multitude

American  

[muhl-ti-tood, -tyood] / ˈmʌl tɪˌtud, -ˌtjud /

noun

• multitudes
  plural

1. a great number; host.

   a multitude of friends.

2. a great number of people gathered together; crowd; throng.

   Synonyms:

   mass

3. the state or character of being many; numerousness.

4. the multitude, the common people; the masses.

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multitude British  

/ ˈmʌltɪˌtjuːd /

noun

1. a large gathering of people

2. the common people

3. a large number

4. the state or quality of being numerous

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Synonym Usage

See crowd ¹.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• multitudes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of multitude

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English word from Latin word multitūdō. See multi-, -tude

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Explanation

A multitude is a very large number or a huge crowd. If you see a multitude of zombies approaching, you're in trouble. Sometimes the word multitude refers to the common people, or the masses — that is, everyone in a society apart from the political elite. There are a lot of words and phrases for this, like hoi polloi, which is Greek for "the many," and "the great unwashed." Those last two terms are usually used in a disapproving way, but multitudes is generally a positive term. If you were to say that a leader inspired the multitudes to rise up against their oppressor, we'd assume that you sympathized with the multitudes.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

multitude multitudes

Mr. Warrack describes removing an approximately 3-foot-deep layer of pigeon excrement from Rome’s Church of SS Vincenzo e Anastasio, “which revealed a multitude of squirming horrors that even Hieronymus Bosch never dreamed of.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

When asked about the names of officials who had withheld information from the public, Mamdani said, "this goes across a multitude of those that New Yorkers have trusted."

From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026

"As police officers we're trained to deal with a multitude of situations, but I don't think something like this could ever be trained for," he said.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

Enrollees can choose from a multitude of plans sponsored by insurance carriers, varying somewhat by the drugs covered and the premiums.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

From her bed she heard Úrsula’s weeping, the steps and whispers of the multitude that invaded the house, the wailing of the mourners, and then a deep silence that smelled of trampled flowers.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Parton didn’t have children, and her husband died in 2025, but she had 11 siblings and multitudes of nieces and nephews.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026

That people come out in multitudes is no proof of some new awakening.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

No single category can contain the Whitmanesque multitudes jockeying for position inside us.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

Among the many tasks: managing ever-multiplying multitudes of cattle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2026

A venerable, old book, the shape and size of a headstone, with yellowing pages that bore marks of the multitudes who had consulted them before me.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

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Related Words

• horde
• legion
• myriad
• slew
• throng

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