propagate
English · Español · Italiano · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
propagate
- /ˈpɹɒpəˌɡeɪt/ UK
- /ˈpɹɑpəˌɡeɪt/ Canada, US
- /ˈpɹɔpəˌɡæɪt/ Australia, New Zealand
- /ˈpɹɒpəˌɡæɪt/ Australia, New Zealand
Where it comes from
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.
verb propagates · propagating · 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 are
- 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.
- To multiply; to increase. Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, / Which thou wilt propagate.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 more propagate · most propagate
- propagated
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: disseminate, spread, diffuse, disperse, broadcast, circularize, circulate, distribute, circularise, pass around, propagation, dissemination, spreading, expand, extend, promote
Translations
Every language
verb to cause to spread to extend
| Español | propagar |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 伝播する denpa suru |
| Português | propagar |
| Deutsch | verbreiten |
| Română | propaga, răspândi |
| Русский | распространя́ть rasprostranjátʹ, распространи́ть rasprostranítʹ |
verb to spread from person to person
| Português | propagar |
|---|
verb (obsolete in English) to multiply; to increase
| Русский | размножа́ть razmnožátʹ, размно́жить razmnóžitʹ, размножа́ться razmnožátʹsja, размно́житься razmnóžitʹsja |
|---|
verb to be propagated, to travel
| Español | propagarse |
|---|
verb biology: to produce young; to be produced or multiplied by generation, or by new shoots or plants
| Français | se propager |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | sich vermehren |
| Русский | размножа́ться razmnožátʹsja, размно́житься razmnóžitʹsja |
Talk about this word "propagate." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/propagate. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. propagate. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/propagate "propagate." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/propagate.Cite this
@misc{propagate_2026,
title = {propagate},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/propagate},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
