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pluralize

American  
[ploor-uh-lahyz] / ˈplʊər əˌlaɪz /
especially British, pluralise

verb (used with object)

pluralized, pluralizing
  1. to express in the plural form; make plural.

    to pluralize a noun.


verb (used without object)

pluralized, pluralizing
  1. to receive or take a plural form.

pluralize British  
/ ˈplʊərəˌlaɪz /

verb

  1. (intr) to hold more than one ecclesiastical benefice or office at the same time

  2. to make or become plural

"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

Other Word Forms


Etymology

Origin of pluralize

First recorded in 1795–1805; plural + -ize


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:

When a student trying to figure out how to pluralize singular nouns asked, “No plural?” she chirped: “No! How neat, right?”

From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2023

Some people pluralize nouns that would be grammatically correct as singular.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 21, 2021

Sir: Please tell me I am wrong; please do not tell me that you attempted to pluralize the Latin tempus and made it into tempi!

From Time Magazine Archive

He and his associates had definitely decided to pluralize the term.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

Some groups pluralize both parts of the group; as man singer, manservant, woman servant, woman singer.

From An English Grammar by James Witt Sewell

But the defense attorneys responded that the D.A.'s office unfairly pluralized “events occurring only once.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2022

It’s used as a common noun and can be pluralized or singular, for instance: “you should set a passkey for your banking app.”

From The Verge ● Aug. 5, 2022

Also unlike English ones, Arabic nouns are only pluralized if they describe a number between 3 and 10.

From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2017

The saying also surfaced, pluralized, in “Breathless,” via a recorded spoken-word recitation by Mr. Blanchard’s son, who goes by JRei Oliver.

From New York Times ● Aug. 7, 2016

But Richard Hiley says, "Proper nouns, when pluralized, follow the same rules as common nouns; as, Venus, the Venuses; Ajax, the Ajaxes; Cato, the Catoes; Henry, the Henries."

From The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown

In the early 1990s, the internet was already democratizing and pluralizing spirituality.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 9, 2020

From there, he coached me on saving my Ss for big-ticket, pluralizing plays and putting high-value letters on double-letter squares.

From New York Times ● Dec. 8, 2017

That didn’t take, but the pluralizing of everyone did.

From Time ● Aug. 1, 2014

Does pluralizing a word ever change the accent?

From 1001 Questions and Answers on Orthography and Reading by B. A. Hathaway

Certain compounds change the form of the first word in pluralizing, as: court-martial, brother-in-law, sister-in-law.

From Every-Day Errors of Speech by L. P. Meredith

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