distributor
Americannoun
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a person or thing that distributes.
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Commerce.
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a person, firm, etc., engaged in the general distribution or marketing of some article or class of goods.
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a wholesaler who has exclusive rights to market, within a given territory, the goods of a manufacturer or company.
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Automotive, Machinery. a device in a multicylinder engine that distributes the igniting voltage to the spark plugs in a definite sequence.
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Printing.
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(in a press) one of the rollers for spreading ink on the table, rolling it to a proper consistency, and transferring it to rollers that ink the form or plate.
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Also called distributor bar. (in a Linotype) a bar with keylike cuts along its length, for sorting matrices into their proper magazines after type has been cast.
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noun
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a person or thing that distributes
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a wholesaler or middleman engaged in the distribution of a category of goods, esp to retailers in a specific area
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the device in a petrol engine that distributes the high-tension voltage to the sparking plugs in the sequence of the firing order
Other Word Forms
- subdistributor noun
- underdistributor noun
Etymology
Origin of distributor
From the Late Latin word distribūtor, dating back to 1520–30. See distribute, -tor
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.
The news follows an announcement Monday that will see Volvo become the exclusive distributor of Lynk & Co vehicles in Europe.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026
Jim Foster, the owner of Global-Pak, an Ohio-based industrial packing distributor that sells bulk bags for shipping and storing dry powder products, spent about $7 million paying the now-voided tariffs.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026
The film grossed almost $100 million in the United States, becoming the top-grossing picture for independent film distributor A24.
From Barron's • Mar. 31, 2026
Three he wants to avoid are Deere, UPS, and air conditioning distributor Watsco.
From Barron's • Mar. 25, 2026
Plantagenet sold the photos to a distributor downtown and gave Lefty a percentage of the take.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
