syndicate
Americannoun
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a group of individuals or organizations combined or making a joint effort to undertake some specific duty or carry out specific transactions or negotiations.
The local furniture store is individually owned, but is part of a buying syndicate.
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a combination of bankers or capitalists formed for the purpose of carrying out some project requiring large resources of capital, as the underwriting of an issue of stock or bonds.
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Journalism.
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an agency that buys articles, stories, columns, photographs, comic strips, or other features and distributes them for simultaneous publication in a number of newspapers or periodicals.
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a business organization owning and operating a number of newspapers; newspaper chain.
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a group, combination, or association of gangsters controlling organized crime or one type of crime, especially in one region of the country.
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a council or body of syndics.
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a local organization of employers or employees in Italy during the Fascist regime.
verb (used with object)
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to combine into a syndicate.
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to publish simultaneously, or supply for simultaneous publication, in a number of newspapers or other periodicals.
Her column is syndicated in 120 papers.
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Television. to sell (a program, series, etc.) directly to independent stations.
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to sell shares in or offer participation in the financial sharing of (a risk venture, loan, or the like).
to syndicate a racehorse among speculators;
to syndicate a loan among several banks.
verb (used without object)
noun
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an association of business enterprises or individuals organized to undertake a joint project requiring considerable capital
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a news agency that sells articles, photographs, etc, to a number of newspapers for simultaneous publication
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any association formed to carry out an enterprise or enterprises of common interest to its members
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a board of syndics or the office of syndic
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(in Italy under the Fascists) a local organization of employers or employees
verb
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(tr) to sell (articles, photographs, etc) to several newspapers for simultaneous publication
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(tr) to sell (a programme or programmes) to several local commercial television or radio stations
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to form a syndicate of (people)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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syndicatesimple
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syndicatessimple
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have syndicatedperfect
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has syndicatedperfect
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am syndicatingprogressive
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are syndicatingprogressive
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is syndicatingprogressive
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have been syndicatingperfect progressive
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has been syndicatingperfect progressive
Past
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syndicatedsimple
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had syndicatedperfect
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was syndicatingprogressive
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were syndicatingprogressive
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had been syndicatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of syndicate
First recorded in 1600–10; from Middle French syndicat “office of syndic, board of syndics,” from Medieval Latin syndicātus, equivalent to syndic + -ate 3 ( def. )
Explanation
A syndicate is a group of corporations working for a common interest. A syndicate might collectively raise money for a real estate project. A syndicate sometimes has a criminal side — it can also describe a similar alliance of gangsters. Syndicate entered English in the 17th century from the French word syndicat, meaning "representative of a corporation." The Lloyd's of London insurance group is an early example of a syndicate. Syndicate can also describe an agency that sells the rights to copyrighted material, such as feature articles, to newspapers or magazines. The word has a verb form as well. If you work for a syndicate, you might syndicate the classic "Peanuts" cartoon strip in hundreds of newspapers around the world.
Vocabulary lists containing syndicate
Working Together: The Language of Unions
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"An Inside Look at Editorial Cartoons"
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Greetings from Witness Protection!
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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 fakes imitated brands like Bvlgari, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, and Tiffany & Co, and generated an estimated $1.14m in illicit profits for the counterfeit syndicate.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
The syndicate of investment banks underwriting the SpaceX IPO, which was the largest and most highly-touted IPO in history, accepted a fee of only 0.7%.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
There is no syndicate here: no boss, no hierarchy, no plan beyond the next cash-out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
Malaysian authorities said they collected fines from an agent for the Nora totaling around $33,000, and then released the ship and its crews, saying the case showed “the significant economic implications” of syndicate operations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
As part of its commitment, the syndicate went ahead and built a college for the Methodists.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
The fight to dismantle these syndicates looks almost like a military effort.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
So, the syndicates switched to online fraud instead, luring young workers from around the world with attractive salary offers.
From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2026
Pressure from Trump is not the only factor pushing Sheinbaum to move decisively against the criminal syndicates.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2026
Presenting the report to MPs, parliament majority leader Kimani Ichung'wah, described a "deeply disturbing" network of rogue state officials allegedly colluding with human trafficking syndicates to recruit and transport Kenyans.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2026
Lastly, there are some eight thousand mutual insurance societies organized as agricultural syndicates.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 3 "Convention" to "Copyright" by Various
The segments are also a staple of talk shows and syndicated programs such as “The View,” “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” “Entertainment Tonight” and “Inside Edition” and have spread to local TV stations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
In 1989 he began hosting the syndicated “The Byron Allen Show.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
Instead, it will exit the late-night game altogether, with plans to lease the 11:30 time slot to the syndicated show “Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen.”
From MarketWatch ● May 15, 2026
Data and supply for the eurozone government bond market include the German ZEW economic sentiment indicator, as well as bond auctions from the Netherlands and Germany, and a syndicated transaction from Belgium.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
The next day, Mrs. Roosevelt announced her resignation in her nationally syndicated newspaper column, focusing worldwide attention on the controversy.
From "The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights" by Russell Freedman
Those concentration limits emerged as an obstacle when a group of banks were syndicating some of the loans in late 2025 and early 2026, the people said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
The government adopted “financial interest and syndication,” or “fin-syn,” rules in the 1970s, preventing broadcasters from syndicating their own content and owning perpetual financial interest in their shows.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 12, 2025
The banks are currently syndicating only a slice of the $15 billion Citrix debt package as they gauge investor demand.
From Reuters ● Sep. 9, 2022
For decades the sisters competed viciously, tracking the number of newspapers syndicating their columns and sniping publicly about one sister’s nose job and the other’s writing abilities.
From New York Times ● Jun. 1, 2018
He personally was more interested in the syndicating of foreign external loans.
From The Guarded Heights by Camp, Wadsworth
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.
