multitude
Americannoun
-
a great number; host.
a multitude of friends.
-
a great number of people gathered together; crowd; throng.
- Synonyms:
- mass
-
the state or character of being many; numerousness.
-
the multitude, the common people; the masses.
noun
-
a large gathering of people
-
the common people
-
a large number
-
the state or quality of being numerous
Synonym Usage
See crowd 1.
Etymology
Origin of multitude
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English word from Latin word multitūdō. See multi-, -tude
Explanation
A multitude is a very large number or a huge crowd. If you see a multitude of zombies approaching, you're in trouble. Sometimes the word multitude refers to the common people, or the masses — that is, everyone in a society apart from the political elite. There are a lot of words and phrases for this, like hoi polloi, which is Greek for "the many," and "the great unwashed." Those last two terms are usually used in a disapproving way, but multitudes is generally a positive term. If you were to say that a leader inspired the multitudes to rise up against their oppressor, we'd assume that you sympathized with the multitudes.
Vocabulary lists containing multitude
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
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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.
And thankfully my partners at Multitude Films and the entire team, as well as our fantastic fact-checker, will all be able to say, “Actually, no, we have our receipts here. We’ve done the research.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2024
It is with my deepest regret that I won't be able to honour my promise and that I'm announcing today the end of the Multitude tour.
From BBC • May 9, 2023
LWC Studios founder and CEO Juleyka Lantigua Williams, Multitude CEO Amanda McLoughlin, and PRX CEO Kerri Hoffman discuss mission statements, unions, and sharing ad revenue, among other ideas.
From The Verge • Feb. 15, 2022
Metzger believes the artist was drawing ideas for a 1506 watercolor titled “The Virgin With a Multitude of Animals.”
From Seattle Times • Dec. 25, 2021
The Holy Scriptures do not forbid him to suppose as great a Multitude of Systems and as much inhabited, as he pleases.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
