7To be distributive.
- 8To separate (type which has been used) and return it to…
- 9To spread (ink) evenly, as upon a roller or a table.
- 10To employ (a term) in its whole extent; to take as…
- 11To have employees working remotely from multiple locations.
To divide into portions and dispense.
- He distributed the bread amongst his followers.
To supply to retail outlets.
- The agency distributes newspapers to local shops.
To deliver or pass out.
- A network of children distributes flyers to every house.
- Above all, the 48-page timetables of the new service, which have been distributed free at every station in the scheme, are a model to the rest of B.R. For the first time on British Railways, so far as we are aware, a substantial timetable has been produced, not only without a single footnote but also devoid of all wearisome asterisks, stars, letter suffixes and other hieroglyphics.1960 December 23, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 714:
1 more example
- Datacasting bypasses the wired, terrestrial Internet and is a cheaper way to distribute software than pressing and mailing CDs.2000, George Abe, Residential Broadband, Cisco Systems, →ISBN:
To scatter or spread.
- I raked the soil then distributed grass seed.
- The air-handling equipment humidifies, dehumidifies, and distributes the correct amount of fresh air into every zone and eliminates all smoke, dust, and odors, with electric precipitrons.1949, Proceedings of the ... Consolidated Convention of the International Brotherhood of Boiler Makers, Iron Ship Builders, and Helpers of America, page 159:
To apportion (more or less evenly).
- The robot's six legs distributed its weight over a wide area.
- With an election not much more than a year away, distributing HS2's money into roads is pork barrel politics. Or at least it would be if the money existed.2023 November 29, Philip Haigh, “Comment: Can we save HS2 to Crewe?”, in RAIL, number 997, page 3:
To classify or separate into categories.
- The database distributed verbs into transitive and intransitive segments.
Mathematics, Sciences To be distributive.
- Multiplication distributes over addition.
Media, Printing, Publishing To separate (type which has been used) and return it to the proper boxes in the cases.
Media, Printing, Publishing To spread (ink) evenly, as upon a roller or a table.
Human sciences, Logic, Mathematics, Philosophy, Sciences To employ (a term) in its whole extent; to take as universal in one premise.
- A term is said to be distributed when it is taken universal, so as to stand for everything it is capable of being applied to.1826, Richard Whately, Elements of Logic:
Business To have employees working remotely from multiple locations.
- distributed business; distributed employee
- Synonyms
27 terms
allot, dispend, parcel out, courier, disperse, sparble, strew, categorize, sort, administer, allocate, apportion, deal, deal out, dispart, dispense, distribute, divide, dole out, issue, give out, mete out, piecemeal, portion out, share, share out, sunder out- Antonyms
- amass, concentrate, consolidate, gather, reassemble
- Derived terms
- codistribute, distributable, distributary, distributee, distributer, distribution, distributionism, distributism, distributivism, distributivity, distributor, equidistribute, interdistribute, misdistribute, overdistribute, redistribute, self-distribute, underdistribute
- Hypernyms
- disseminate, give, separate, spread
- Hyponyms
- ration