distributive
/dɪsˈtɹɪbjʊtɪv/
distributive adjective: relating to distribution.
Adjective
distributive (comparative more distributive, superlative most distributive)
- Relating to distribution.
- Tending to distribute; serving to divide and assign in portions; dealing a proper share to each.
- [I]t is worth obſerving the diſtributive Juſtice of the Authors, which is conſtantly applied to the Puniſhment of Virtue, and the Reward of Vice; […]1709, [Jonathan Swift], A Project for the Advancement of Religion, and the Reformation of Manners. […], London: […] Benj[amin] Tooke, […], →OCLC, page 40
- A property of functions that have a rule describing how the function can be performed to the individual components of another operation.
- If function f is distributive with respect to function g, then f(a,g(b,c))=g(f(a,b),f(a,c)).
- If the operation ⋆ is distributive with respect to the operation ∘, then a⋆(b∘c)=(a⋆b)∘(a⋆c).
- Assigning the species of a general term.
- Expressing separation; denoting a taking singly, not collectively.
- a distributive adjective or pronoun, such as "each", "either", or "every"
- a distributive numeral, such as Latin "bini" (two by two)
Noun
distributive (plural distributives)
- distributive case
- A distributive adjective or pronoun.
- A distributive numeral.
distributive meaning in Tamil, Malayalam and Tagalog
distributive in Tamil
- விரவத்தகு, பகிரத்தகு, பங்கிடத் தகுந்த, பகிரத்தகு சொல்
distributive in Malayalam
- പകർന്നുകൊടുക്കുന്ന, വിഭാജകമായ, ഇനം തിരിക്കുന്ന
distributive in Tagalog
- relating to distribution
- bahagihin
- tending to distribute
- bahagihin
- math: property of functions
- bahagihin
Examples of distributive in a sentence
- In a distributive lattice, the set of complemented elements is a sublattice.
- "Singly" is a distributive number, while "single" is a multiplier.
- Such quantifiers are characterized as dispensive(or distributive), and are distinguished from collective reference (e.g.
Forms of distributive
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more distributive |
| superlative | most distributive |
| Noun | |
| plural | distributives |
Origin of distributive
From Middle French distributif, from Latin distribūtīvus.
Words formed from distributive
Phrases with distributive
Questions about distributive
- What does distributive mean?
- Distributive means relating to distribution.
- What is distributive in Tamil?
- Distributive in Tamil is விரவத்தகு, பகிரத்தகு, பங்கிடத் தகுந்த. See Distributive meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is distributive?
- Distributive can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce distributive?
- Distributive is pronounced /dɪsˈtɹɪbjʊtɪv/.
Words near distributive in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: distributive (page history and authors); distributive (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); distributive (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-distributive.wav.
Cite this entry: “distributive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/distributive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.