syndicate: Meaning and Definition of

syn•di•cate

Pronunciation: (n.sin'di-kitv.sin'di-kāt&sec), [key]
— n., v., -cat•ed, -cat•ing.
—n.
  1. a group of individuals or organizations combined or making a joint effort to undertake some specific duty or carry out specific transactions or negotiations: The local furniture store is individually owned, but is part of a buying syndicate.
  2. a combination of bankers or capitalists formed for the purpose of carrying out some project requiring large resources of capital, as the underwriting of an issue of stock or bonds.
    1. an agency that buys articles, stories, columns, photographs, comic strips, or other features and distributes them for simultaneous publication in a number of newspapers or periodicals in different localities. Cf.boiler plate(def. 2).
    2. a business organization owning and operating a number of newspapers; newspaper chain.
  3. a group, combination, or association of gangsters controlling organized crime or one type of crime, esp. in one region of the country.
  4. a council or body of syndics.
  5. a local organization of employers or employees in Italy during the Fascist regime.
—v.t.
  1. to combine into a syndicate.
  2. to publish simultaneously, or supply for simultaneous publication, in a number of newspapers or other periodicals in different places: Her column is syndicated in 120 papers.
  3. to sell (a program, series, etc.) directly to independent stations.
  4. to sell shares in or offer participation in the financial sharing of (a risk venture, loan, or the like): to syndicate a racehorse among speculators; to syndicate a loan among several banks.
—v.i.
  1. to combine to form a syndicate.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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