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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

spread the word en · VERB

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic) To tell a lot of people; to inform as many people as one can.
    • A famous example of viral marketing is the rapid spread of Hotmail as a free email service. Attached to each email was a short advertisement and Hotmail's URL, and customers spread the word about Hotmail simply by emailing their family and friends. 2006, Oded Maimon, Lior Rokach, Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery Handbook, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 424:
    • His rendition of Herr Barkheimer was so awful that many people thought it to be a drawing of a demon coming to steal their souls. They threw the books into the fire to save themselves, then spread the word not to buy anything printed by Gutenberg. 2005, Annabelle du Fouet, “The murky world from whence it all came” (chapter 2), in Weather Balloons Make Rotten Sex Toys, Ellora's Cave, →ISBN, page 46:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
spread the word Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
spread the word Tense=Past lexicographic
spreads the word Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
spreading the word Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Coordinates

pass on · campaign · preach

Translations (9)

de weiterverbreiten (tell a lot of people) · es correr la voz (tell a lot of people) · pl rozpowiadać (tell a lot of people) · pl rozpowiedzieć (tell a lot of people) · fr passer le mot (tell a lot of people) · es difundir el mensaje (tell a lot of people) · fi levittää sanaa (tell a lot of people) · de weitersagen (tell a lot of people) · es pasar la voz (tell a lot of people)