distribute
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]| PIE word |
|---|
| *tréyes |
From Latin distributus, past participle of distribuere (“to divide, distribute”), from dis- (“apart”) + tribuere (“to give, impart”); see tribute.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /dɪˈstɹɪbjuːt/, /ˈdɪstɹɪbjuːt/
- (General American) enPR: dĭ-strĭbʹyo͞ot, IPA(key): /dɪˈstɹɪbjut/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɪbjuːt, -ɪstɹɪbjuːt
- Hyphenation: dis‧trib‧ute
Verb
[edit]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
[edit]Conjugation of distribute
| infinitive | (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 | ||
| subjunctive | distribute | distributed | |
| imperative | distribute | — | |
| participles | distributing | distributed | |
Synonyms
[edit]- (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
[edit]Translations
[edit]to distribute — see disperse
to divide into portions and dispense
|
to supply to retail outlets
|
to deliver or pass out
|
to scatter or spread
|
to apportion
|
to classify or separate into categories
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading
[edit]- “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
[edit]Latin
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From distribūtus, participle of distribuō (“distribute, apportion”).
Adverb
[edit]distribūtē (comparative distribūtius, superlative distribūtissimē)
Related terms
[edit]References
[edit]- “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)
Categories:
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *tréyes
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪbjuːt
- Rhymes:English/ɪbjuːt/3 syllables
- Rhymes:English/ɪstɹɪbjuːt
- Rhymes:English/ɪstɹɪbjuːt/3 syllables
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Mathematics
- en:Printing
- en:Logic
- en:Business
- Latin lemmas
- Latin adverbs