distribution
Pluraldistributions
- 1The act of giving something out to many people, or the way something is spread out.
Like dealing out cards so each player gets a share.
The distribution of food packages started early in the morning.
Volunteers helped with the distribution of blankets after the storm.
UsageSay the distribution of something to or among people.
Similarallocation, dispersal, dissemination, apportionment
Oppositecollection
- 2The work of moving products from the company that makes them to the people who buy them.
The company pays a lot for the distribution of its snacks to stores.
Trucks leave the distribution center every night loaded with fresh goods.
UsageOften has no a or the before it: poor distribution, take over distribution for a company.
Note
- 3The way things are spread out over a place or among a group.
Like the way chocolate chips end up spread through a cookie.
This map shows the distribution of oak trees across the state.
She liked the even distribution of flowers along the garden path.
UsageOften an even or uneven distribution of something across a place.
Similarspread
Oppositeconcentration
- 4The way money and wealth are divided among the people in a country or group.
The distribution of wealth in the city is very unequal.
Many people think the distribution of wealth in this country is unfair.
UsageUsually the distribution of wealth or income distribution.
Similardivision
Note
- 5In math, a description of how likely each possible value of something is.
Like a map of chances that shows which results happen often and which are rare.
The distribution of test scores had most students near the middle.
If you roll two dice many times, the distribution of totals peaks at seven.
UsageOften with a word for its shape, like a normal distribution; numbers follow a distribution.
Note
- 6A collection of computer programs that are packaged and released together, such as a version of Linux.
Like a lunch box that comes with everything packed inside, ready to use.
She installed a Linux distribution on her old laptop to make it faster.
The distribution comes with a web browser, an office suite, and games already set up.
UsagePeople often say a Linux distribution, or just distro for short.
Similardistro
Note
- 7An amount that is given out to someone as their share.
Every member of the club got a small cash distribution at the end of the year.
His monthly distribution from the fund pays for his groceries.
UsageYou get a distribution from a fund or trust; distributions is common too.
Similarshare, allotment, allocation, payout, dividend
Note
- 8The dividing of money or property among people, done under the rules of the law.
After their grandmother died, the distribution of her property gave each of her three children an equal share.
A judge oversaw the distribution of the funds among the families.
Similardivision, apportionment
Less common meanings
- 9The total amount of something that a company sells or sends to its customers.
The newspaper's distribution dropped to ten thousand copies a day.
The comic book had a distribution of only a few hundred copies.
Similarcirculation, sales
- 10The selling of stocks or bonds, especially to people who plan to keep them for a long time.
The bank handled the distribution of the new shares to large investors.
After the distribution, most of the bonds ended up with pension funds.
Similarplacement
Note
- 11How the cards in a hand are split among the suits, or how one suit is split among the players.
His distribution was odd: six spades and not a single club.
With an even distribution, he had three or four cards in every suit.
UsageUsed with number patterns: he had a 4-4-3-2 distribution. The a can also be left out.
Note
- 12The act of breaking something whole into the smaller parts it is made of.
- 13A way of explaining something by splitting it into different cases and talking about each one.
- 14The job of putting used metal letters back into their correct boxes after printing.
- 15The steps that bring steam into an engine's cylinder and then let it out during each stroke.
- 16In higher math, a choice of certain directions at every point of a curved space.
Practice
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Origin
From Old French distribution, from Latin distributio, a noun based on distribuere 'to distribute', formed from dis- 'apart' and tribuere 'to give'.