# distribute
## English
### Etymology

* PIE word
* *tréyes
From Latin distributus, past participle of distribuere (“to divide, distribute”), from dis- (“apart”) + tribuere (“to give, impart”); see tribute.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /dɪˈstɹɪbjuːt/, /ˈdɪstɹɪbjuːt/
* (General American) enPR: dĭ-strĭbʹyo͞ot, IPA: /dɪˈstɹɪbjut/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪbjuːt, -ɪstɹɪbjuːt
* Hyphenation: dis‧trib‧ute

### Verb

distribute (third-person singular simple present distributes, present participle distributing, simple past and past participle distributed)
* (transitive) To divide into portions and dispense.
    He distributed the bread amongst his followers.
* (transitive) To supply to retail outlets.
    The agency distributes newspapers to local shops.
* (transitive) To deliver or pass out.
    A network of children distributes flyers to every house.
** 1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 714: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.
** 2000, George Abe, Residential Broadband, Cisco Systems, →ISBN:Datacasting bypasses the wired, terrestrial Internet and is a cheaper way to distribute software than pressing and mailing CDs.
* (transitive) To scatter or spread.
    I raked the soil then distributed grass seed.
** 1949, Proceedings of the ... Consolidated Convention of the International Brotherhood of Boiler Makers, Iron Ship Builders, and Helpers of America, page 159: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.
* (transitive) To apportion (more or less evenly).
    The robot's six legs distributed its weight over a wide area.
** 2023 November 29, Philip Haigh, “Comment: Can we save HS2 to Crewe?”, in RAIL, number 997, page 3: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.
* (transitive) To classify or separate into categories.
    The database distributed verbs into transitive and intransitive segments.
* (intransitive, mathematics) To be distributive.
* (printing) To separate (type which has been used) and return it to the proper boxes in the cases.
* (printing) To spread (ink) evenly, as upon a roller or a table.
* (logic) To employ (a term) in its whole extent; to take as universal in one premise.
** 1826, Richard Whately, Elements of Logic: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.
* (business) To have employees working remotely from multiple locations.
    distributed business; distributed employee

#### Conjugation

| infinitive | (to) distribute | (to) distribute |
| | present tense | past tense |
| 1st-person singular | distribute | distributed |
| 2nd-person singular | distribute, distributest$^†$ | distributed, distributedst$^†$ |
| 3rd-person singular | distributes, distributeth$^†$ | distributed |
| plural | distribute | distributed |
| subjunctive | distribute | distributed |
| imperative | distribute | — |
| participles | distributing | distributed |
$^†$Archaic or obsolete.

#### Synonyms

* (to divide into portions and dispense): allot, dispend, parcel out; see also Thesaurus:distribute
* (to deliver or pass out): courier
* (to scatter or spread): disperse, sparble, strew; see also Thesaurus:disperse
* (to classify or separate into categories): categorize, sort; see also Thesaurus:classify

#### Derived terms

* codistribute
* distributable
* distributary
* distributee
* distributer
* distribution
* distributionism
* distributism
* distributivism
* distributivity
* distributor
* equidistribute
* interdistribute
* misdistribute
* overdistribute
* redistribute
* underdistribute

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Further reading

* “distribute”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* “distribute”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* turbidites

## Latin
### Etymology

From distribūtus, participle of distribuō (“distribute, apportion”).

### Adverb

distribūtē (comparative distribūtius, superlative distribūtissimē)
* orderly, methodically

#### Related terms

* distribuō
* distribūtiō
* distribūtus

### References

* “distribute”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, 1st edition. (Oxford University Press)