DISTRIBUTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does distribution mean? 

• DISTRIBUTION (noun)
  The noun DISTRIBUTION has 4 senses:

1. (statistics) an arrangement of values of a variable showing their observed or theoretical frequency of occurrence

2. the spatial or geographic property of being scattered about over a range, area, or volume

3. the act of distributing or spreading or apportioning

4. the commercial activity of transporting and selling goods from a producer to a consumer

  Familiarity information: DISTRIBUTION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISTRIBUTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(statistics) an arrangement of values of a variable showing their observed or theoretical frequency of occurrence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

distribution; statistical distribution

Hypernyms ("distribution" is a kind of...):

arrangement; organisation; organization; system (an organized structure for arranging or classifying)

Domain category:

statistics (a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "distribution"):

equidistribution (a flat distribution having equal frequencies of occurrence)

frequency distribution (a distribution of observed frequencies of occurrence of the values of a variable)

Gaussian distribution; normal distribution (a theoretical distribution with finite mean and variance)

Poisson distribution (a theoretical distribution that is a good approximation to the binomial distribution when the probability is small and the number of trials is large)

sample; sample distribution; sampling (items selected at random from a population and used to test hypotheses about the population)

Bernoulli distribution; binomial distribution (a theoretical distribution of the number of successes in a finite set of independent trials with a constant probability of success)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The spatial or geographic property of being scattered about over a range, area, or volume

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

dispersion; distribution

Context example:

in complementary distribution

Hypernyms ("distribution" is a kind of...):

spacing; spatial arrangement (the property possessed by an array of things that have space between them)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "distribution"):

diaspora (the dispersion or spreading of something that was originally localized (as a people or language or culture))

scatter; spread (a haphazard distribution in all directions)

innervation (the distribution of nerve fibers to an organ or body region)

diffusion; dissemination (the property of being diffused or dispersed)

complementary distribution; complementation ((linguistics) a distribution of related speech sounds or forms in such a way that they only appear in different contexts)

Antonym:

concentration (the spatial property of being crowded together)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of distributing or spreading or apportioning

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("distribution" is a kind of...):

act; deed; human action; human activity (something that people do or cause to happen)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "distribution"):

redistribution (distributing again)

dispensation (the act of dispensing (giving out in portions))

allocation; allotment; apportioning; apportionment; assignation; parceling; parcelling (the act of distributing by allotting or apportioning; distribution according to a plan)

deal (the act of distributing playing cards)

revenue sharing (distribution of part of the federal tax income to states and municipalities)

share-out; sharing (a distribution in shares)

assigning; assignment (the act of distributing something to designated places or persons)

Derivation:

distribute (distribute or disperse widely)

distribute (administer or bestow, as in small portions)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The commercial activity of transporting and selling goods from a producer to a consumer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("distribution" is a kind of...):

commerce; commercialism; mercantilism (transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services))

Holonyms ("distribution" is a part of...):

marketing (the commercial processes involved in promoting and selling and distributing a product or service)

Derivation:

distribute (make available)

 Context examples 

A graphical display of the distribution of a set of data using the median, quartiles, and the extremes of the data set.

(Box Plot, NCI Thesaurus)

A normal distribution which models two variables of interest.

(Bivariate Normal Distribution, NCI Thesaurus)

Standard procedures will be used for all steps, including informed consent, clinical data collection, sample collection, pathology review, biomolecule extractions, quality control, laboratory data collection, and biomolecule distribution.

(Biospecimen Core Resource, NCI Thesaurus)

c-Myc staining is a sensitive immunohistochemical method for studying the tissue localization of c-Myc protein using antibody followed by a microscopic observation of the c-Myc staining distribution.

(c-Myc Staining Method, NCI Thesaurus)

FAP shows a very limited distribution pattern in normal tissues, thereby MoAb F19 has possible diagnostic and therapeutic applications in epithelial cancers.

(Monoclonal Antibody F19, NCI Thesaurus)

Family members differ in tissue distribution.

(Calcium-Activated Chloride Channel-2, NCI Thesaurus)

For the collection, preservation and distribution of cultures of living microorganisms, viruses, DNA probes, plants, and human and animal

(ATCC, NCI Thesaurus)

The area under the curve of a plot that graphs a discrete distribution of data calculated from a set of concentration-time data.

(Area Under First Moment Curve, NCI Thesaurus)

A study that is designed to investigate the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of a drug.

(ADME Study, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

The result of the investigation of the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) of an experimental substance by an organism.

(ADME Finding, NCI Thesaurus)