redistribute
Americanverb (used with object)
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redistributes,
present (3rd person singular)
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redistributed,
past participle, past
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redistributing
present participle
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to distribute again or anew.
The corporation will redistribute its share of the profits to its stockholders.
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to alter the distribution of; apportion differently.
Let's redistribute the work more fairly.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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redistributesimple
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redistributessimple
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have redistributedperfect
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has redistributedperfect
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am redistributingprogressive
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are redistributingprogressive
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is redistributingprogressive
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have been redistributingperfect progressive
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has been redistributingperfect progressive
Past
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redistributedsimple
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had redistributedperfect
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was redistributingprogressive
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were redistributingprogressive
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had been redistributingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of redistribute
First recorded in 1605–15; re- + distribute
Explanation
Redistribute is a verb that means to distribute something again. If one poker player gets too many cards and another gets too few, the dealer should probably shuffle again and redistribute the cards evenly. You may recall the story of Robin Hood, who took it upon himself to "redistribute the wealth" by stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Well, in conversations about contemporary economics the word redistribute is often used to complain about taxes, which are often higher for people who have more money.
Vocabulary lists containing redistribute
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:
Men like Mr. Wells and Mr. Hoser see themselves as bandit-heroes, Robin Hoods who redistribute the wealth of scientific nomenclature.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
For the projects to meaningfully lower bills or boost investment in clean energy, the government would have to introduce specific mechanisms to redistribute some of the revenues generated, Rutter explained.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
They are active systems that can redistribute material throughout their surroundings by drawing gas inward and then returning a substantial portion through jets and winds.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026
Such riches will enable it to redistribute $2.7bn to the national football associations over the next four years.
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026
The waiter had come to take away the dishes and redistribute menus.
From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger
Meanwhile, SK Hynix redistributes 10% of its operating profit in employee bonuses—a practice Samsung is starting to adopt.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
Squeezing redistributes this uncertainty by making one property more precise while increasing uncertainty in the other.
From Science Daily ● May 1, 2026
The Kindness Offensive, a charity that redistributes donated goods to schools, food banks and community groups, was behind the gift drive.
From BBC ● Dec. 13, 2025
A charity that redistributes food to community larders delivered about 15,000 more meals to people in July compared to the same period last year.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2025
Its shape changes utterly as the weight redistributes.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
The new so-called solidarity mechanism creates a pool of about 30,000 asylum seekers to be redistributed across the 27 member states.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
During the Progressive Era, when party machine politics dominated, judicial elections were put forward as a reform to promote democratic accountability because they broke up concentrations of power and redistributed it to the people.
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2026
Petno helped put an end to its stand-alone mergers and acquisitions department and redistributed that team across the bank.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Although the ban has been reversed, tracts were redistributed to people, who were often on collective farms, rather than restored to their original owners and those who lost their land were never compensated.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
The chief’s hut looked like any other hut, there were no bureaucrats or public works, the chief redistributed most goods he received back to the commoners, and land was controlled by the community.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
She has said Wildberries was "focused on redistributing" across its warehouses and "ensuring the financial stability of our partners."
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
I’m worried I may not be diversified enough and may fare better selling and redistributing into less risky index funds.
From MarketWatch ● May 22, 2026
Comments from a senior South Korean official floating the idea of redistributing profits from the AI windfall to citizens weighed on Korean stocks, tapping the brakes on what has been a breakneck run-up this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
Holocaust Memorial Museum describes the program as a coordinated effort to strip communities of cultural identity while redistributing art through state and black-market channels.
From Salon ● May 9, 2026
The subprime mortgage market was generating half a trillion dollars’ worth of new loans a year, but the circle of people redistributing the risk that the entire market would collapse was tiny.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
