promulgate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
promulgates,
present (3rd person singular)
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promulgated,
past participle, past
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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
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to make widespread
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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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
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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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Othello
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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:
“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
“We can do whatever we can in government to promulgate clear and concise and effective rules, but it’s industry that’s responsible for compliance and putting those rules into effect.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 12, 2023
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
A source close to Macron said the government was likely to quickly promulgate the bill in the official journal, possibly early next week, if it gets the Council's green light, to try to move on.
From Reuters ● Apr. 14, 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
According to the disclosures, the FBI usually would immediately disseminate information and provide training when the federal judiciary promulgates new legal guidance or directives.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 10, 2023
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
Laws are initiated in the Council and the Tynwald Court, which promulgates them, consists of the members of the Council, and the House of Keys, who unite for the occasion.
From Legal Lore Curiosities of Law and Lawyers by Various
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
And if even one of those delicate matters falls through, the catastrophic disruption promulgated by the strait’s closure is likely to last indefinitely.
From Slate ● Apr. 17, 2026
Officials this month promulgated a series of economic plans centered on a GDP growth target of 4.5% to 5%, the lowest since 1991.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
These interventions were all functions of the Monroe Doctrine, first promulgated by President James Monroe in 1823.
From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2026
Two days after the Kieff riot he promulgated a manifesto, framed by Pobiedonostzeff, and proclaiming the continuance of unqualified iron-handed absolutism.
From The White Terror and The Red A novel of revolutionary Russia by Abraham Cahan
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
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
By promulgating knowledge of how white supremacy works, the theory goes, racial justice can be advanced.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 27, 2022
Admitting patriotism to consist in these principles, I know of no man who has gone beyond Thomas Paine in promulgating and defending them, and that for almost twenty years past.
From The Writings Of Thomas Paine, Volume III. 1791-1804 by Thomas Paine
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.
