multitude

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word multitude. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word multitude, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say multitude in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word multitude you have here. The definition of the word multitude will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofmultitude, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Etymology

From Middle English multitude, multitud, multytude (“(great) amount or number of people or things; multitudinous”), borrowed from Old French multitude (“crowd of people; diversity, wide range”), or directly from its etymon Latin multitūdō (“great amount or number of people or things”), from multus (“many; much”) + -tūdō (suffix forming abstract nouns indicating a state or condition). The English word is analysable as multi- +‎ -itude.

Pronunciation

Noun

multitude (plural multitudes)

  1. A great amount or number, often of people; abundance, myriad, profusion.
    Synonym: (Northern England, Scotland) hantel, hantle
    • 1892, Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”, in Leaves of Grass , Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, , →OCLC, stanza 51, page 78:
      Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes.)
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, , →OCLC:
      A torrential rain poured down from the floodgates of the angry heavens upon the bared heads of the assembled multitude which numbered at the lowest computation five hundred thousand persons.
    • 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 703:
      On the other hand, to arrive after dusk, when the multitude of garish little public-houses are lit up, giving glimpses of crowded jostling bars and taprooms, is an introduction to a fine city well calculated to affect even the most nonchalant.
    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIV, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
      We found Pop Glossop in his pantry polishing silver, and put in our order. He seemed a little surprised at the inrush of such a multitude, but on learning that our tongues were hanging out obliged with a bottle of the best […]
  2. The mass of ordinary people; the masses, the populace.
    Synonym: crowd

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

References

  1. ^ “multitūde, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 3 June 2019.
  2. ^ “multitude, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2003; “multitude”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French multitude.

Pronunciation

Noun

multitude f (plural multitudes)

  1. multitude

Further reading

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin multitūdō (“great amount or number of people or things”), from multus (“many; much”) + -tūdō (suffix forming abstract nouns indicating a state or condition).

Noun

multitude oblique singular, f (oblique plural multitudes, nominative singular multitude, nominative plural multitudes)

  1. crowd of people
  2. diversity; wide range

Descendants

  • English: multitude
  • French: multitude
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia