distribute
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɪˈstɹɪbjuːt/
ipa: /ˈdɪstɹɪbjuːt/
enpr: dĭ-strĭbʹyo͞ot
ipa: /dɪˈstɹɪbjut/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈɖɪsʈrɪbjuʈ/
rhymes: -ɪbjuːt
rhymes: -ɪstɹɪbjuːt
Forms: form: distributes
form: distributing
form: distributed
form: distributed
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: distribute
form: distribute
form: distributed
form: distribute
form: distributest
form: distributed
form: distributedst
form: distributes
form: distributeth
form: distributed
form: distribute
form: distributed
form: distribute
form: distributed
form: distribute
form: -
form: distributing
form: distributed
Etymology: PIE word
 *tréyes
From Latin distributus, past participle of distribuere (“to divide, distribute”), from dis- (“apart”) + tribuere (“to give, impart”); see tribute.
Senses: examples: text: He distributed the bread amongst his followers.
glosses: To divide into portions and dispense.
examples: text: The agency distributes newspapers to local shops.
glosses: To supply to retail outlets.
examples: text: A network of children distributes flyers to every house.
text: 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.
ref: 1960 December 24, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 714:
text: Datacasting bypasses the wired, terrestrial Internet and is a cheaper way to distribute software than pressing and mailing CDs.
ref: 2000, George Abe, Residential Broadband, Cisco Systems, →ISBN:
glosses: To deliver or pass out.
examples: text: I raked the soil then distributed grass seed.
text: 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.
ref: 1949, Proceedings of the ... Consolidated Convention of the International Brotherhood of Boiler Makers, Iron Ship Builders, and Helpers of America, page 159:
glosses: To scatter or spread.
examples: text: The robot's six legs distributed its weight over a wide area.
text: 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.
ref: 2023 November 29, Philip Haigh, “Comment: Can we save HS2 to Crewe?”, in RAIL, number 997, page 3:
glosses: To apportion (more or less evenly).
examples: text: The database distributed verbs into transitive and intransitive segments.
glosses: To classify or separate into categories.
examples: text: Multiplication distributes over addition.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: To be distributive.
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: To separate (type which has been used) and return it to the proper boxes in the cases.
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: To spread (ink) evenly, as upon a roller or a table.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1826, Richard Whately, Elements of Logic:
topics: human-sciences
logic
mathematics
philosophy
sciences
glosses: To employ (a term) in its whole extent; to take as universal in one premise.
examples: text: distributed business; distributed employee
topics: business
glosses: To have employees working remotely from multiple locations.
Synonyms: sense: to divide into portions and dispense
word: allot
word: dispend
word: parcel out
sense: to deliver or pass out
word: courier
sense: to scatter or spread
word: disperse
word: sparble
word: strew
word: disperse
sense: to classify or separate into categories
word: categorize
word: sort
word: classify
word: administer
word: allocate
word: apportion
word: deal
word: deal out
word: dispart
word: dispense
word: distribute
word: divide
word: dole out
word: issue
word: give out
word: mete out
word: piecemeal
word: portion out
word: share
word: share out
word: sunder out
Hypernyms: word: disseminate
word: give
word: separate
word: spread
Hyponyms: word: ration
Derived terms: codistribute
distributable
distributary
distributee
distributer
distribution
distributionism
distributism
distributivism
distributivity
distributor
equidistribute
interdistribute
misdistribute
overdistribute
redistribute
self-distribute
underdistribute