promulgate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
promulgates,
present (3rd person singular)
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promulgated,
past participle, past
-
promulgating
present participle
verb
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to put into effect (a law, decree, etc), esp by formal proclamation
-
to announce or declare officially
-
to make widespread
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
promulgatesimple
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promulgatessimple
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have promulgatedperfect
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has promulgatedperfect
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am promulgatingprogressive
-
are promulgatingprogressive
-
is promulgatingprogressive
-
have been promulgatingperfect progressive
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has been promulgatingperfect progressive
Past
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promulgatedsimple
-
had promulgatedperfect
-
was promulgatingprogressive
-
were promulgatingprogressive
-
had been promulgatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of promulgate
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin prōmulgātus, past participle of prōmulgāre “to make known, promulgate”; see promulge, -ate 1
Explanation
To promulgate is to officially put a law into effect. Your state may announce a plan to promulgate a new traffic law on January 1st. Laws aren't the only things you can promulgate. The word promulgate comes from the Latin word promulgatus, meaning "make publicly known." Someone can promulgate values, belief systems, and philosophies — it just means they're promoted or made public. For example, you might write an article to promulgate the benefits of eating only organic foods.
Vocabulary lists containing promulgate
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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:
On Monday, government spokesperson Maud Bregeon said Macron "has decided to promulgate the law" containing the ban on phones, despite the Constitutional Council striking down its flagship provision.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
“Today’s FTC can bring civil enforcement suits against private parties, promulgate binding rules, issue final orders in administrative adjudications, and investigate potential violations of the law.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
“Jim is still trying to promulgate an interest to all youth — come to the Filipino Hall for activities,” she said.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 11, 2024
The Sisters have come a long way, but never strayed from their mission: to promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2023
He couldn’t easily promulgate it, though, because he had a tragic flaw: a severe speech impediment, perhaps a stutter.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Achieving the first goal necessitates restraint and care, both from the SEC when it promulgates a rule and from Congress when it directs the commission to mandate disclosure on a subject.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 2, 2025
Race, a keen source of conflict in the stories a society promulgates about itself, raises these stakes astronomically.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2021
James taught that the value of a practice or policy doesn’t depend on the authority or movement that promulgates it, nor on the philosophical framework from which it derives.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 19, 2020
Mr. Miller now occupies a large West Wing office and has influence on virtually every element of immigration policy, from the words the president uses to the regulations he promulgates.
From New York Times ● Aug. 17, 2019
At other times superior knowledge promulgates fear, because it recognizes the danger earlier.
From A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
The White House Office of Management and Budget promulgated the first government-wide standards in 1977, which have been used by every administration during the past five decades.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Nearly 150 members of Congress — including more than a dozen Republicans — wrote a letter the day after the rule was promulgated expressing “disappointment” over the exclusion of post-baccalaureate nursing degrees.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
It promulgated an impressive miniconstitution and signed an international treaty with Britain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
These interventions were all functions of the Monroe Doctrine, first promulgated by President James Monroe in 1823.
From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2026
The canon had not yet been officially promulgated.
From The Catholic World; Volume I, Issues 1-6 A Monthly Eclectic Magazine by E. Rameur
It also claimed Lara did not follow regulatory protocol in promulgating the new policy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
When reminiscing about films or promulgating his ideas on technique, Kurosawa comes across as approachable and marvelously unassuming.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
TikTok’s algorithmic For You page sure seems like it’s really good at widely promulgating the ideas from this group of hucksters.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2024
All state matters were rigorously scrutinized by Louis, and he spent hours planning troop movements, overseeing the building of roads and canals, and promulgating legal codes for France’s colonies.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
Thus, for example, those engaged in promulgating the Christian faith are not as yet agreed by what Chinese word the God of Christianity may best be indicated.
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
