# distribute

/dɪˈstɹɪbjut/ (US) · /dˈɪstɹɪbjˌuːt/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/distribute
Updated: 2026-06-20

## Senses

### 1. to give out

verb · CEFR B2

to give something to each person in a large group.

For teachers: to hand out or deliver items to a specific group of recipients. Transitive; requires a direct object.

- The teacher will distribute the exam papers once everyone is sitting quietly.
- Aid agencies worked around the clock to distribute emergency food supplies to the families displaced by the flooding.

Usage: Often used with the preposition 'to'.

### 2. to spread over an area

verb · CEFR B2 · Academic

to spread something across a surface or space.

For teachers: to scatter or spread something more or less evenly over a particular area or through a space.

- Make sure you distribute the seeds evenly across the garden bed.
- The software is designed to distribute the processing load across several different servers to prevent any single machine from crashing.

Usage: Commonly used with 'evenly' or 'across'.

### 3. business supply

verb · CEFR B2

to supply goods to shops and businesses so they can sell them.

For teachers: to supply goods to retail outlets or secondary markets as part of a commercial chain.

- The company distributes its products to over fifty countries worldwide.
- The publisher signed a new deal with a major logistics firm to distribute their textbooks to university bookstores nationwide.

## Examples

- The teacher will distribute the exam papers now.
- The charity worked through the night to distribute food and clean water to the families affected by the storm.
- 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.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.