Adjacent Words

Distribution definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DISTRIBUTION, n. [L.]
1. The act of dividing among a number; a dealing in parts or portions; as the distribution of an estate among heirs or children.
2. The act of giving in charity; a bestowing in parts.
3. Dispensation; administration to numbers; a rendering to individuals; as the distribution of justice.
4. The act of separating into distinct parts or classes; as the distribution of plants into genera and species.
5. In architecture, the dividing and disposing of the several parts of the building, according to some plan, or to the rules of the art.
6. In rhetoric, a division and enumeration of the several qualities of a subject.
7. In general, the division and disposition of the parts of any thing.
8. In printing, the taking a form apart; the separating of the types, and placing each letter in its proper cell in the cases.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: (statistics) an arrangement of values of a variable showing their observed or theoretical frequency of occurrence [syn: distribution, statistical distribution]
2: the spatial or geographic property of being scattered about over a range, area, or volume; "worldwide in distribution"; "the distribution of nerve fibers"; "in complementary distribution" [syn: distribution, dispersion] [ant: compactness, concentration, denseness, density, tightness]
3: the act of distributing or spreading or apportioning
4: the commercial activity of transporting and selling goods from a producer to a consumer

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 14th century 1. a. the act or process of distributing b. the apportionment by a court of the personal property of an intestate 2. a. the position, arrangement, or frequency of occurrence (as of the members of a group) over an area or throughout a space or unit of time b. the natural geographic range of an organism 3. a. something distributed: as (1) a sum of money withdrawn from a fund (as a retirement fund) and given to the beneficiary or holder of the fund (2) dividend 1a b. (1) frequency distribution (2) probability function (3) probability density function 2 4. the pattern of branching and termination of a ramifying structure (as a nerve) 5. the marketing or merchandising of commodities • distributional adjective

U.S. Military Dictionary

1. The arrangement of troops for any purpose, such as a battle, march, or maneuver. 2. A planned pattern of projectiles about a point. 3. A planned spread of fire to cover a desired frontage or depth. 4. An official delivery of anything, such as orders or supplies. 5. The operational process of synchronizing all elements of the logistic system to deliver the "right things" to the "right place" at the "right time" to support the geographic combatant commander. 6. The process of assigning military personnel to activities, units, or billets. (JP 4-0)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the act or an instance of distributing; the process of being distributed. 2 Econ. a the dispersal of goods etc. among consumers, brought about by commerce. b the extent to which different groups, classes, or individuals share in the total production or wealth of a community. 3 Statistics the way in which a characteristic is spread over members of a class. Derivatives: distributional adj. Etymology: ME f. OF distribution or L distributio (as DISTRIBUTE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Distribution Dis`tri*bu"tion, n. [L. distributio: cf. F. distribution.] 1. The act of distributing or dispensing; the act of dividing or apportioning among several or many; apportionment; as, the distribution of an estate among heirs or children. The phenomena of geological distribution are exactly analogous to those of geography. --A. R. Wallace. 2. Separation into parts or classes; arrangement of anything into parts; disposition; classification. 3. That which is distributed. ``Our charitable distributions.'' --Atterbury. 4. (Logic) A resolving a whole into its parts. 5. (Print.) The sorting of types and placing them in their proper boxes in the cases. 6. (Steam Engine) The steps or operations by which steam is supplied to and withdrawn from the cylinder at each stroke of the piston; viz., admission, suppression or cutting off, release or exhaust, and compression of exhaust steam prior to the next admission. Geographical distribution, the natural arrangements of animals and plants in particular regions or districts. Syn: Apportionments; allotment; dispensation; disposal; dispersion; classification; arrangement.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(distributions) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. The distribution of things involves giving or delivering them to a number of people or places. ...the council which controls the distribution of foreign aid... ...emergency food distribution. N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp 2. The distribution of something is how much of it there is in each place or at each time, or how much of it each person has. ...a more equitable distribution of wealth. = spread N-VAR: usu with supp

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Apportionment, allotment, assignment, dole, partition, division, dispensation, dispensing. 2. Arrangement, classification, disposal, disposition, grouping.

Moby Thesaurus

administration, allocation, allotment, apportionment, arrangement, array, arraying, assignment, attenuation, broadcast, broadcasting, cataloguing, circulation, circumfusion, classification, codification, collation, collocation, constitution, deployment, diffraction, diffusion, dilution, disbursal, disbursement, dispensation, dispersal, dispersion, disposal, disposition, dissemination, dissipation, divergence, division, dole, doling, doling out, evaporation, expansion, form, formation, formulation, fragmentation, giving out, grouping, issuance, marshaling, order, ordering, passing around, paying out, peppering, placement, propagation, publication, radiation, regimentation, scattering, scatterment, sequence, sharing, shotgun pattern, sowing, spattering, splay, spread, spreading, sprinkling, strewing, structuring, syntax, volatilization