distributed

American  

[dih-strib-yoo-tid] / dɪˈstrɪb yʊ tɪd /

adjective

1. Computers.

   1. 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.

   2. 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.

2. 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.

3. Statistics. showing a specified type of distribution.

   A randomly distributed dominant gene has a prevalence of 75 percent.

---

Other Word Forms

• undistributed
  adjective
• well-distributed
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of distributed

distribute + -ed ²

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.

Example Sentences

Talk to your accountant or tax attorney about the rules for distributable net income to ensure that the $300,000 is distributed to your beneficiaries and taxed on their personal returns.

From MarketWatch • May 23, 2026

However, researchers say dietary cysteine appears to have a stronger effect on the intestine because it reaches the gut directly before being distributed throughout the body.

From Science Daily • May 21, 2026

To show how evenly accommodation is distributed, a scale compares each local authority's share of people in that type of accommodation with the UK-wide average for areas using the same accommodation type:

From BBC • May 21, 2026

So far, more than $51 million in proceeds from securities sales has been distributed to fund investors, according to a May 11 letter to Judge Furman from the receiver’s office.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026

When that pool’s numbers grew too small to warrant maintaining a section, the laboratory simply distributed the stragglers into other sections and passed their outstanding assignments along to West Computing.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Related Words

• appropriated
• assigned
• dispersed
• scattered
• shared