noun
- an act or instance of distributing.
- the state or manner of being distributed.
- arrangement; classification.
- something that is distributed.
- the frequency of occurrence or the natural geographic range or place where any item or category of items occurs: What is the distribution of coniferous forests in the world?
- placement, location, arrangement, or disposition: The distribution of our troops is a military secret.
- apportionment: The court decided the distribution of the property among the heirs.
- the delivery or giving out of an item or items to the intended recipients, as mail or newspapers.
- the total number of an item delivered, sold, or given out: The distribution of our school paper is now 800.
- the marketing, transporting, merchandising, and selling of any item.
- (in bridge and other card games) the way in which the suits of a deck of cards are, or one specific suit is, divided or apportioned in one player’s hand or among the hands of all the players: My distribution was six spades, four hearts, two clubs, and a singleton diamond.
- Economics.
- the division of the aggregate income of any society among its members, or among the factors of production.
- the system of dispersing goods throughout a community.
- Statistics. a set of values or measurements of a set of elements, each measurement being associated with an element.
- Mathematics. a generalized function used especially in solving differential equations.
noun
- the act of distributing or the state or manner of being distributed
- a thing or portion distributed
- arrangement or location
- commerce the process of physically satisfying the demand for goods and services
- economics the division of the total income of a community among its members, esp between labour incomes (wages and salaries) and property incomes (rents, interest, and dividends)
- statistics the set of possible values of a random variable, or points in a sample space, considered in terms of new theoretical or observed frequencya normal distribution
- law the apportioning of the estate of a deceased intestate among the persons entitled to share in it
- law the lawful division of the assets of a bankrupt among his creditors
- finance
- the division of part of a company’s profit as a dividend to its shareholders
- the amount paid by dividend in a particular distribution
- engineering the way in which the fuel-air mixture is supplied to each cylinder of a multicylinder internal-combustion engine
mid-14c., from Old French distribution (13c.) and directly from Latin distributionem (nominative distributio) “a division, distribution,” noun of action from past participle stem of distribuere “deal out in portions,” from dis- “individually” + tribuere “assign, allot” (see tribute).
n.
- The extension of the branches of arteries or nerves to the tissues and organs.
- The area in which the branches of an artery or a nerve terminate, or the area supplied by such an artery or nerve.
- A set of numbers and their frequency of occurrence from measurements within a statistical population.
The process of marketing and merchandising goods. Also, the way in which wealth or goods or services are allotted, as in the distribution of wealth.