propagate
- 01 C1 Advanced
to grow new plants from an existing one, for example by using seeds or cuttings.
to cause an organism to multiply by any process of natural reproduction from the parent stock.
Simple“You can propagate many house plants simply by putting a cutting in water.”
In context“The nursery specializes in rare succulents that are notoriously difficult to propagate from leaf cuttings alone.”
UsageOften used with 'from' to indicate the source material.
- 02 C1 Advanced
to spread ideas, beliefs, or information to many people.
to disseminate or spread a report, doctrine, or practice from person to person or place to place.
Simple“The group used social media to propagate their political views across the country.”
In context“The philosopher's radical theories were propagated through a series of underground pamphlets and secret lectures during the late eighteenth century.”
Synonyms - 03 C1 Advanced
to move through a space or a substance, like sound or light waves.
to transmit a wave, impulse, or energy through a medium.
Simple“Sound waves propagate more quickly through water than they do through air.”
In context“The seismic waves propagate outward from the epicenter, losing intensity as they travel through different geological layers.”
- 04 C1 Advanced
to spread new data or settings through a whole computer system or network.
to distribute or update data across all relevant nodes or devices in a network or database.
Simple“It may take up to 24 hours for the new website address to propagate across the internet.”
In context“After the administrator updates the security policy, the changes must propagate to every workstation before the new rules take effect.”
UsageCommonly used as an intransitive verb in the context of DNS or database updates.
Synonyms
“Optimizing the waveguide length could allow users to capture a broad spectrum while it is still clean and stable, before the coherence degrades as the pulse propagates further.”
“When one mentions "waves," we immediately think of a perturbation that propagates.”
First attested in 1535; from Latin prōpāgātus, perfect passive participle of prōpāgō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix). Participial usage up until Early Modern English.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.