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:
As a facultative anaerobic bacterium, it thrives in both oxygen rich and oxygen poor environments, allowing it to multiply inside the oxygen deprived regions commonly found within tumors.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
They could trade stocks and bonds ahead of the news and even multiply bets by borrowing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
A sharp decline in the stock could strip him of the title just as quickly as continued gains could multiply it.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
Perhaps you can see how the metaphors between the backrooms and the internet itself multiply from here: Like the backrooms, one can lose oneself forever in the internet.
From Salon ● Jun. 8, 2026
Was it always so, or did they multiply vastly, along with telephones and new shoes and transistor radios and cellophane-wrapped tomatoes, in our absence?
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Nuclear proliferation just multiplies the odds that there’s going to be a mistake or miscalculation that causes nuclear weapons to be used, so the world should definitely be focused on not allowing more nuclear countries.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 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
JON LEVY: A glue player is the team member who multiplies everyone else’s results, helping the team win.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 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
Rumors have been rampant for weeks over the couple's wedding, with no official confirmation, but clues have multiplied around Madison Square Garden.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
Each factor is multiplied together to produce an overall estimate of the likelihood that life exists.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 26, 2026
This is multiplied many times over throughout defense spending and dealing with climate change.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
The new climate was ideal for Middle Eastern wheat and other cereals, which multiplied and spread.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
But even the number of claimed interceptions shows how the attacks are multiplying.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
This provides "very little evidence that the yeasts have been multiplying over millennia," he said, adding that he believed they were "relatively recent colonists of the mummy's body".
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
To distribute the funds, each child’s amount is calculated by multiplying the fund’s value by their share of units.
From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026
Cells that survive after gaining extra DNA may continue multiplying and potentially contribute to tumor recurrence.
From Science Daily ● May 25, 2026
First I showed him how every answer is just the number you’re multiplying the ten by, with a zero after it.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
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.
