disseminate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dissēminātus, the perfect passive participle of dissēminō (“to broadcast, disseminate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), further from dis- (“asunder, in all directions”) + sēminō (“to plant, sow”), from sēmen (“seed”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). See also Middle English disseminat(e) (“disseminated”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /dɪˈsɛmɪˌneɪt/, /dɪˈsɛməˌneɪt/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /dɪˈsemɪˌnæɪt/

  • Audio (Brisbane):

    (file)

Verb

disseminate (third-person singular simple present disseminates, present participle disseminating, simple past and past participle disseminated)

1. (transitive) To sow and scatter principles, ideas, opinions, etc, or concrete things, for growth and propagation, like seeds.
2. (intransitive) To become widespread.

   The values of the human rights movement have disseminated throughout the world.

   • 1859, Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species:

     As the missletoe is disseminated by birds, its existence depends on birds; and it may metaphorically be said to struggle with other fruit-bearing plants, in order to tempt birds to devour and thus disseminate its seeds rather than those of other plants. In these several senses, which pass into each other, I use for convenience sake the general term of struggle for existence.

Synonyms

• spread
• circulate
• propagate

Coordinate terms

• promulgate

Derived terms

• autodisseminate
• disseminatable
• disseminative
• disseminator
• disseminatory
• redisseminate

Related terms

• dissemination
• semen

Translations

transitive: to sow and scatter principles, etc. for propagation, like seed

• Bulgarian: разпръсквам (bg) (razprǎskvam), разпространявам (bg) (razprostranjavam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 散播 (zh) (sànbō), 傳播 / 传播 (zh) (chuánbō)

• Dutch: uitdragen (nl)
• French: disséminer (fr)
• German: verbreiten (de), verteilen (de), aussähen (de), veröffentlichen (de), ausbreiten (de), disseminieren, sähen (de), disseminieren, ausstreuen (de)
• Hungarian: terjeszt (hu)
• Irish: síolaigh, scaip
• Japanese: 蒔く (ja) (まく, maku), 広める (ja) (ひろめる, hiromeru)
• Korean: 뿌리다 (ko) (ppurida), 퍼뜨리다 (peotteurida)
• Latin: dissēminō
• Maori: whakahōrapa
• Ottoman Turkish: یایمق (yaymak)
• Polish: rozsiewać (pl) impf, rozsiać (pl) pf, rozpowszechniać (pl) impf, rozpowszechnić (pl) pf, rozprzestrzeniać (pl) impf, rozprzestrzenić (pl) pf, szerzyć (pl) impf
• Portuguese: disseminar (pt)
• Quechua: ch'iqichiy
• Russian: рассе́ивать (ru) (rasséivatʹ), распространя́ть (ru) (rasprostranjátʹ)
• Spanish: diseminar (es)
• Swedish: utsprida (sv), sprida (sv)
• Tagalog: magpakalat
• Turkish: yaymak (tr)

intransitive: to become scattered

• Bulgarian: разпространявам се (razprostranjavam se)
• German: verbreiten (de), verteilen (de), ausstreuen (de), ausbreiten (de), verstreuen (de)
• Hungarian: szétszóródik (hu)
• Irish: síolaigh, scaip
• Japanese: 広まる (ja) (ひろまる, hiromaru)
• Korean: 퍼지다 (ko) (peojida)
• Polish: szerzyć się (pl) impf, rozprzestrzeniać się (pl) impf
• Russian: рассе́иваться (ru) (rasséivatʹsja), распространя́ться (ru) (rasprostranjátʹsja)
• Swedish: utspridas (sv), spridas (sv)
• Turkish: yayılmak (tr)

Further reading

• “disseminate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “disseminate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• mediastines

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

disseminate

1. inflection of disseminare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

disseminate f pl

1. feminine plural of disseminato

Latin

Verb

dissēmināte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of dissēminō