Distributary

//di-ˈstri-byə-ˌter-ē// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A stream of water (either natural or artificial) that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel.

    "The bed of the distributary is at a slight elevation above that of the main canal, and in the latter is placed an ordinary check regulator controlled by flashboards […]"

  2. 2
    a branch of a river that flows away from the main stream and does not rejoin it wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    That distributes.

    "A posthumous child is as much entitled to a distributary share, under the statute of distributions, as one that is born at the time of the death of its father […]"

Synonyms

All synonyms
anabranchingriver

Example

More examples

"A posthumous child is as much entitled to a distributary share, under the statute of distributions, as one that is born at the time of the death of its father […]"

Etymology

From distribute + -ary.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.