propagate
/ˈpɹɑpəˌɡeɪt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.09 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To spread from person to person; to extend the knowledge of; to originate and spread; to carry from place to place; to disseminate.
Transitive verb
verb
To produce young; to be produced or multiplied by generation, or by new shoots or plants.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "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 are propagated entirely by buds. It is almost hopeless to attempt to propagate a choice variety of grape or strawberry by seeds, as the individuals raised in this way seldom have the valuable qualities of their parents, and, although they may have new qualities of equal or greater value, the chances are of course greatly against this, since the possibility of undesirable variation is much greater than the chance of a desirable sport."
- "to propagate sound or light"
- "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."
- "The works of the freethinker Averroes (twelfth century) which were based on Aristotle's philosophy, propagated a small wave of rationalism in Christian countries."
- "The DPRK propagated an extraordinary tale of his birth occurring on Mount Baekdu, one of Korea's most revered sites, being accompanied by shooting stars in the sky."
- "Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, / Which thou wilt propagate."
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɹɑpəˌɡeɪt/
- British English: /ˈpɹɒpəˌɡeɪt/
Usage
Inflected Forms
propagates (present, singular)
propagating (participle, present)
propagated (participle, past)
propagated (past)
more propagate (comparative)
most propagate (superlative)