share
1 Americannoun
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the full or proper portion or part allotted or belonging to or contributed or owed by an individual or group.
- Synonyms:
- lot, quota, assessment, ration, allocation, allotment
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one of the equal fractional parts into which the capital stock of a joint-stock company or a corporation is divided.
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Digital Technology.
-
a digital file or document that can be accessed by specific users on a computer network, as for viewing, downloading, or making changes to it.
I just sent you a share—can you improve the second paragraph?
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an act of sharing online content with specific users on a computer network.
You can do a video share with friends and family.
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verb (used with object)
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shares,
present (3rd person singular)
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shared,
past participle, past
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sharing
present participle
-
to divide and distribute in shares; apportion.
- Synonyms:
- mete, dole (out), deal, parcel out, allot
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to use, participate in, enjoy, receive, etc., jointly.
The two chemists shared the Nobel Prize.
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Digital Technology. to give specific users access to (online content), as by posting it on a social media website or sending it as an email attachment: a shared spreadsheet.
to share photos on Instagram;
a shared spreadsheet.
verb (used without object)
-
shares,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shared,
past participle, past
-
sharing
present participle
-
to have a share or part; take part (often followed byin ).
-
to divide, apportion, or receive equally.
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Digital Technology. to give specific users access to online content.
You can share via email, Facebook, or Twitter.
adjective
idioms
noun
noun
-
a part or portion of something owned, allotted to, or contributed by a person or group
-
(often plural) any of the equal parts, usually of low par value, into which the capital stock of a company is divided: ownership of shares carries the right to receive a proportion of the company's profits See also ordinary shares preference shares
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informal to share (something) with another or others
verb
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to divide or apportion, esp equally
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to receive or contribute a portion of
we can share the cost of the petrol
six people shared in the inheritance
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to join with another or others in the use of (something)
can I share your umbrella?
noun
Synonym Usage
Share, partake, participate mean to join with others or to receive in common with others. To share is to give or receive a part of something, or to enjoy or assume something in common: to share in another's experiences. To partake is to take for one's own personal use a portion of something: to partake of food. To participate is especially to join with others in some thought, feeling, or, particularly, some action: to participate in a race, in a conversation.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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sharernoun
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half-sharedadjective
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nonsharingadjective
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sharableadjective
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shareableadjective
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unsharableadjective
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unshareableadjective
-
unsharedadjective
-
unsharingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sharesimple
-
sharessimple
-
have sharedperfect
-
has sharedperfect
-
am sharingprogressive
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are sharingprogressive
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is sharingprogressive
-
have been sharingperfect progressive
-
has been sharingperfect progressive
Past
-
sharedsimple
-
had sharedperfect
-
was sharingprogressive
-
were sharingprogressive
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had been sharingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of share1
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English noun shar(e), sharre “cutting, division,” Old English scearu “fork of the body, groin”; cognate with Dutch schaar, German Schar “troop”; see shear
Origin of share2
First recorded before 900; Middle English shar(e), sharre, Old English scear, scer; cognate with German Schar; see shear
Explanation
When you hungrily eye the pizzas your friends ordered, count everyone in the room, and then mentally divide the number of slices by the number of people, you're figuring out your share, or portion, of pizza. Your share of something can be the part of the total that's due to you — your share of the piñata candy — or it can be the section of something you're responsible for, like doing your share of cleaning out the garage. When you use share as a verb, it means to give or distribute a portion of something. The word share and its meaning of dividing into pieces come from the Proto-Indo-European word sker, "to cut."
Vocabulary lists containing share
Lyrics from "Umbrella" by Rihanna
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Business, List 2
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"Talkin' 'bout a Revolution"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The buyers: former Disney chief executive Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner, whose Thrive Eternal venture capital firm invests in sports and owns a share of the San Francisco Giants.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
“I went in with some friends on a summer share in Cape Cod. It was what my friends were doing, and that was enough for me,” he writes.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Super Micro reported adjusted earnings of $1.70 per share, compared with the 92 cents per share analysts were expecting.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
Added to that is “relentless” demand by the passive ETF crowd, while companies have authorized more than $1 trillion in share buybacks in a window that is about to open.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
Maybe I’d get some popcorn, just in case I had an opportunity to share.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Critically, the lateral septum shares this information with the dopamine-producing regions we would normally associate with reward.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
First there was a sale of 185,200 shares on July 28, then a larger 1.7 million share sale on July 30, and then a giant 14.6 million “off-market” sale on Aug. 3.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
Yet the company’s shares surged after-hours yesterday as it reported revenue doubled from a year earlier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
In a letter to university staff, Prof Deborah Prentice said she knows there is "anger and anxiety around this damaging and difficult case" and she shares concerns raised by those in Cambridge and beyond.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Henry Lynn has taken possession of an ottoman at the feet of Louisa: Adèle shares it with him: he is trying to talk French with her, and Louisa laughs at his blunders.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
To hear Walker tell it in the video he shared the next day, he was the victim of a hospitality nightmare.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
After ProPublica shared the findings of its investigation and the names of veterans who would appear in it, the agency reached out to several to inquire about their care and offer help.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya shared a similar view that the strategic partnerships look positive for Nvidia, as “the burden sits with the consortium,” and not on the company’s balance sheet.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Figures shared with BBC Scotland from commercial real estate data group Costar suggest average hotel prices have been growing year on year since 2019.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
We had shared an understanding of how it was to be both Chinese and American.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
"Salt particles -- specifically sodium chloride and potassium chloride -- are most often used" as cloud-seeding agents, said Adnan Yarmohammed, one of the Emirati officials in charge of sharing his country's experience.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
“And that’s ultimately what camp is about. Being away, sharing a hotel with everybody, being in an outside area. It helps quite a bit.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
“We would hear from consumers, ‘listen, because we’re sharing food, I need to compromise,’” said Jordan, currently Domino’s president, who is set to take over as CEO in October.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Mecham started in 2004 by sharing a budgeting spreadsheet as a broke grad student.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
They also believed camp life fostered a sense of camaraderie among young people from all classes, since rich and poor alike lived side by side, performing the same manual labor and sharing rations.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
