propagate
UK/ˈpɹɒpəˌɡeɪt//ˈpɹɑpəˌɡeɪt/
propagate verb: to cause to continue or multiply by generation, or successive production.
Verb
propagate (third-person singular simple present propagates, present participle propagating, simple past and past participle propagated)
- To cause to continue or multiply by generation, or successive production.
- June 1879, William Keith Brooks, Popular Science Monthly Volume 15 - The Condition of Women from a Zoological Point of View I
A marked bud-variation is of very rare occurrence, but in many cases the tendency of plants raised from seeds to differ from the parents is so great that choice varieties...
- June 1879, William Keith Brooks, Popular Science Monthly Volume 15 - The Condition of Women from a Zoological Point of View I
- To cause to spread to extend; to impel or continue forward in space.
- to propagate sound or light
- To spread from person to person; to extend the knowledge of; to originate and spread; to carry from place to place; to disseminate.
- There began to appear from the East, cropping up now here, now there, but in general along lines of advance towards the West, individuals or small communities who proposed and propagated a new and, as they called it, a purified form of religion.1938, Hilaire Belloc, chapter 4, in The Great Heresies
- The works of the freethinker Averroes (twelfth century) which were based on Aristotle's philosophy, propagated a small wave of rationalism in Christian countries.1913, J. B. Bury, chapter 3, in A History of Freedom of Thought
- To multiply; to increase.
- Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, / Which thou wilt propagate.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- To generate; to produce.
- But to [Edmund] Burke, […] the mere act of movement became the principle or cause of movement. Motion propagated motion, and life threw off life.1860, Thomas De Quincey, “Conversation”, in Letters to a Young Man whose Education has been Neglected; and Other Papers (De Quincey’s Works; XIV), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 157
- To be propagated; to travel.
- To produce young; to be produced or multiplied by generation, or by new shoots or plants.
- As pigeons propagate so rapidly, I suppose that a thousand or fifteen hundred birds would have to be annually killed by mere chance.1868, Charles Darwin, chapter XXVIII, in The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC
- To take effect on all relevant devices in a network.
- It takes 24 hours for password changes to propagate throughout the system.
- To cause to take effect on all relevant devices in a network.
- The server propagates the password file at midnight each day.
Adjective
propagate (comparative more propagate, superlative most propagate)
propagate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
propagate in Hindi
- प्रचार करना
propagate in Tamil
- பரப்பு, பிரச்சாரம் செய், இனம் பெருக்கு
propagate in Marathi
- प्रचार करणे
propagate in Urdu
- پرچار کرنا, رواج دینا, شائع کرنا, تبلیغ کرنا
More languagesFewer languages
- propagate in Bengali
- বিস্তার করা, বংশবিস্তার করা
- propagate in Malayalam
- പെരുക്കുക, പ്രജനനം നടത്തുക, വംശവർദ്ധന നടത്തുക
- propagate in Kannada
- ಹರಡು, ಒಯ್ಯು, ಮರುಹುಟ್ಟಿಸು, ಸಸಿಯನ್ನು ಬೆಳೆಸು
- propagate in Gujarati
- પ્રચાર કરવો, પ્રચાર કરવા
- propagate in Odia
- ପ୍ରଚାର କରିବା
- propagate in Sanskrit
- तनोति tanóti
- propagate in Nepali
- प्रचार गर्ने
Examples of propagate in a sentence
- In genetic hitchhiking, a gene is propagated because it occurs in conjunction with a favourable mutation.
- The flag irises are for the most part of the easiest culture and easily propagated.
- Earth Day is a way of propagating and celebrating the environmentalist mindset.
Forms of propagate
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | propagates |
| present participle | propagating |
| past participle | propagated |
| past | propagated |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more propagate |
| superlative | most propagate |
Origin of propagate
First attested in 1535; from Latin prōpāgātus, perfect passive participle of prōpāgō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix). Participial usage up until Early Modern English.
Words formed from propagate
Questions about propagate
- What does propagate mean?
- Propagate means to cause to continue or multiply by generation, or successive production.
- What is propagate in Hindi?
- Propagate in Hindi is प्रचार करना. See Propagate meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is propagate?
- Propagate can be a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce propagate?
- Propagate is pronounced /ˈpɹɒpəˌɡeɪt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of propagate?
- The past tense of propagate is propagated.
Words near propagate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: propagate (page history and authors); propagate (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); propagate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); propagate (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); propagate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); propagate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); propagate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); propagate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); propagate (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); propagate (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); तनोति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); propagate (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-propagate.oga, En-ca-propagate.oga.
Cite this entry: “propagate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/propagate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.