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distribute. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
distribute, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
distribute in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
distribute you have here. The definition of the word
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distribute, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Latin distributus, past participle of distribuere (“to divide, distribute”), from dis- (“apart”) + tribuere (“to give, impart”); see tribute.
Pronunciation
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.
- (transitive) To scatter or spread.
I raked the soil then distributed grass seed.
- (transitive) To apportion (more or less evenly).
The robot's six legs distributed its weight over a wide area.
- (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
Conjugation of distribute
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
to divide into portions and dispense
- Arabic: وَزَّعَ (wazzaʕa)
- Armenian: բաշխել (hy) (bašxel)
- Assamese: বিলা (bila), ভগা (bhoga), বাট (bat)
- Basque: banatu
- Bulgarian: разпределям (bg) (razpredeljam)
- Catalan: repartir (ca), distribuir (ca)
- Cherokee: ᎠᏯᏙᎯᎭ (ayadohiha)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
- Dutch: verdelen (nl)
- Esperanto: distribui
- Finnish: jakaa (fi)
- French: distribuer (fr)
- German: aufteilen (de), verteilen (de)
- Gothic: 𐌳𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (dailjan), 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (gamitan)
- Greek:
- Ancient: διανέμω (dianémō)
- Hebrew: חילק (khilék)
- Icelandic: deila út, útdeila, úthluta
- Irish: scaoil
- Italian: distribuire (it)
- Japanese: 分ける (ja) (wakeru)
- Latin: distribuō
- Norwegian: fordele
- Occitan: distribuir (oc)
- Portuguese: distribuir (pt), parcelar
- Quechua: rakiy
- Romanian: distribui (ro), împărți (ro), repartiza (ro)
- Russian: распределя́ть (ru) impf (raspredeljátʹ), распредели́ть (ru) pf (raspredelítʹ)
- Sanskrit: भजति (sa) (bhajati)
- Spanish: distribuir (es)
- Swahili: kugawanya (sw)
- Swedish: fördela (sv)
- Thai: please add this translation if you can
- Turkish: dağıtmak (tr), paylaştırmak (tr)
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to supply to retail outlets
to scatter or spread
- Bulgarian: разпръсквам (bg) (razprǎskvam)
- Catalan: repartir (ca), distribuir (ca)
- Dutch: verspreiden (nl)
- Finnish: levittää (fi)
- French: répartir (fr)
- Galician: espallar (gl), despender, distribuír (gl), repartir (gl)
- German: verteilen (de)
- Icelandic: dreifa (is)
- Italian: suddividere (it), distribuire (it), ripartire (it)
- Japanese: 蒔く (ja) (まく, maku)
- Maori: tītaritari
- Portuguese: espalhar (pt), distribuir (pt), repartir (pt)
- Russian: разбра́сывать (ru) impf (razbrásyvatʹ), разброса́ть (ru) pf (razbrosátʹ), разбры́згивать (ru) impf (razbrýzgivatʹ), разбры́згать (ru) pf (razbrýzgatʹ) (liquid)
- Spanish: repartir (es), distribuir (es)
- Swedish: fördela (sv)
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to classify or separate into categories
Translations to be checked
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
Latin
Etymology
From distribūtus, participle of distribuō (“distribute, apportion”).
Adverb
distribūtē (comparative distribūtius, superlative distribūtissimē)
- orderly, methodically
Related terms
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)