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Synonyms

multivocal

American  
[muhl-tiv-uh-kuhl] / mʌlˈtɪv ə kəl /

adjective

  1. having many or different meanings of equal probability or validity.

    a multivocal word.


multivocal British  
/ ˌmʌltɪˈvəʊkəl /

adjective

  1. having many meanings

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of multivocal

First recorded in 1800–10; multi- + vocal

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.

Then there’s the form, which attempts to expand the monologue into something more communal and multivocal.

From New York Times • Apr. 6, 2023

The novel’s multivocal structure gives each narrator equal weight; the collective theme that no one can ever know what another person is thinking or experiencing comes at the price of never seeing the whole truth.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2022

The humor associated with black language play—with jokers like Pryor and Bernie Mac—directly descends from this multivocal tradition, and from the trouble that made it necessary.

From The New Yorker • May 8, 2017

The clear purpose of the multivocal narrative is to let you piece together the apparently strange world of the Congo from these different accounts.

From The Guardian • May 3, 2013

Necessary, indispensable, and the like, are multivocal terms.

From The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Coleridge, Henry Nelson

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