multitude
Americannoun
-
multitudes
plural
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a great number; host.
a multitude of friends.
-
a great number of people gathered together; crowd; throng.
- Synonyms:
- mass
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the state or character of being many; numerousness.
-
the multitude, the common people; the masses.
noun
-
a large gathering of people
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the common people
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a large number
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the state or quality of being numerous
Synonym Usage
See crowd 1.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing multitude
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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
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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:
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
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
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
The undergrowth at the side of the scar was shaken and a multitude of raindrops fell pattering.
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
She's given to grand proclamations like "I'm unstoppable", or "I will exist in multitudes".
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Bentleys and Lotuses are fun for the few; the RAV4 owns the love of multitudes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
No single category can contain the Whitmanesque multitudes jockeying for position inside us.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 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
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
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.
