multifarious
Americanadjective
-
having many different parts, elements, forms, etc.
-
numerous and varied; greatly diverse or manifold.
multifarious activities.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of multifarious
1585–95; < Late Latin multifārius many-sided, manifold, equivalent to Latin multifāri ( am ) on many sides + -us adj. suffix ( see -ous); see multi-, bifarious
Explanation
A person or thing with many sides or different qualities is multifarious. The Internet has multifarious uses, museums are known for their multifarious art collections, and Hindu gods are associated with multifarious incarnations. You can use the adjective multifarious to describe anything that has a lot of sides or aspects, and the 16th-century roots of the word come from multi-, or "many," parts or expressions. Comic actors who can morph their faces into a 1000 different looks are multifarious, and parents who can run businesses, coach soccer leagues, and tell good stories are pretty multifarious too.
Vocabulary lists containing multifarious
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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1984
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Grade 9, List 2
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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.
From here, the exhibition displays the multifarious, entrepreneurial career of Duchamp, who also assumed the female alter-ego Rrose Sélavy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026
To capture Dylan in all his multifarious splendor, writer-director Todd Haynes cast six actors to portray different aspects of the songwriter’s protean genius.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2024
Outside-world triggers for Inger are multifarious — she refuses to bathe and often carps about walking — but none prove as potent as Andreas’s scorn, which sets hurdles throughout the trip.
From New York Times ● Dec. 26, 2023
Funding for past reinsurance has been creative and multifarious, lodged sometimes in Federal Reserve powers, sometimes in program authority to recoup through future premiums, or borrowing authority from the U.S.
From Slate ● May 15, 2023
My grandfather, accustomed to the multifarious conjugations of ancient Greek verbs, had found English, for all its incoherence, a relatively simple tongue to master.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
