multitudinous

American  

[muhl-ti-tood-n-uhs, -tyood-] / ˌmʌl tɪˈtud n əs, -ˈtyud- /

adjective

1. forming a multitude or great number; existing, occurring, or present in great numbers; very numerous.

2. comprising many items, parts, or elements.

3. Archaic. crowded or thronged.

---

multitudinous British  

/ ˌmʌltɪˈtjuːdɪnəs /

adjective

1. very numerous

2. rare great in extent, variety, etc

3. poetic crowded

---

Other Word Forms

• multitudinously adverb
• multitudinousness noun

Etymology

Origin of multitudinous

First recorded in 1600–25; < Latin multitūdin- (stem of multitūdō ) multitude + -ous

Explanation

Anything multitudinous is countless, infinite, innumerable, and, myriad: you couldn't count it if you tried. This is a fancy way to describe more than a whole lot of something — so many, in fact, that you could never count them all. There are multitudinous atoms in your body, multitudinous drops in the ocean, and multitudinous grains of sand on the beach. The number of books in the library isn't multitudinous, even though it would take forever to count them all. Save multitudinous for things that are so amazingly numerous that counting is useless.

Example Sentences

Maybe life is too multitudinous for any one novel to capture its spirit, he muses, and “perhaps ten novels from ten different cultural perspectives are required now.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 21, 2023

And another worry: If the data does make it into the mainstream, will consumers simply tune it out — just as many do with California’s multitudinous cancer warning signs?

From Scientific American • Jul. 11, 2023

Because they think they are white, however vociferous they may be and however multitudinous, they are as speechless as Lot's wife— looking backward, changed into a pillar of salt.

From Salon • May 5, 2023

His business organization is wrestling with multitudinous court cases in New York right now — tax fraud is a central topic.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 3, 2022

A later edition included four pages of “Additional Facts,” including the mysterious appearance of “a turnip covered with minute, multitudinous, and most beautifully formed mesmeric characters.”

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock