syndicate

syndicate — noun

1. a temporary group formed by several companies, banks, or individuals who put the

1.nounB2
Definition

a temporary group formed by several companies, banks, or individuals who put their money together to fund a large business project that none of them could afford alone.

Example

The construction syndicate included four engineering firms and two international banks.

syndicate included [number] [organizations] — naming members

Rafael joined a syndicate of investors who were funding the new railway line.

syndicate of [people] — listing participants

Common collocations
  • banking syndicate
  • investment syndicate
  • form a syndicate
  • syndicate of banks
  • join a syndicate
  • syndicate loan
Synonyms
  • consortium

    very similar in meaning but more common in formal European business contexts

  • alliance

    broader in scope; can refer to any partnership, not only financial projects

  • cartel

    negative connotation; refers to groups that fix prices or limit competition illegally

Antonyms
  • individual

    a single person or company acting alone, without partners

Grammar Patterns

syndicate of [people/organizations]

syndicate + verb (singular/plural)

Usage Note

Frequently used in financial and construction contexts. The verb that follows can be singular (treating the syndicate as a unit) or plural (emphasising the individual members).

Common Mistakes

The syndicate are a company.
The syndicate is a group of companies.
A syndicate is not a single company; it is several organisations working together temporarily.

2. a business that sells news articles, comic strips, photographs, and television p

2.nounB2
Definition

a business that sells news articles, comic strips, photographs, and television programs to many different newspapers, magazines, or broadcast stations at the same time.

Example

The newspaper syndicate supplied the same political cartoon to over two hundred papers.

syndicate + supplied [content] to [number] [outlets]

Adaeze's cooking column was picked up by a national syndicate and appears in thirty cities.

passive: was picked up by a syndicate

Common collocations
  • news syndicate
  • comic strip syndicate
  • syndicate rights
  • national syndicate
  • syndicate agreement
  • pick up by a syndicate
Synonyms
  • news agency

    closer in meaning; focuses on supplying news reports rather than entertainment content

  • wire service

    historical term for agencies that transmitted news by telegraph; now used broadly for news distributors

  • distributor

    more general; can refer to any organisation that supplies products to retailers

Grammar Patterns

syndicate + supplies/distributes [content] to [outlets]

Usage Note

Often encountered in the phrase 'syndicated column' or 'syndicated show' meaning content that is sold to multiple outlets. Contrast with sense 1 (BUSINESS GROUP): this sense is about distributing content, not about funding projects.

syndicate — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Syndicate, consortium, cartel, and alliance all describe groups that work together, but they differ in purpose and connotation. A syndicate is a temporary business group formed to fund a specific large project, after which it disbands — for example, a banking syndicate that finances a new bridge. A consortium is very similar but is more commonly used in Europe for joint ventures in research or construction, and it often implies a formal written agreement. A cartel refers to businesses that collude to control prices or limit competition, such as oil-producing nations fixing output levels; the word carries a negative legal connotation. An alliance is the broadest term and can describe any partnership — political, military, or business — without the financial specificity of a syndicate. For instance, a group of airlines forming a travel alliance is not a syndicate because they are not pooling money for one project.

consortium ↗cartelalliance ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • form a syndicate
  • join a syndicate
  • syndicate member

Prepositions

Etymology

GreekLatinFrenchEnglish

Syndicate comes from the French word 'syndicat', meaning a trade union or group of representatives. The French term came from Latin 'syndicus', which meant a representative or delegate of a town or corporation. The Latin word was borrowed from Greek 'syndikos' — 'syn-' meaning 'together' and 'dikē' meaning 'justice' or 'judgment'. The word originally referred to a person who represented a group in legal matters. By the late 1800s, it had come to mean a group of businesses cooperating on a financial project. The media meaning — selling content to multiple outlets — developed in the early 1900s with the rise of newspaper syndicates.