Meanings
present singular third person contributes · participle present contributing · participle past contributed · past contributed
- ambitransitiveTo give something that is or becomes part of a larger whole.
to contribute articles to a journal
5 more examples
to contribute money to a church fund
That principle carried out consistently and logically, makes the individual not a claimant upon society, but a benefiter of it. He contributes whatever talent, natural or acquired, he may have, cheerfully to the promotion of the common good, […]
1849, William Scott, Francis Garden, James Bowling Mozley, The Christian Remembrancer, volume 17, page 217Rivera retired the next three batters in order, with third baseman Alex Rodriguez contributing a nifty barehand pickup and throw on Julio Lugo’s roller.
2007 April 29, Pat Borzi, “Normalcy Returns: Rivera Gets First Save”, in The New York TimesBats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.
2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193Lifetime ARPU, or the average revenue contributed per user over the lifetime of a product, can provide some insight into the habits of a large group of users within the product.
2013, Eric Benjamin Seufert, Freemium Economics: Leveraging Analytics and User Segmentation to Drive Revenue, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 94Synonyms: add, assist, bestow, bring, chip in, donate, do one's bit, endow
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo give something that is or becomes part of a larger whole.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*tréyes
- Proto-Italic*trēs
- Latincontribūtus
- Englishcontribute
PIE word *tréyes From Latin contribūtus, perfect passive participle of contribuō (“to bring together; to unite”), from con- (“together”) + tribuō (“to bestow”), from tribus (“tribe”), derived from trēs (“three”), from Proto-Italic *trēs, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.
More words from Latin, Proto-Italic, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans bydra
- bydrato give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Ancient Greek εἰσφέρω
- εἰσφέρω (eisphérō)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Arabic سَاهَمَ
- سَاهَمَ (sāhama)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Bulgarian доприна́сям, допринеса́
- доприна́сям (doprinásjam)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- допринеса́ (doprinesá)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Catalan contribuir
- contribuirto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Chinese Mandarin 貢獻 /贡献
- 貢獻 /贡献 (gòngxiàn)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Czech přispět
- přispětto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Danish bidrage
- bidrageto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Dutch bijdragen
- bijdragento give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Esperanto kontribui
- kontribuito give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Finnish myötävaikuttaa, olla osallisena
- myötävaikuttaato give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- olla osallisenato give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- lahjoittaato give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- antaa osansato give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- tehdä osansato give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- osallistuato give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- kantaa kortensa kekoonto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
French contribuer
- contribuerto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
German beisteuern, beitragen
- beisteuernto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- beitragento give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Greek συνεισφέρω, συμβάλλω
- συνεισφέρω (syneisféro)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- συμβάλλω (symvállo)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Hebrew תרם
- תרם (tarám)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Hungarian hozzájárul, közreműködik
- hozzájárulto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- közreműködikto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Italian contribuire
- contribuireto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Japanese 貢献する
- 貢献する (kōken suru)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Latin cōnferō, contribuō
- cōnferōto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- contribuōto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Māori uta
- utato give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Norwegian bidra
- bidrato give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Polish dołożyć się, dokładać się
- dołożyć sięto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- dokładać sięto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- wnosić wkładto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- wnieść wkładto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Portuguese contribuir
- contribuirto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Russian де́лать поже́ртвования, де́лать взно́сы
- де́лать поже́ртвования (délatʹ požértvovanija)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- де́лать взно́сы (délatʹ vznósy)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- вноси́ть вклад (vnosítʹ vklad)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Spanish contribuir, aportar
- contribuirto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- aportarto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Swedish bidra, bidraga
- bidrato give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- bidragato give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Ukrainian вклада́тися, робити внесок
- вклада́тися (vkladátysja)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- робити внесок (robyty vnesok)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
- зробити внесок (zrobyty vnesok)to give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Vietnamese đóng góp
- đóng gópto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Welsh cyfrannu
- cyfrannuto give something, that is or becomes part of a larger whole
Cite this entry
contribute. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contribute
“contribute.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contribute. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “contribute,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contribute.
Source: contribute on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.