promulgate

From Middle English promulgaten, from Latin prōmulgātus, past participle of prōmulgō (“I make known, publish”), either from provulgō (“I make known, publish”), from pro (“forth”) + vulgō (“I publish”), or from mulgeō (“I bring forth”, literally “I milk”).[1] Compare promulge.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒml̩.ɡeɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑ.məl.ɡeɪt/

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promulgate (third-person singular simple present promulgates, present participle promulgating, simple past and past participle promulgated)

1. (transitive) To make known or public.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:

     ’Tis yet to know, / Which when I know, that boaſting is an Honour, / I ſhall promulgate. I fetch by life and being, / From Men of Royall Seige.

   • 1784 November 6, William Cowper, “Tirocinium: Or, A Review of Schools”, in Poems, page 303:

     Prieſts have invented, and the world admir’d / What knaviſh prieſts promulgate as inſpir’d ; / ’Till reaſon, now no longer overaw’d, / Reſumes her pow’rs, and ſpurns the clumſy fraud ; / And, common-ſenſe diffuſing real day, / The meteor of the goſpel dies away !

   Synonyms: declare, proclaim, publish

   Antonym: withhold

2. (transitive) To put into effect as a regulation.
   • 1881 June 7, William Stubbs, “The Reign of Henry VIII”, in Seventeen Lectures on the Study of Medieval and Modern History and Kindred Subjects, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1887, page 293:

     […] the Statute of Uses was delayed until 1536 and the Statute of Wills until 1540, but both statutes were promulgated in 1532, and formed part of a policy which we may compare, not favourably, with the of Edward I […]

   Synonyms: carry out, execute, implement, put into effect

   Antonym: abrogate

This verb is often incorrectly used in the sense of "propagate", "promote", or "disseminate". The verb "promulgate" does not have those senses.

• (to make known or public): See also Thesaurus:announce

• promulge

• promulgate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• promulgate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• promulgate at OneLook Dictionary Search

• IPA^(key): /promulˈɡate/

promulgate

1. adverbial present passive participle of promulgar

promulgate

1. inflection of promulgare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

promulgate f pl

1. feminine plural of promulgato

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /proː.mulˈɡaː.te/, [proːmʊɫ̪ˈɡäːt̪ɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /pro.mulˈɡa.te/, [promulˈɡäːt̪e]

prōmulgāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of prōmulgō