1. (v. t.) To spread; to cause to continue or multiply by generation, or successive production; -- applied to animals and plants; as, to propagate a breed of horses or sheep; to propagate a species of fruit tree.
2. (v. t.) To cause to spread to extend; to impel or continue forward in space; as, to propagate sound or light.
3. (v. t.) To spread from person to person; to extend the knowledge of; to originate and spread; to carry from place to place; to disseminate; as, to propagate a story or report; to propagate the Christian religion.
4. (v. t.) To multiply; to increase.
5. (v. t.) To generate; to produce.
6. (v. i.) To have young or issue; to be produced or multiplied by generation, or by new shoots or plants; as, rabbits propagate rapidly.
Thesaurus Entries
bear, beget, bestrew, breed, breed true, bring forth, broadcast, bruit about, circulate, circumfuse, copulate, crossbreed, cultivate, deal out, deliver, develop, diffract, diffuse, dispense, disperse, dispread, disseminate, distribute, diverge, engender, fan out, father, generate, get, grow, herald, inbreed, increase, issue, make known, make love, mother, multiply, noise abroad, outbreed, overscatter, oversow, overspread, proclaim, procreate, produce, proliferate, promote, promulgate, propagandize, publicize, publish, radiate, raise, reproduce, reproduce in kind, retail, scatter, sire, sow, sow broadcast, splay, spread, spread out, strew, transmit, utter
