multiply
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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to make many or manifold; increase the number, quantity, etc., of.
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Arithmetic. to find the product of by multiplication.
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to breed (animals).
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to propagate (plants).
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to increase by procreation.
verb (used without object)
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to grow in number, quantity, etc.; increase.
- Synonyms:
- mushroom, grow, proliferate
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Arithmetic. to perform the process of multiplication.
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to increase in number by procreation or natural generation.
adverb
verb
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to increase or cause to increase in number, quantity, or degree
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(tr) to combine (two numbers or quantities) by multiplication
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(intr) to increase in number by reproduction
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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multipliableadjective
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self-multipliedadjective
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self-multiplyingadjective
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unmultipliedadjective
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unmultiplyingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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multiplysimple
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multipliessimple
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have multipliedperfect
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has multipliedperfect
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am multiplyingprogressive
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are multiplyingprogressive
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is multiplyingprogressive
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have been multiplyingperfect progressive
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has been multiplyingperfect progressive
Past
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multipliedsimple
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had multipliedperfect
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was multiplyingprogressive
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were multiplyingprogressive
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had been multiplyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of multiply1
First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English multiplien, from Old French multiplier, from Latin multiplicāre; see multi-, ply 2
Origin of multiply2
Explanation
When you multiply two numbers, you increase the first by the same number that's specified by the second. In other words, when you multiply two by three, you add together three twos. When you're doing simple math problems, you can multiply by memorizing lists of times tables — or you can add one number as many times as the second number: four times two is the same as two fours, or eight. Another way to multiply is simply to increase or expand greatly: "If the diner starts serving homemade pie, their profits will multiply." The Latin root is multiplicare, "to increase," from multiplex, "having many folds."
Vocabulary lists containing multiply
Ratios and Proportional Relationships
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Number and Operations: Fractions
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Operations and Algebraic Thinking
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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:
Census Bureau, and is expected to multiply fourfold over the next 30 years.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
This signal brings the cells out of their inactive state, allowing them to multiply, mature, and help rebuild damaged muscle fibers.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
Boeing's MQ-28 Ghost Bat is an uncrewed aircraft, developed with the Royal Australian Air Force, to fly alongside crewed fighter jets carrying out electronic warfare and surveillance and to help multiply forces.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
If you cast your net outside of the town center and consider visiting in the low season, your options for reasonable accommodations multiply.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
If we multiply by a hundred thousand our sense of loss for this work of Aristarchus, we begin to appreciate the grandeur of the achievement of classical civilization and the tragedy of its destruction.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
But as heat waves become more frequent, the bill multiplies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
The prevailing theory is that the first to achieve AGI will secure a prize that multiplies itself: a self-training, recursively improving intelligence, growing exponentially and leaving all competitors in its wake.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026
Datadog, down 25%, and Snowflake, down 41%, are in this group, too, although they’re younger companies trading at high multiplies of earnings.
From Barron's ● Apr. 16, 2026
Each reuse multiplies the value of the original dataset, ensuring that no discovery is wasted, every contribution can spark the next breakthrough, and researchers gain recognition for their work.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2025
As you proceed from one level to the next, the tunnels take on gradually more complex geometric shapes, and the number of enemies and obstacles crawling up toward you multiplies drastically.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Yet these settings solve the hardest problem in friendship formation: proximity multiplied by repetition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
When these creatine-deficient dendritic cells were grown alongside T cells in laboratory experiments, the T cells multiplied less and produced fewer signaling molecules needed to mount an effective anti-cancer response.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
Rumors have run rampant for weeks over the couple's wedding, with no official confirmation, but clues have multiplied around Madison Square Garden.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
A tax break for investing in small businesses is being multiplied by two, three, four or even more times through the use of trusts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
My questions have multiplied, twisted, taken on new form.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
It might not be accurate, but it is close enough that people can apply their situation to it by multiplying up or down.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
If one of those changes allows a cell to survive a drug that kills other tumor cells, that resistant cell can continue multiplying.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
Down and down they went, their buffer all but removed, their obsession about results elsewhere in the coming days multiplying as they went.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
Capacity is a standard industry metric calculated by multiplying the number of available seats by the distance flown.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
The pace of admissions seemed to be multiplying by the hour.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
