proliferate

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

English

Etymology

Back-formation from proliferation.

Pronunciation

Verb

proliferate (third-person singular simple present proliferates, present participle proliferating, simple past and past participle proliferated)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To increase in number or spread rapidly; to multiply.
    The flowers proliferated rapidly all spring.
    • 1976 March 27, F. Dudley Hart, “History of the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis”, in British Medical Journal, volume 1, number 6012, →DOI, →JSTOR, page 763:
      When no certain cure exists, quack remedies tend to proliferate and the history of quackery and secret cures is full of extraordinary forms of treatment for the various arthritic disorders.
    • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:
      But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries.  By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal.
    • 2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 50:
      After decades of the type of mismanagement that proliferated across all the nationalised industries, the government was already aware that British Railways was in deep trouble.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

proliferate

  1. inflection of proliferare:
    1. second-person plural present indicative
    2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

proliferate f pl

  1. feminine plural of proliferato

Anagrams

Spanish

Verb

proliferate

  1. second-person singular voseo imperative of proliferar combined with te