DISTRIBUTE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does distribute mean? 

• DISTRIBUTE (verb)
  The verb DISTRIBUTE has 10 senses:

1. administer or bestow, as in small portions

2. distribute or disperse widely

3. make available

4. give to several people

5. cause to be distributed

6. cause to become widely known

7. spread throughout a given area

8. be distributed or spread, as in statistical analyses

9. be mathematically distributive

10. to arrange in a systematic order

  Familiarity information: DISTRIBUTE used as a verb is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISTRIBUTE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they distribute    ... he / she / it distributes   
Past simple: distributed   
Past participle: distributed   
-ing form: distributing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Administer or bestow, as in small portions

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

administer; allot; deal; deal out; dish out; dispense; distribute; dole out; lot; mete out; parcel out; shell out

Context example:

the machine dispenses soft drinks

Hypernyms (to "distribute" is one way to...):

give (transfer possession of something concrete or abstract to somebody)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "distribute"):

allot; assign; portion (give out)

reallot (allot again)

deal (distribute cards to the players in a game)

apply; give (give or convey physically)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Derivation:

distributer (electrical device that distributes voltage to the spark plugs of a gasoline engine in the order of the firing sequence)

distribution (the act of distributing or spreading or apportioning)

distributor (a person with authority to allot or deal out or apportion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Distribute or disperse widely

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

distribute; spread

Context example:

The invaders spread their language all over the country

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "distribute"):

sprawl; straggle (go, come, or spread in a rambling or irregular way)

diffuse; fan out; spread; spread out (move outward)

redistribute (distribute anew)

deploy (to distribute systematically or strategically)

propagate (transmit or cause to broaden or spread)

export (cause to spread in another part of the world)

straw; strew (spread by scattering ()

discharge (pour forth or release)

metastasise; metastasize (spread throughout the body)

generalise; generalize (become systemic and spread throughout the body)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

distribution (the act of distributing or spreading or apportioning)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make available

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

The publisher wants to distribute the book in Asia

Hypernyms (to "distribute" is one way to...):

transfer (cause to change ownership)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "distribute"):

issue; supply (circulate or distribute or equip with)

reticulate (distribute by a network, as of water or electricity)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue distribute the movie

Derivation:

distributer (someone who markets merchandise)

distribution (the commercial activity of transporting and selling goods from a producer to a consumer)

distributor (someone who markets merchandise)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Give to several people

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

distribute; give out; hand out; pass out

Context example:

The teacher handed out the exams

Hypernyms (to "distribute" is one way to...):

gift; give; present (give as a present; make a gift of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "distribute"):

apportion; deal; divvy up; portion out; share (give out as one's portion or share)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Derivation:

distributive (serving to distribute or allot or disperse)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Cause to be distributed

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

circulate; distribute; pass around; pass on

Context example:

This letter is being circulated among the faculty

Hypernyms (to "distribute" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "distribute"):

send around (forward to others)

utter (put into circulation)

scatter; spread; spread out (strew or distribute over an area)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Sense 6

Meaning:

Cause to become widely known

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

broadcast; circularise; circularize; circulate; diffuse; disperse; disseminate; distribute; pass around; propagate; spread

Context example:

broadcast the news

Hypernyms (to "distribute" is one way to...):

air; bare; publicise; publicize (make public)

Cause:

circulate; go around; spread (become widely known and passed on)

Verb group:

circulate; go around; spread (become widely known and passed on)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "distribute"):

sow (introduce into an environment)

generalise; generalize; popularise; popularize; vulgarise; vulgarize (cater to popular taste to make popular and present to the general public; bring into general or common use)

carry; run (include as the content; broadcast or publicize)

podcast (distribute (multimedia files) over the internet for playback on a mobile device or a personal computer)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 7

Meaning:

Spread throughout a given area

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

the function distributes the values evenly

Hypernyms (to "distribute" is one way to...):

scatter; spread; spread out (strew or distribute over an area)

Verb group:

distribute (be distributed or spread, as in statistical analyses)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 8

Meaning:

Be distributed or spread, as in statistical analyses

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

Values distribute

Hypernyms (to "distribute" is one way to...):

be; exist (have an existence, be extant)

Verb group:

distribute (spread throughout a given area)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 9

Meaning:

Be mathematically distributive

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "distribute" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 10

Meaning:

To arrange in a systematic order

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

distribute; stagger

Context example:

stagger the chairs in the lecture hall

Hypernyms (to "distribute" is one way to...):

arrange; set up (put into a proper or systematic order)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

 Context examples 

A grid service that provides a repository responsible for storing and linking data models as defined within namespaces in a distributed environment.

(caGrid Global Model Exchange, NCI Thesaurus)

A dimension table that lists the material distributed.

(Biospecimen Distribution Object, NCI Thesaurus)

According to others, the polyps are distributed throughout the entire colon.

(Colon Serrated Polyposis, NCI Thesaurus)

The control applies to the way the substance is made, used, handled, stored, and distributed.

(Controlled substance, NCI Dictionary)

Large-scale copy number polymorphisms are common and widely distributed in the human genome.

(Copy Number Polymorphism, NCI Thesaurus)

Upon injection, copper Cu 62-ETS distributes to various organs, especially the kidneys and the myocardium.

(Copper Cu 62 Ethylglyoxal Bis(thiosemicarbazone), NCI Thesaurus)

The first part of Mrs. Gardiner's business on her arrival was to distribute her presents and describe the newest fashions.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

A phylum of bacteria composed of three large classes of bacteria that are widely distributed in the environment, including in soil, in sediments, sea water and in the guts of animals.

(Bacteroidetes, NCI Thesaurus)

The team used MUSE to produce the first detailed optical maps of the gas and dust distributed throughout a planetary nebula.

(The Strange Structures of the Saturn Nebula, ESO)

The fact Spitzer found the night side to be significantly colder than the day side means heat is not being distributed around the planet very well.

(Spitzer Maps Climate Patterns on a Super-Earth, NASA)