dissemination
Americannoun
Usage
What does dissemination mean? Dissemination is the act or process of disseminating—distributing, spreading, broadcasting, or dispersing widely. The word is especially used in reference to the distribution of information, or things that contain information, like files and documents. It is also associated with the official release of such information by organizations, such as the dissemination of a press release by a company or the dissemination of information to the public by a government agency. Example: Our chief media officer is responsible for the dissemination of press releases to various outlets.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dissemination
First recorded in 1630–50; disseminat(e) ( def. ) + -ion ( def. )
Explanation
Dissemination is the scattering of information. If you've done something really embarrassing and don't want the whole school to know, let's hope no one who saw you is an expert in the rapid dissemination of humiliating facts. Dissemination builds on the word, seminate, meaning "to plan seeds." When you add the prefix dis-, you add the idea of separation, so to disseminate means to spread seeds widely. These could be literal seeds, like the dissemination of Oak genes by the scattering of acorns, or metaphorical seeds of ideas, like the dissemination of radical ideas through blogs, zines, and list-servs.
Vocabulary lists containing dissemination
Journalism
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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Pet
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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.
Bands had to create their own vehicles of dissemination.
From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026
These groups have drafted state legislation, planned its dissemination and engaged a well-connected lobbying firm to get them signed into law.
From Salon • Apr. 10, 2026
Woodrow Wilson jailed war critics, put enemy aliens under tight constraints, and prohibited the dissemination of antiwar materials through the mail.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
"We will take this experience as a lesson, and will strive to improve the accuracy and speed of our future information dissemination," the town said.
From Barron's • Nov. 27, 2025
The printing press not only transformed the dissemination of knowledge but also, by making exact visual information widely available, brought about a revision in the traditional conception of what knowledge is.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
