proliferate

American  

[pruh-lif-uh-reyt] / prəˈlɪf əˌreɪt /

verb (used with or without object)

proliferated, proliferating

1. to grow or produce by multiplication of parts, as in budding or cell division, or by procreation.

2. to increase in number or spread rapidly and often excessively.

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proliferate British  

/ prəˈlɪfəˌreɪt /

verb

1. to grow or reproduce (new parts, cells, etc) rapidly

2. to grow or increase or cause to grow or increase rapidly

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Other Word Forms

• proliferative adjective

Etymology

Origin of proliferate

First recorded in 1870–75; prolifer(ous) + -ate ¹

Example Sentences

While palm, face or iris payment and authentication aren’t widespread in the U.S., more commercial trials are popping up, and this type of biometric technology has the potential to proliferate over the next few years.

From The Wall Street Journal

Much of the pleasure of this book lies in these proliferating prismatic effects.

From The Wall Street Journal

As businesses switch toward proliferating AI agents over human workers, software companies sticking to a per-seat pricing model may be left in the dust.

From The Wall Street Journal

That hasn’t stopped them from proliferating as the primary means to evade censorship.

From The Wall Street Journal

Until the country pushes back on antisemitism, "we're going to see incidents like this continue to proliferate", she added.

From BBC

Related Words

• breed
• burgeon
• escalate
• generate
• multiply
• mushroom
• propagate
• reproduce
• snowball