- past tense form of distribute.
- past participle of distribute.
distributed
Americanadjective
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Computers.
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being or relating to a network of devices, workstations, etc., in different locations connected by means of one or more other networks, allowing each member to carry out some or all of the management and processing of the shared information.
As computers began to connect across the internet, the CPU evolved from being specifically a central control system to become a node within a distributed network.
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being or relating to a single database shared across such a network, especially one integrating multiple smaller databases.
Back then no one was thinking of distributed databases with hundreds of servers working to keep data consistent across the nodes.
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Linguistics. (in distinctive feature analysis) characterized by relatively extensive contact or constriction between the articulating organs, as the in show in contrast to the in so.
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Statistics. showing a specified type of distribution.
A randomly distributed dominant gene has a prevalence of 75 percent.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of distributed
Explanation
Something is distributed when it's divided up or spread around, the way cupcakes might be distributed among guests at a birthday party. Distributed is a word that's often used to describe the stuff that businesses sell. When a truck pulls up to a convenience store and the driver unloads cases of soda, the soda is being distributed. The driver will go from store to store, distributing all of the soda in the truck between different stores and restaurants. Words and ideas can be distributed too, which is what happens at school when students are lucky.
Vocabulary lists containing distributed
Copper Sun
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Homesick
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Distributed by American production company A24 -- behind multiple horror hits, including 2019's "Midsommar" -- "Backrooms" mines the unease generated among users of image board 4chan by a strange photo someone posted in 2019.
From Barron's • May 28, 2026
Distributed to paid-in capital, or DPI, measures actual cash returned to fund investors and has become a yardstick for comparing the performance of asset managers.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026
Performance and reliability: Distributed GPU networks face inherent challenges with performance variance, latency and quality control.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 3, 2025
Distributed by Warner Bros. during the typically high-performing holiday movie season, “Rohirrim” only brought in about $4.5 million during its domestic opening weekend, with an expectedly higher international performance.
From Salon • Sep. 17, 2025
Distributed, if need be, into places dark as the bottom of a well.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
