disseminate
verb
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Disseminating Information on Disseminate
While the object of the verb disseminate may be something tangible, such as an infectious agent, nowadays the thing most often disseminated, or "spread abroad as though sowing seed," is information. Where does this metaphorical verb come from? In Latin, the dis- prefix signifies separation or dispersal, while the -sem- element springs from semen "seed." The same Latin noun is found in a number of other English words with figurative meanings: seminary (which now is a training facility for priests, but initially was a place where seeds were raised to plants), seminal (meaning "containing the seeds of later development"), and yes, the word semen.
Examples of disseminate in a Sentence
Steve Coll, New Yorker, 8 Sept. 2008
Jefferson helped found and back a friendly newspaper, the National Gazette, to help disseminate his views.
—Walter Kim, Time, 5 July 2004
In this case, the filmmakers did not prevent information from being disseminated. And they have no greater moral obligation than do the highly paid Tom Brokaw or Dan Rather to help a TV network keep down its costs.
—Randy Cohen, New York Times Magazine, 7 Oct. 2001
Although possession of virus software and source code is not illegal, many of the existing state and federal computer intrusion and unauthorized access laws already make it illegal to introduce a virus into someone's system intentionally. Robert Morris's conviction … shows how the existing laws might be used to punish those involved with disseminating viruses.
—Edward A. Cavazos et al., Cyberspace And The Law, 1994
The Internet allows us to disseminate information faster.
The findings were widely disseminated.
Jeff Kilburg, CNBC, 16 Aug. 2024
ByteDance and TikTok executives have repeatedly denied allegations that the Chinese government uses the social media app to disseminate propaganda, but those arguments have failed to placate U.S. government officials.
—Bloomberg, The Mercury News, 12 Aug. 2024
The big picture: The lawsuit alleged that Giuliani violated federal law by accessing and disseminating Hunter Biden's digital data from a laptop that had belonged to him.
—Rebecca Falconer, Axios, 22 July 2024
The police raid last year was prompted by a complaint from a prominent local business owner and critic of the newspaper, who accused two city council members at a public meeting of illegally disseminating confidential information about her driving record.
—Luke Barr, ABC News, 13 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for disseminate 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'disseminate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Disseminate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disseminate. Accessed 8 Sep. 2024.
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disseminate
verb
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