distributiveadj.n.
/dɪsˈtrɪbjʊtɪv/ A. adj.
1.
a. Having the property of distributing; characterized by dispensing, bestowing, or dealing out, in portions; given to or engaged in distribution. distributive finding of the issue: a finding by a jury which is in part for plaintiff and in part for defendant (Wharton Law Lexicon).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > giving > distributing or dealing out > [adjective]
distributive1475
distributing1641
dispensing1815
1475 Bk. Noblesse 85 Wolde..God that every harde covetouse hert were of suche largesse and distributif of here meveable good and tresoure to the comon wele.
1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron I. iii. xiv. 196 To endeavour to destroy the Belief of..a distributive Providence.
1821 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 9 323 A ready ‘Shelty’ stands in waiting by, Around the board distributive to fly.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. III. iii. i. 163 The distributive Citoyennes are of violent speech and gesture.
b. Of, pertaining to, or designating a political system or state in which personal property is owned by the largest possible number of people.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > political philosophy > socialism > [adjective] > distributism
distributive1912
distributist1918
1912 H. Belloc Servile State 6 A reaction towards a condition of well-divided property or the Distributive State.
1912 H. Belloc Servile State iii. 50 The State..was an agglomeration in which the stability of this distributive system (as I have called it) was guaranteed by the existence of co-operative bodies.
1919 G. B. Shaw in Irish Statesman 22 Nov. 532 An economic Utopia which Mr Chesterton and Mr Belloc call the Distributive State.
1925 R. H. Tawney T. Wilson's Disc. Usury 19 Elizabethan England..is still, in a convenient modern phrase, a Distributive State.
2.
a. Characterized by distributing or diffusing itself; having a tendency to diffusion.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > spreading or diffusion > [adjective] > spreading or diffusing > specifically of immaterial things
communicativea1398
ranging1556
spreading1560
communative1616
distributive1628
communitive1649
1628 O. Felltham Resolves: 2nd Cent. lxxxvi. sig. Z4v Wisdome and Science are worth nothing, uvnlesse they be distributiue, and declare themselues to the world. Wealth in a Misers hand is vselesse.
1873 B. Stewart Conservation of Energy iv. 106 If we reflect that heat is essentially distributive in its nature.
b. distributive fault n. a fault in which the displacement is distributed among several parallel planes at short distances from one another instead of being confined to a single plane.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > discontinuity or unconformity > [noun] > fault > other types of fault
heave1802
reversed fault1852
reverse fault1865
step-fault1879
ring fracture1881
overfault1883
overlap fault1883
overthrust1883
trough fault1883
thrust1888
thrust-fault1889
offset1897
cross-fault1900
tear-fault1900
distributive fault1904
cross-break1909
slide1910
strike-slip fault1913
rift1921
splay fault1942
wrench fault1951
megashear1954
transform fault1965
transform1971
1904 T. C. Chamberlin & R. D. Salisbury Geol. (1905) I. 494 Sometimes the faulting is distributed among a series of parallel planes,..thus giving rise to a distributive fault.
1955 W. L. Russell Struct. Geol. for Petroleum Geologists v. 113 Step and distributive faults consist of a number of parallel breaks, each with a throw in the same direction.
3.
a. Of, belonging to, or arising from, distribution.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > giving > distributing or dealing out > [adjective] > relating to distribution
distributive1600
distributory1827
1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique iii. xviii. 462 The distributiue vertue of the trees being occupied about many must needs haue the lesse for euery one, whereas when it hath but a few to feede it dealeth the more bountifully.
1771 H. Lawrence Contempl. Man I. i. x. 61 All the Sisters agreed..that Mrs. Barnes's distributive Share of her Father's Effects should be entrusted to Mr. Crab.
1813 G. Edwards Appropriate Meas. True Policy 13 A Local Agency appropriated to each distributive circle of the Kingdom.
1879 Daily News 16 Apr. 3/6 To use..the profits derived from the distributive business on manufacturing industry.
b. distributive justice n. one of the two divisions of Justice, according to Aristotle (the other being commutative adj.); that which consists in the distribution of something in shares proportionate to the deserts of each among the several parties.[The old Latin version of Aristotle's Ethics c 1250 renders διανεμητικὸν δίκαιον by distributivum justum; Aquinas, in his commentary on the text, has distributiva justitia.]
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > scholasticism > [noun] > the virtues
magnanimity1340
magnificence1340
commutative justice1531
distributive justice1531
society > morality > rightness or justice > [noun] > maintenance of right by reward or punishment > specific
communicative justicea1513
commutative justice1531
corrective justice1531
distributive justice1531
retributive justice1619
expletive justice1652
expletory justice1654
poetical justice1678
poetic justice1691
retributivism1954
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > ancient Greek philosophy > post-Socratic philosophy > [noun] > Aristotelianism > elements of > elements of Aristotelian ethics
magnificence1340
commutative justice1531
corrective justice1531
distributive justice1531
magnanimity1598
megalopsychia1962
1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour iii. i. sig. Xviiv Justice..is..described in two kyndes or spices: the one is named iustyce distributiue, which is in distribution of honour, money, benefite, or other thinge semblable... Justice distributiue hathe regarde to the persone.
1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius 192 Neither doth God therfore offend in Justice distributive, if he have mercy on whom hee will have mercy: or if hee doe harden whom he will harden.
1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. I. 393 Distributiue Iustice consisteth in giuing to euery one according to his desert, whether it be honor and dignitie, or punishment.
a1680 S. Butler Genuine Remains (1759) II. 488 Nature..in her distributive Justice endeavours to deal as equally as possibly she can with all Men.
1791 T. Paine Rights of Man i. 70 Their ideas of distributive justice are corrupted at the very source.
c. Hence, applied to that part of substantive law, which is concerned with the determination of rights, as distinguished from the corrective, penal, or vindicative part.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > branch of the law > [adjective] > specific
setc1200
positivec1385
naturalc1390
directive1610
distributive1651
directory1692
substantive lawa1832
naturel1856
natural law1934
1651 T. Hobbes Philos. Rudim. xiv. §6. 216 The civill Law (according to the two offices of the Legislator, whereof one is to judge; the other to constrain men to acquiesce to his judgements) hath two parts; the one distributive, the other vindicative, or penall. By the distributive it is, that every man hath his proper Right.
1651 T. Hobbes Philos. Rudim. xiv. §7 The first of them [parts of a Law] which is called distributive, is Prohibitory, and speaks to all, the second which is styled vindicative, or pœnary, is mandatory, and onely speaks to publique Ministers.
1679 E. Young Serm. White-Hall 29 Dec. 1678 7 The Civilians distinguishing a Law into parts, the Preceptive Part, which enjoyns the Duty, and the Distributive Part, which assigns the Punishment or the Reward.
4. Expressing distribution or division among individuals; spec. in Grammar. Having reference to each individual of a number or class, as distinguished from the whole number taken together. distributive adjectives, the words each, either, neither, every (the three first of which can also be used pronominally). distributive numerals, in Latin, singuli, one by one, bini, two by two, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > other parts of speech > [adjective] > expressing distribution
distributive1520
distributival1868
1520 R. Whittington Uulgaria sig. B.v Nownes distributyues as nullus, neuter.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement Introd. 29 I speke also amongest the pronownes of nownes partityves and distributyves as tout, nul..chascun.
1655 W. Gouge & T. Gouge Learned Comm. Hebrewes (i. 5) i. 35 The distributive particle which (unto which), implieth a number of Angels.
1795 L. Murray Eng. Gram. 102 The distributive pronomial adjectives each, every, either, agree with the nouns..and verbs, of the singular number only.
1848 H. Hallam Suppl. Notes View Europe Middle Ages viii. 207 Dr. Lingard has clearly apprehended..the distributive character of the words eorl and ceorl.
1881 E. Adams Elem. Eng. Lang. 68 Distributive numerals signify how many at a time. There are no separate forms to express them in English.
5. Logic. Referring to each individual of a class separately, and not to the whole class as made up of these individuals. Opposed to collective.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical classification > [adjective] > extending or universal
universalc1450
distributive1725
ampliative1852
1725 I. Watts Logick iii. iii. 481 This sort of Sophisms is committed when the Word All is taken in a collective and a distributive Sense, without a due Distinction.
1863 E. V. Neale Analogy Thought & Nature 253 A defect..pointed out by the sagacity of Sir William Hamilton, namely, the absence of the distributive words ‘all’ or ‘some,’ in the predicates of its formal judgments.
6. Mathematics. Operating (or expressing operation) upon every part in operating upon the whole; as distributive formula, distributive function, distributive operation, distributive principle, distributive symbol.
ΚΠ
1855 R. Carmichael Treat. Calculus of Operations 8 A symbol Φ is said to be distributive when, u and v being two distinct subjects, Φ (u + v) = Φ u + Φ v.
1855 R. Carmichael Treat. Calculus of Operations 11 Any algebraic function of a distributive symbol is itself also distributive.
B. n.† 2. That which is distributed. Obsolete.
1. Grammar. A distributive word: see A. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > determiner > [noun] > other specific types of determiner
distributive1530
possessive adjective1870
identifier1938
null1964
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 74 Pronownes, unto whiche I joyne..partityves, distributyves and numeralles.
1612 J. Brinsley Posing of Parts f. 50v All Relatiues, Interrogatiues, Distributiues, Indefinits..do lack the Vocatiue case.
1874 R. Morris Hist. Eng. Gram. 98 Distributives express how many at a time, as one by one, one and one, by twos, two each, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > giving > distributing or dealing out > [noun] > that which is distributed or dealt out
dole1362
distributive1641
distribuend1874
1641 Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia sig. E4 Parents, who they may expresse more affection to one in the abundance of bequeathes, yet cannot forget some Legacyes, and distributives, and dividents to others of their begetting.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1896; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
<
adj.n.1475