syndicate

American  

[sin-di-kit, sin-di-keyt] / ˈsɪn dɪ kɪt, ˈsɪn dɪˌkeɪt /

noun

• syndicates
  plural

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. Journalism.

   1. 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.

   2. a business organization owning and operating a number of newspapers; newspaper chain.

4. a group, combination, or association of gangsters controlling organized crime or one type of crime, especially in one region of the country.

5. a council or body of syndics.

6. a local organization of employers or employees in Italy during the Fascist regime.

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verb (used with object)

• syndicates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• syndicated,
  past participle,  past
• syndicating
  present participle

1. to combine into a syndicate.

2. to publish simultaneously, or supply for simultaneous publication, in a number of newspapers or other periodicals.

   Her column is syndicated in 120 papers.

3. Television. to sell (a program, series, etc.) directly to independent stations.

4. 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)

• syndicates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• syndicated,
  past participle,  past
• syndicating
  present participle

1. to combine to form a syndicate.

syndicate British  

noun

1. an association of business enterprises or individuals organized to undertake a joint project requiring considerable capital

2. a news agency that sells articles, photographs, etc, to a number of newspapers for simultaneous publication

3. any association formed to carry out an enterprise or enterprises of common interest to its members

4. a board of syndics or the office of syndic

5. (in Italy under the Fascists) a local organization of employers or employees

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verb

1. (tr) to sell (articles, photographs, etc) to several newspapers for simultaneous publication

2. (tr) to sell (a programme or programmes) to several local commercial television or radio stations

3. to form a syndicate of (people)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subsyndicate
  noun
• supersyndicate
  noun
• syndication
  noun
• syndicatable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• syndicates
  plural

Participles

• syndicating
  present
• syndicated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• syndicate
  simple
• syndicates
  simple
• have syndicated
  perfect
• has syndicated
  perfect
• am syndicating
  progressive
• are syndicating
  progressive
• is syndicating
  progressive
• have been syndicating
  perfect progressive
• has been syndicating
  perfect progressive

Past

• syndicated
  simple
• had syndicated
  perfect
• was syndicating
  progressive
• were syndicating
  progressive
• had been syndicating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will syndicate
  simple
• will have syndicated
  perfect
• will be syndicating
  progressive
• will have been syndicating
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

syndicate syndicates syndicated syndicating

Jefferson, his wife and their four children set up the syndicate in July 2025 to celebrate his birthday.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

A dual Logoman Kobe-Jordan autographed card that my syndicate bought for $12.93 million last August is now worth $21 million.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026

Awaludin said the police suspected "MSO" to be part of an international syndicate, and he has been charged with smuggling.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 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

“The syndicate is paying five cents apiece for plum tomatoes that cost you only half a cent apiece. How does the syndicate benefit?”

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

West Africa poses numerous attractive benefits to Mexican syndicates, starting with swathes of forested land which makes well for secluded production sites.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Many have lost money to multifamily housing syndicates and investments that turned out to be scams.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 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

Bogus companies and fraudulent syndicates will be investigated and, when necessary, exposed and warning given to the public regarding them.

From All about the Klondyke gold mines by J. Armoy Knox

—In Europe, bond supply will come from Germany, which auctions 6 billion euros in August 2036 Bund, while Finland is set to go ahead with the syndicated launch of a new seven-year bond.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

But last year, a Slate piece of mine was syndicated by Apple News.

From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026

During World War II, she went to the theaters of war in the South Pacific and wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column six days a week for decades.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026

As Allen’s media ambitions have expanded beyond comedy and syndicated talk shows, so has his company.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 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

But as Blue Owl began syndicating the debt financing to institutional investors, some lenders declined to participate and cited CoreWeave’s credit rating as a key reason, Business Insider reported.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 20, 2026

According to a banker who works on debt syndications, their team is avoiding syndicating deals next week on expected market volatility, as well as due to holiday vacations during the Memorial Day week.

From Reuters ● May 26, 2023

Though Netflix rode to success syndicating studio content, for the last several years it's focused heavily on original series like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black.

From The Verge ● Nov. 19, 2015

All these weeks a bunch of hard old goldbugs had been sitting in conclave, weighing my evidence and reports and making one inadequate syndicating offer after another.

From Rose of Old Harpeth by Maria Thompson Daviess

Related Words

• association
• cartel
• conglomerate
• gang
• mob
• organization
• ring
• union