distributive

adjective

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dis·trib·u·tive | \ di-ˈstri-byü-tiv

, -byə-

Definition of distributive

1 : of or relating to distribution: such as

a : dealing a proper share to each of a group

b : diffusing more or less evenly

2 of a word : referring singly and without exception to the members of a group each, either, and none are distributive

3a : being an operation (such as multiplication in a(b + c) = ab + ac) that produces the same result when operating on the whole mathematical expression as when operating on each part and collecting the results

b : being or relating to a rule or property concerning a distributive operation the distributive property of multiplication with respect to addition

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Examples of distributive in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The entire operation allowed students to have a strong visual and hands-on experience for learning the distributive property. — John Benson, cleveland, 24 Nov. 2021 The second view reframes climate change as a distributive conflict. — Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 12 Nov. 2021 State income tax shared through the local government distributive fund for 2022 is estimated at $18.3 million, up $4.7 million, or 35%, from last year. — Suzanne Baker, chicagotribune.com, 28 Oct. 2021 When the pandemic began, a large chunk of the population served by CHUM was unable to access its food shelves, said Scott Van Daele, CHUM's distributive services director. — Jana Hollingsworth, Star Tribune, 10 May 2021 The report should include the distributive impacts of any new measure, and the use of tax return information is meant to make the regime administrable. — Marie Sapirie, Forbes, 4 Mar. 2021 Thursday, Aidan and I spent an hour arguing about the distributive property for math, and another conjugating hablar for Spanish. — Kevin Fisher-paulson, SFChronicle.com, 17 Nov. 2020 Overall, women working in leadership positions in Utah counties hold 61.2% of redistributive roles, 37.5% of regulatory positions, 32.7% of administrative spots and 13.2% of distributive jobs. — Becky Jacobs, The Salt Lake Tribune, 2 Sep. 2020 Opening the world’s borders would be an act of revenue-generating humanitarianism—a form of laissez-faire global distributive justice, on the order of seventy-five trillion dollars a year. — Zoey Poll, The New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'distributive.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

2 Jan 2022

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“Distributive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/distributive. Accessed 25 Jan. 2022.

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More Definitions for distributive

distributive

adjective

dis·trib·u·tive | \ di-ˈstri-byü-tiv

, -byə- \

Kids Definition of distributive

1 : of or relating to the act of giving or spreading out

2 : producing the same answer when operating on the sum of several numbers as when operating on each and collecting the results Multiplication is distributive.