ENGLISH
REFERENCE

distributed

v.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //dɪˈstɹɪbjətəd// UK //dˈɪstɹɪbjˌuːtɪd// dis·trib·uted

v. to share or spread things out over a large area or among many people. In computing, it means sharing work or data across many different computers at the same time.

v. to parcel out or allocate items or tasks among several recipients or locations. In a technical context, it refers to the arrangement of data or processing tasks across multiple nodes in a network.


SIMPLE

The software distributed the files to every computer on the network.

CONTEXTUAL

The system distributed the incoming web traffic across several servers to prevent any single machine from crashing.

COMPLEX

By utilizing a distributed computing model, the research team processed decades of climate data in weeks rather than years, leveraging the idle power of thousands of individual workstations.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Usage

The verb is transitive and takes a direct object. Often used in the passive voice when describing technical systems.

Pitfall

The data distributed to the servers.The data was distributed to the servers.When describing the result of a process, learners often forget the passive 'be' verb; the data does not distribute itself.

© 2026 English Reference