multinational

American  

[muhl-tee-nash-uh-nl, muhl-tahy-] / ˌmʌl tiˈnæʃ ə nl, ˌmʌl taɪ- /

noun

• multinationals
  plural

1. a large corporation with operations and subsidiaries in several countries.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or involving several nations.

2. noting or pertaining to multinationals.

multinational British  

/ ˌmʌltɪˈnæʃənəl /

adjective

1. (of a large business company) operating in several countries

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noun

1. such a company

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• multinationalism
  noun
• multinationally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• multinationals
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of multinational

First recorded in 1925–30; multi- + national

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Explanation

When something is described as multinational, it involves more than two countries. A multinational corporation buys and sells in several countries, and it may also have offices in these countries. A multinational conflict is a war that involves the governments of three or more countries. Multinational peacekeepers might be from an organization like the United Nations (which could also be described as a multinational organization), working in many countries toward a peaceful agreement between them. The adjective multinational uses the prefix multi-, or "many," adding it to national, from the Latin nationem, "birth, kind, or tribe."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

multinational multinationals

The option of turning to large multinational oil companies quickly stalled.

From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2026

A multinational study found that people taking these drugs were more than four times as likely to report nail detachment, a condition in which the nail separates from the skin underneath it.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

After my discharge from military service in 1962, I spent three years working for multinational institutions—the European Economic, Atomic Energy, and Coal and Steel communities—which in time would become the European Union.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

Since 2003, the US has run a huge multinational base here, Camp Lemonnier, once home to the French Foreign Legion.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

She must be only twenty-five, and I remember Dennis bragging about how he recruited her outside a downtown temp agency with the promise of working in a multinational business.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee

Separately, Citi said it is also now expanding its token services, which uses the bank’s own blockchain to enable multinationals to move their own money across the bank’s network instantly and around the clock.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

GCCs are offshore innovation hubs of multinationals that perform business critical functions such as R&D, corporate strategy and artificial intelligence development among a plethora of other key jobs.

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026

They are mainly designed to persuade multinationals away from making everything in China and Asia, and at the very least consider moving to North America, with hopes of greater investment in the U.S.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026

A Coca-Cola win would remove a potential liability that has been hanging over the company for a decade and give comfort to multinationals facing similar audits.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026

These multinationals went global for markets and labor, spearheaded first by the expansion of the Dutch and English joint-stock companies and the Industrial Revolution.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman

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Related Words

• continental
• global
• multicultural

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