proliferate

[pruh-lif-uh-reyt]

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.

proliferate

/ prəˈlɪfəˌreɪt /

verb

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

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

Other Word Forms

• proliferative adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of proliferate¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of proliferate¹

C19: from Medieval Latin prōlifer having offspring, from Latin prōlēs offspring + ferre to bear

Example Sentences

The components found on Pahlawan's boat were "some of the most sophisticated weapon systems that Iran proliferates to other terrorist groups", US federal prosecutors said after his trial.

Read more on BBC

As the boxy people carriers have dwindled in London, vehicles regulated for “private hire”—which include services like Uber that must be prebooked—have proliferated and now number more than 96,000.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Automakers have been saying that consumers aren’t adopting EVs as quickly as expected, and government efforts to proliferate the technology are hammering their bottom lines.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

New data centers have been rapidly proliferating in California and other western states as the rise of artificial intelligence and growing investments in cloud computing drive a construction boom.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Meanwhile, gains in so-called meme stocks began to proliferate this summer in a way they haven’t since the zero-interest-rate days of 2021—a sign of mass exuberance that many Wall Street pros find concerning.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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