propagate

present singular third person propagates · participle present propagating · participle past propagated · past propagated

1. transitiveTo cause to continue or multiply by generation, or successive production.

   1 more example

   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.

2. transitiveTo cause to spread to extend; to impel or continue forward in space.

   to propagate sound or light

3. transitiveTo spread from person to person; to extend the knowledge of; to originate and spread; to carry from place to place; to disseminate.

   The works of the freethinker Averroes (twelfth century) which were based on Aristotle's philosophy, propagated a small wave of rationalism in Christian countries.

   1913, J. B. Bury, chapter 3, in A History of Freedom of Thought

   2 more examples

   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.

   1938, Hilaire Belloc, chapter 4, in The Great Heresies

   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.

   2011 December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”, in The Guardian

4. obsoletetransitiveTo multiply; to increase.

   Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, / Which thou wilt propagate.

   c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

5. transitiveTo 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.

   1860, Thomas De Quincey, “Conversation”, in Letters to a Young Man whose Education has been Neglected; and Other Papers (De Quincey’s Works; XIV), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 157

6. intransitiveTo be propagated; to travel.
7. intransitivebiologyTo 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.

   1868, Charles Darwin, chapter XXVIII, in The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC

8. intransitivecomputingTo take effect on all relevant devices in a network.

   It takes 24 hours for password changes to propagate throughout the system.

9. transitivecomputingTo cause to take effect on all relevant devices in a network.

   The server propagates the password file at midnight each day.

comparative more propagate · superlative most propagate

1. obsoletepropagated