propagate
to cause (an organism) to multiply by any process of natural reproduction from the parent stock.
to reproduce (itself, its kind, etc.), as an organism does.
to transmit (hereditary features or elements) to, or through, offspring.
to spread (a report, doctrine, practice, etc.) from person to person; disseminate.
to cause to increase in number or amount.
to create (an effect) at a distance, as by electromagnetic waves, compression waves, etc., traveling through space or a physical medium; transmit: to propagate sound.
to spread (a disease) from one individual to another: Dr. John Atlee believed believed that filthy living conditions probably propagated cholera.
Computers. to cause (an update or other alteration) to take effect throughout a network of devices:The active master database replicates updates to the standby master database, which propagates the updates to the subscribers.
to multiply by any process of natural reproduction, as organisms; breed.
to increase in extent, as a structural flaw: The crack will propagate only to this joint.
(of electromagnetic waves, compression waves, etc.) to travel through space or a physical medium.
Computers. to take effect throughout a network of devices.
Origin of propagate
1Other words from propagate
- prop·a·ga·tive, prop·a·ga·to·ry [prop-uh-guh-tawr-ee], /ˈprɒp ə gəˌtɔr i/, adjective
- prop·a·ga·tor, noun
- non·prop·a·ga·tive, adjective
- self-prop·a·gat·ing, adjective
- un·prop·a·ga·tive, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use propagate in a sentence
A Utah State University team has measured just how rapidly breath droplets from a person speaking or coughing propagate in a room—a result that could help hospitals decide where to place equipment or patients’ beds.
The strong selection amounted to optically sorting and propagating into the next generation only the top 20 percent of green fluorescing organisms.
The mathematics behind a single soliton propagating on its own is relatively simple, but it grows more complicated when solitons cross each other.
A Mathematician’s Unanticipated Journey Through the Physical World | Kevin Hartnett | December 16, 2020 | Quanta MagazineThese animals—what Genus calls “elite germplasm”—are then propagated via breeding on “multiplier farms” and purchased by producers everywhere from Iowa to Beijing, who breed them still further.
Gene editing has made pigs immune to a deadly epidemic | Katie McLean | December 11, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewBy doing that, you, Steve and Courttia Wright did something that is slowly happening more on film — creating scenes not propagated by impending violence.
‘Lovers Rock’—The Story Behind The Music In Steve McQueen’s Tribute To Reggae | cmurray | November 28, 2020 | Essence.com
The publicity the family propagates for itself engenders a kind of madness, it has to in order to maintain itself.
They are yielding new insights into the way the shock front propagates in these really complex environments.
How a Thumb-Sized Gauge Is Revolutionizing Traumatic Brain Injuries | Brian Castner | March 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThat's all fine and dandy, except that it propagates a potentially false story from an unsavory source.
How Israeli Government Officials Fueled A Conspiracy Website Story About Iran | Ali Gharib | January 28, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTBesides the whole species is subjected to man, who propagates and multiplies it as much as he pleases.
Buffon's Natural History. Volume VIII (of 10) | Georges Louis Leclerc de BuffonGreece, artistic before becoming a trader, propagates by her colonies her mind and her ideas.
History of Julius Caesar Vol. 1 of 2 | Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, 1808-1873.Experience shows that it thrives and propagates best in the soil of materialism.
The War Upon Religion | Rev. Francis A. CunninghamThe high, inaccessible cliffs of Scotland and Ireland are the places where this noble bird propagates its race.
Birds' Nests, Eggs and Egg-Collecting | Richard KeartonThe salutary influence which good example propagates, we find stamped on every avocation in life.
Gathering Jewels | James Knowles and Matilda Darroch Knowles
British Dictionary definitions for propagate
/ (ˈprɒpəˌɡeɪt) /
biology to reproduce or cause to reproduce; breed
(tr) horticulture to produce (plants) by layering, grafting, cuttings, etc
(tr) to promulgate; disseminate
physics to move through, cause to move through, or transmit, esp in the form of a wave: to propagate sound
(tr) to transmit (characteristics) from one generation to the next
Origin of propagate
1Derived forms of propagate
- propagation, noun
- propagational, adjective
- propagative, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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