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syndicate

syn·di·cate

US/ˈsɪndɪkeɪt/ fairly common

noun

1.

a loose affiliation of gangsters in charge of organized criminal activities

2.

an association of companies for some definite purpose

3.

a news agency that sells features or articles or photographs etc. to newspapers for simultaneous publication

verb

1.

join together into a syndicate

  • “The banks syndicated”
2.

organize into or form a syndicate

3.

sell articles, television programs, or photos to several publications or independent broadcasting stations

Origin

Anglicized from French syndicat (“office of a syndic; board of syndics; trade union”) on the basis of -ate (forms nouns denoting rank or office, a group formed of people of this same office), equivalent to syndic (“syndic; representative; (especially) chief magistrate of Geneva”) + -at (“-ate”, forms nouns denoting rank or office), from Medieval Latin *syndicātus, from syndicus (“representative of a corporation or town; syndic”) (from Ancient Greek σύνδικος (súndikos, “advocate for a defendant”), from σύν (sún, “beside; with”) + δίκη (díkē, “judgment; justice”)) + -ātus (“-ate”). By surface analysis, syndic + -ate. Compare Italian sindacato (“syndicate; trade union; audit, control, supervision”), Occitan sendegat, Portuguese sindicato (“trade union”), Spanish sindicado, sindicato (“office of a syndic; syndicate; trade union”).

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.