multifarious

American  

[muhl-tuh-fair-ee-uhs] / ˌmʌl təˈfɛər i əs /

adjective

1. having many different parts, elements, forms, etc.

2. numerous and varied; greatly diverse or manifold.

   multifarious activities.

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multifarious British  

/ ˌmʌltɪˈfɛərɪəs /

adjective

1. having many parts of great variety

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Other Word Forms

• multifariously
  adverb
• multifariousness
  noun

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.

Example Sentences

And he brought his multifarious interests to sometimes bewildered but almost always fascinated audiences with an assiduousness that remains incomparable—and amusing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025

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

I think I have a better grip on this tension after creating a book that tries to preserve what readers liked about “Dear L.A.” while also tackling an even richer, more multifarious place.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 29, 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