From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdistributedis‧trib‧ute /dɪˈstrɪbjuːt/ ●●○ W2 AWL verb [transitive] 1 GIVEto share things among a group of people, especially in a planned way SYN give outdistribute something among/to somebody Clothes and blankets have been distributed among the refugees. a man distributing leaflets to passers-by► see thesaurus at give2 BBTto supply goods to shops and companies so that they can sell them Milk is distributed to the local shops by Herald’s Dairies.3 SPREADto spread something over a large area Make sure the weight of the load is evenly distributed.4 → be distributed→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
distribute• A handout or employee brochure with the basic facts can be distributed.• If women were evenly distributed across the spectrum of employment, their pay levels would be much closer to those of men.• Medical supplies have been distributed among families affected by the epidemic.• Your weight should be evenly distributed between both legs.• The tape costs $19.95 and is distributed by American Video.• The Red Cross has started distributing food and blankets to villages in the flood area.• Aid agencies are calling for local volunteers to help them distribute food and medicine.• So they constantly demanded changes in the structure of government in the district in order to distribute power-and taxes-more equably.• The party's aim is to distribute power more evenly among the people.• Copies of the report were distributed shortly after the meeting.• Each panel distributes sound evenly in all directions.• We must try to distribute the country's wealth so that we help those who need it most.• The National Science Foundation is responsible for distributing the grant money.• If the receipt is distributed to shareholders as dividends then the capital base of the business has been eroded.• These are widely distributed within the region.evenly distributed• Moreover, unemployment has not been evenly distributed.• The dough should be elastic, soft, tacky, but not sticky and the seeds should be evenly distributed.• Unfortunately, these 13 million words are not evenly distributed across the 10 superfields.• If women were evenly distributed across the spectrum of employment, their pay levels would be much closer to those of men.• These birds are not evenly distributed along the coast.• Pensioner's incomes are not, of course, evenly distributed and important inequalities exist.• The twenty slides are evenly distributed by gender, with a good mix of age and race.• This pattern of irregular loading subjects the vessel to quite different stress from that exerted by an evenly distributed load of coal.From Longman Business Dictionarydistributedis‧trib‧ute /dɪˈstrɪbjuːt/ verb [transitive]1MARKETINGCOMMERCEto make goods available to customers after they have been producedThe new products will be sold under the Lipton brand and distributed by Pepsi.2FINANCE to divide up a company’s profits for a particular period of time and give them to shareholders in the form of DIVIDENDs or new sharesOne share of Celtrix will be distributed for every four Collagen shares held.→ See Verb tableOrigin distribute (1400-1500) Latin distribuere “to give out”, from tribuere “to give to a particular person” 