different between distribution vs character

English

Alternative forms

• distribucion (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin distributio, from distribuere 'to distribute', itself from dis- 'apart' + tribuere 'to' (from tribus).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?st???bju???n/

Noun

distribution (countable and uncountable, plural distributions)

1. An act of distributing or state of being distributed.
2. An apportionment by law (of funds, property).
3. (business, marketing) The process by which goods get to final consumers over a geographical market, including storing, selling, shipping and advertising.
4. Anything distributed; portion; share.
   • December 6, 1709, Francis Atterbury, a sermon preach'd before the sons of the clergy at their anniversary-meeting in the Church of St. Paul

     our charitable distributions

5. The result of distributing; arrangement.
6. The total number of something sold or delivered to the clients.

7. The frequency of occurrence or extent of existence.
8. (economics) The apportionment of income or wealth in a population.

   The wealth distribution became extremely skewed in the kleptocracy.

9. (card games) The way in which a player's hand is divided in suits, or in which a particular suit is divided between the players.

10. (mathematics, statistics) A probability distribution; the set of relative likelihoods that a variable will have a value in a given interval.
11. (mathematics, differential geometry) A subset of the tangent bundle of a manifold that satisfies certain properties; used to construct the notions of integrability and foliation of a manifold.
12. (software) A set of bundled software components; distro.
13. (finance) The process or result of the sale of securities, especially their placement among investors with long-term investment strategies.
14. (logic) The resolution of a whole into its parts.
15. (printing, historical) The process of sorting the types and placing them in their proper boxes in the cases.
16. (steam engines) The steps or operations by which steam is supplied to and withdrawn from the cylinder at each stroke of the piston: admission, suppression or cutting off, release or exhaust, and compression of exhaust steam prior to the next admission.
17. (rhetoric) A rhetorical technique in which a subject is divided into multiple cases based on some property or properties, and each case is addressed individually.
    • 1553, Thomas Wilson, The Arte of Rhetorique (1962), book iii, folio 99, page 209 s.v. “Di?tribucion”:

      It is al?o called a di?tribucion, when we diuide the whole, into ?euerall partes, and ?aie we haue foure poynctes, whereof we purpo?e to ?peake, comp?ehendyng our whole talke within compa??e of the?ame.

    • 1728, Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopædia I, page 230/2 s.v. “Di?tribution²”:

      Di?tribution, in Rhetoric, a Kind of De?cription; or a Figure, whereby an orderly Divi?ion, and Enumeration is made of the principal Qualities of a Subject.

Derived terms

Related terms

• distributee
• distributive
• distributor

Translations

References

• “Distribution” on page 534 of § 1 (D, ed. James Augustus Henry Murray) of volume III (D–E, 1897) of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (1st ed.)

Further reading

• Distribution on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Danish

Noun

distribution c (singular definite distributionen, plural indefinite distributioner)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Declension

Further reading

• “distribution” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Etymology

From Classical Latin distributio, from distribuere 'to distribute', itself from dis- 'apart' + tribuere 'to ' (from tribus).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dis.t?i.by.sj??/

Noun

distribution f (plural distributions)

1. A distribution
2. A physical arrangement, spacing

Related terms

• distribuable
• distribuer
• distributaire m
• distributeur m
• distributif
• distributivement

Further reading

• “distribution” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Swedish

Noun

distribution c

1. distribution, dissemination
2. (mathematics) a distribution, generalized function
3. (statistics) a distribution

Declension

Synonyms

• spridning

statistics

• fördelning

English

Etymology

From Middle English caracter, from Old French caractere, from Latin character, from Ancient Greek ???????? (kharakt?r, “type, nature, character”), from ??????? (kharáss?, “I engrave”). Doublet of charakter.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k??(?)kt?/, /?kæ?(?)kt?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kæ??kt?/
• Hyphenation: char?ac?ter

Noun

character (countable and uncountable, plural characters)

1. (countable) A being involved in the action of a story.
2. (countable) A distinguishing feature; characteristic; trait; phene.

3. (uncountable, countable) A complex of traits marking a person, group, breed, or type.

   • A man of […] thoroughly subservient character

4. (uncountable) Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; moral strength.

5. (countable) A unique or extraordinary individual; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits, especially charisma.

6. (countable) A written or printed symbol, or letter.
   • 1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech

     It were much to be wished that there were throughout the world but one sort of character for each letter to express it to the eye.

7. (countable, dated) Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the particular form of letters used by a person or people.
8. (countable, dated) A secret cipher; a way of writing in code.
9. (countable, computing) One of the basic elements making up a text file or string: a code representing a printing character or a control character.
10. (countable, informal) A person or individual, especially one who is unknown or raises suspicions.

11. (countable, mathematics) A complex number representing an element of a finite Abelian group.
12. (countable) Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct with respect to a certain office or duty.

13. (countable, dated) The estimate, individual or general, put upon a person or thing; reputation.

    • This subterraneous passage is much mended since Seneca gave so bad a character of it.

14. (countable, dated) A reference given to a servant, attesting to their behaviour, competence, etc.
15. (countable, obsolete) Personal appearance.

Usage notes

Character is sometimes used interchangeably with reputation, but the two words have different meanings; character describes the distinctive qualities of an individual or group while reputation describes the opinions held by others regarding an individual or group. Character is internal and authentic, while reputation is external and perceived.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Pages starting with “character”.

Translations

Verb

character (third-person singular simple present characters, present participle charactering, simple past and past participle charactered)

1. (obsolete) To write (using characters); to describe.

See also

• codepoint
• font
• glyph
• letter
• symbol
• rune
• pictogram

Latin

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek ???????? (kharakt?r).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /k?a?rak.ter/, [k?ä??äkt??r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ka?rak.ter/, [k????kt??r]

Noun

character m (genitive charact?ris); third declension

1. branding iron
2. brand (made by a branding iron)
3. characteristic, mark, character, style

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Descendants

• Hungarian: karakter
• Galician: caritel; ? carácter
• Irish: carachtar
• Italian: carattere
• Old French: caractere
  • ? English: character
  • French: caractère
• Polish: charakter
  • ? Russian: ????????? (xarákter)
• Portuguese: caractere, carácter
• Sicilian: caràttiri
• Spanish: carácter

References

• character in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• character in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• character in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700?^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Portuguese

Noun

character m (plural characteres)

1. Obsolete spelling of caráter (used in Portugal until September 1911 and died out in Brazil during the 1920s).