mete

Word family

• meted
  adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All four words describe giving something out, but they differ in formality, planning, and connotation. 'Distribute' is the most neutral and general — it simply means giving things to several people. 'Allocate' adds a sense of official planning: resources are set aside for a specific purpose (e.g. 'The government allocated funds to each school'). 'Dispense' is more formal and often involves a system or machine that gives out measured amounts (e.g. medicine from a pharmacy, or justice in a court). 'Dole out' is informal and slightly negative, suggesting that the giver is reluctant or that the portions are meagre. 'Mete out' sits between these: it is formal (like 'dispense') but almost exclusively used for punishments, criticism, or harsh treatment. For example, a judge metes out a sentence, whereas a volunteer distributes food.

Common collocations

Etymology

The verb 'mete' comes from Old English 'metan' (to measure, to mete out), from Proto-Germanic '*metaną', and ultimately from the Indo-European root '*med-' (to measure). The same root gave Latin 'modus' (measure) and English 'measure' itself. The noun 'mete' (a boundary) comes from a related Old English noun 'mete' or 'gemete', meaning a limit or measure — the sense being that a boundary is a 'measured' line. Historically the verb meant simply 'to measure', but by the 16th century it had shifted to 'to distribute by measure', and eventually narrowed to its modern use in 'mete out' for distributing punishment or treatment.