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

Etymology

Origin of multitude

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

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

In fact, annoyed is not the word I would use, but there was a multitude that I would, with Carlos.

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

Law enforcement is stretched, the multitude of wells is draining the aquifer and some residents’ low wages result in reliance on social services, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Still, the results are likely to boost the multitude of lawsuits working their way through courts across the country.

From Barron's ● Jul. 16, 2026

“As time passes, investors will need to value the stock based on its multitude of businesses instead of the initial IPO hype,” Mike Dickson, head of research at Horizon Investments, said in emailed comments.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026

A multitude stood by to see Seabiscuit off.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

She's given to grand proclamations like "I'm unstoppable", or "I will exist in multitudes".

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

What’s more, you are also donating to a food bank to put food into the backpacks of multitudes of children.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 20, 2026

So NBC, and whatever the studio was, went from having multitudes of advertising money — not just in product placement, but in commercials — gone.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026

Perhaps because the multitudes derive pleasure from observing wealthy people getting dragged through the mud.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 1, 2026

Ares, really a bully at heart and unable to bear what he brought upon unnumbered multitudes of men, fled up to Zeus in Olympus and complained bitterly of Athena’s violence.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

Related Words

• horde
• legion
• myriad
• slew
• throng