multitude

American  

[muhl-ti-tood, -tyood] / ˈmʌl tɪˌtud, -ˌtjud /

noun

• multitudes
  plural

1. a great number; host.

   a multitude of friends.

2. a great number of people gathered together; crowd; throng.

   Synonyms:

   mass

3. the state or character of being many; numerousness.

4. the multitude, the common people; the masses.

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multitude British  

/ ˈmʌltɪˌtjuːd /

noun

1. a large gathering of people

2. the common people

3. a large number

4. the state or quality of being numerous

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Synonym Usage

See crowd ¹.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• multitudes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of multitude

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English word from Latin word multitūdō. See multi-, -tude

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

multitude multitudes

Shortly after I graduated from college, the internet became a global presence, and claims on my attention and everyone else’s mushroomed into a multitude of distractions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

“Immediately noticeable were the sagging eaves, the multitude of leaks from the roof, the dried out, splintered mahogany and the battered exterior woodwork, which had suffered seven decades of winds from the Sound.”

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026

When asked about the names of officials who had withheld information from the public, Mamdani said, "this goes across a multitude of those that New Yorkers have trusted."

From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026

Enrollees can choose from a multitude of plans sponsored by insurance carriers, varying somewhat by the drugs covered and the premiums.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

From her bed she heard Úrsula’s weeping, the steps and whispers of the multitude that invaded the house, the wailing of the mourners, and then a deep silence that smelled of trampled flowers.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

They contain multitudes, and so too do the Dashwood sisters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

No single category can contain the Whitmanesque multitudes jockeying for position inside us.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

What’s more, you are also donating to a food bank to put food into the backpacks of multitudes of children.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 20, 2026

Perhaps because the multitudes derive pleasure from observing wealthy people getting dragged through the mud.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 1, 2026

A venerable, old book, the shape and size of a headstone, with yellowing pages that bore marks of the multitudes who had consulted them before me.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

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Related Words

• horde
• legion
• myriad
• slew
• throng

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