infrequently-distributed
|in-fre-quent-ly-dis-trib-ut-ed|
🇺🇸
/ˌɪnˈfriːkwəntli dɪˈstrɪbjuːtɪd/
🇬🇧
/ˌɪnˈfriːkwəntli dɪˈstrɪbjʊtɪd/
rarely spread or found
Etymology
'infrequently-distributed' is a compound word formed from 'infrequently' and 'distributed.' 'Infrequently' comes from the prefix 'in-' meaning 'not' and 'frequent' from Latin 'frequentare' meaning 'to visit often.' 'Distributed' comes from Latin 'distribuere,' where 'dis-' means 'apart' and 'tribuere' means 'to assign.'
'Infrequently' developed in English from 'in-' + 'frequent,' and 'distributed' from Latin 'distribuere' through Old French 'distribuer.' The compound adjective 'infrequently-distributed' is a modern English formation.
Initially, the parts meant 'not often' and 'spread out,' and together they now mean 'not spread out often or widely.'
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
not spread or given out often or widely; occurring rarely across a range or area.
This species is infrequently-distributed across the region.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/07/29 13:44