distributive

 
Pronunciation: /dɪˈstrɪbjʊtɪv/

adjective

  • 1concerned with the supply of goods to retailers: transport and distributive industries
  • concerned with the way in which things are shared between people: the distributive effects of public expenditure
  • 2 Grammar (of a determiner or pronoun) referring to each individual of a class, not to the class collectively, e.g. each, either.
  • 3 Mathematics (of an operation) fulfilling the condition that, when it is performed on two or more quantities already combined by another operation, the result is the same as when it is performed on each quantity individually and the products then combined.

noun

Grammar
  • a distributive word.

Derivatives

distributively

adverb

Origin:

late Middle English: from Old French distributif, -ive or late Latin distributivus, from Latin distribut- 'divided up', from the verb distribuere (see distribute)