ENGLISH
REFERENCE

distribute

v.
B2 Upper Intermediate Oxford US //dɪˈstɹɪbjut// UK //dˈɪstɹɪbjˌuːt// dis·trib·ute Academic General-service

v. to give out shares of something to a group of people. You use this when you want to make sure everyone gets their part of a supply.

v. to deliver or hand out items to a specific group of recipients; to spread or scatter over an area. Transitive — requires a direct object representing the items being shared.


SIMPLE

The teacher will distribute the exam papers now.

CONTEXTUAL

The charity worked through the night to distribute food and clean water to the families affected by the storm.

COMPLEX

In a decentralized network, the system must distribute data across multiple servers to ensure that no single point of failure can compromise the entire database.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Origin

PIE word *tréyes From Latin distributus, past participle of distribuere (“to divide, distribute”), from dis- (“apart”) + tribuere (“to give, impart”); see tribute.

Usage

The verb is transitive and often takes the preposition 'to' or 'among' for the recipients.

Pitfall

The company distributes to its employees bonusesThe company distributes bonuses to its employeesThe direct object (the thing being given) should follow the verb immediately before the prepositional phrase.

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