disseminate

disseminate — verb

1. to make information, news, or ideas reach a very large number of people, usually

1.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to make information, news, or ideas reach a very large number of people, usually by publishing them, broadcasting them, or passing them through an established system

Example

A research team disseminated its findings through an open-access journal and at two international conferences.

disseminate + findings + through [channel]

Sade used social media to disseminate information about a free health clinic near her home.

social media + disseminate + information about [topic]

Common collocations
  • disseminate information
  • disseminate knowledge
  • disseminate findings
  • disseminate news
  • disseminate ideas
  • disseminate research results
  • disseminate data
  • disseminate propaganda
  • disseminate widely
  • disseminate through channels
  • disseminate via the internet
  • disseminate across the country
Synonyms
  • spread

    more general and informal; covers physical objects, diseases, emotions, and information, while 'disseminate' is restricted to deliberate information-sharing

  • distribute

    focuses on giving items out to individuals, often physical goods or documents; 'disseminate' emphasizes reaching a wide, dispersed audience

  • broadcast

    limited to transmission via electronic media (radio, TV, live stream); 'disseminate' includes any channel — print, digital, oral

  • circulate

    suggests movement through a closed system or group, often informally; 'disseminate' implies a deliberate outward push

Antonyms
  • suppress

    actively prevent information from becoming known

  • withhold

    keep information back intentionally rather than sharing it widely

Grammar Patterns

disseminate + noun phrase (information, knowledge, findings, ideas, results)

disseminate + noun phrase + among/throughout/across + group or area

be disseminated + through/via + channel or medium

Usage Note

Almost never used with physical objects (food, products, seeds). The object is always abstract — information, knowledge, findings, ideas, results, news, propaganda, data. Often appears in academic, journalistic, and official contexts.

Common Mistakes

The charity disseminated food to the homeless.
The charity distributed food to the homeless.
'disseminate' is for information and ideas, not physical goods.
She disseminated the flower seeds across the garden.
She scattered the flower seeds across the garden.
the literal 'sowing seed' meaning is archaic in modern English; use 'scatter' or 'sow' for physical seeds.

Word family

  • dissemination
    nounB2
  • disseminator
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All five verbs describe making something reach more people, but they differ in scope and formality. 'Spread' is the broadest and most neutral — it works for news, rumours, diseases, and physical objects, and fits both casual and formal registers. 'Disseminate' is more deliberate and formal, restricted to information, knowledge, or ideas that are intentionally channelled to a wide audience — common in academic writing and public health. 'Distribute' focuses on giving individual items to people (leaflets, supplies, goods) and implies one-to-many delivery rather than organic diffusion. 'Broadcast' is tied to electronic transmission (radio, TV, live video) and often suggests a one-way, mass-audience model. 'Circulate' implies that something moves through a network or group, often informally and over time — a memo circulates within an office, a rumour circulates in a community. For example: a university disseminates research via journals; a charity distributes food after a disaster; a radio station broadcasts the news; a gossip circulates at school.

spread ↗distribute ↗broadcast ↗circulate ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • through official channels
  • via the internet
  • across the country
  • among the public

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinEnglish

From Latin 'disseminare' — 'dis-' (apart, in all directions) + 'seminare' (to sow, plant), from 'semen' (seed). The literal meaning was 'to scatter seeds,' which shifted into a metaphor for spreading ideas as early as the 16th century.