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.
See Examples For:
The singer's unique style and artistry has "contributed to the promotion of Congolese rumba and the dissemination of Congolese culture to an international audience," she added.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
The European Commission said Temu failed to properly assess the platform's design and how it "could amplify dissemination risks of illegal products".
From Barron's ● May 28, 2026
Bands had to create their own vehicles of dissemination.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
The telegraph connected the U.S. by 1861, enabling rapid news dissemination and Civil War oversight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
If this occurs, it will be the second time that the dissemination of Mesoamerican agricultural techniques will have had an enormous cultural impact—the first time being, of course, when they originated.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Instead, the Internet facilitates the rapid and widespread disseminations of disinformation, both by pranksters and by the malevolent.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2023
“These disseminations of controversial images could have negative consequences and influence on the dynamics” of the security forces, it said.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 2, 2023
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.
