multiple

American  

[muhl-tuh-puhl] / ˈmʌl tə pəl /

adjective

1. consisting of, having, or involving several or many individuals, parts, elements, relations, etc.; manifold.

2. Electricity.

   1. (of circuits) arranged in parallel.

   2. (of a circuit or circuits) having a number of points at which connection can be made.

3. Botany. (of a fruit) collective.

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noun

multiples plural

1. Mathematics. a number that contains another number an integral number of times without a remainder.

   12 is a multiple of 3.

2. Electricity. a group of terminals arranged to make a circuit or group of circuits accessible at a number of points at any one of which connection can be made.

multiple British  

/ ˈmʌltɪpəl /

adjective

1. having or involving more than one part, individual, etc

   he had multiple injuries

2. electronics (of a circuit) having a number of conductors in parallel

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noun

1. the product of a given number or polynomial and any other one

   6 is a multiple of 2

2. telephony an electrical circuit accessible at a number of points to any one of which a connection can be made

3. short for multiple store

multiple Scientific  

/ mŭl′tə-pəl /

1. A number that may be divided by another number with no remainder. For example, 4, 10, and 32 are multiples of 2.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonmultiple
  adjective
• multiply
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• multiples
  plural

Etymology

Origin of multiple

First recorded in 1570–80; from French, from Late Latin multiplus “manifold”; see multi-

Explanation

When you're talking about more than one, you're talking about multiple things. A machine with many fixtures has multiple parts. A person that seems like two totally different people on different days might have multiple personalities. The word multiple comes from the Latin multiplus meaning "manifold." When something exists in multiple forms, it's manifold, or has many kinds. Think of a multiplex theater that can show multiple movies at once. Walk through a garden full of flowers and you'll see multiple kinds of blooms. A multiple is also a number that can be divided into another number without a remainder. Multiples of five, for example are ten, fifteen, twenty... — you get the picture.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

multiple multiples

Spitting to the required level required multiple attempts and near gagging.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

Netflix inked licensing deals in July with multiple media publishers for short-form video content as it seeks to compete with TikTok and YouTube.

From Barron's ● Jul. 16, 2026

Shares are trading at a low multiple, “particularly if earnings don’t quickly and massively erode from the peak,” the analysts said.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026

Currently, there are multiple wildfires burning across the northwestern part of the province, with numerous fires remaining out of control due to extreme heat, dry conditions, and strong winds.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

“They are offline. I have told you this multiple times,” Guardian says.

From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga

OpenAI’s ChatGPT shot to more than a billion monthly active users in May, according to Sensor Tower, well above any other competitor and multiples of Anthropic’s user base.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

All these companies now have to do is deliver on higher earnings, rather than rely on the market to value them at higher multiples.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026

“This industry is going through a sea change, and we think multiples will increase commensurate with the revenue growth these companies are beginning to produce,” Mazza said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

Investment banks are trading at historically high multiples, Kotowski and Coffey said, with baked in estimates of booming merger activity and strong trading books.

From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026

Then you take away all the numbers that are multiples of 2.

From "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon

Related Words

• different
• numerous
• various