multitude
English
Etymology
From Middle English multitude, multitud, multytude (“(great) amount or number of people or things; multitudinous”),[1] borrowed from Old French multitude (“crowd of people; diversity, wide range”), or directly from its etymon Latin multitūdō (“great amount or number of people or things”),[2] from multus (“many; much”) + -tūdō (suffix forming abstract nouns indicating a state or condition). The English word is analysable as multi- + -itude.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈmʌltɪtjuːd/, [-t͡ʃ-]
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈmʌltəˌt(j)ud/
Audio (GA) (file) - Hyphenation: mul‧ti‧tude
Noun
multitude (plural multitudes)
- A great amount or number, often of people; abundance, myriad, profusion.
- 1892, Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC, stanza 51, page 78:
- Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes.)
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
- A torrential rain poured down from the floodgates of the angry heavens upon the bared heads of the assembled multitude which numbered at the lowest computation five hundred thousand persons.
- 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 703:
- On the other hand, to arrive after dusk, when the multitude of garish little public-houses are lit up, giving glimpses of crowded jostling bars and taprooms, is an introduction to a fine city well calculated to affect even the most nonchalant.
- 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIV, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
- We found Pop Glossop in his pantry polishing silver, and put in our order. He seemed a little surprised at the inrush of such a multitude, but on learning that our tongues were hanging out obliged with a bottle of the best […]
- The mass of ordinary people; the masses, the populace.
- Synonym: crowd
- 1599, “Exodus 23:2”, in Geneva Bible, Tolle Lege Press, →ISBN, page 83:
- Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil
- 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 117:
- Along with its natural protectors and guardians, learning will be caſt into the mire and trodden down under the hoofs of a ſwiniſh multitude.
Derived terms
Translations
great amount or number, often of people
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mass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
References
- “multitūde, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 3 June 2019.
- “multitude, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2003; “multitude”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
French
Etymology
Inherited from Old French multitude.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /myl.ti.tyd/
Audio (file)
Further reading
- “multitude”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Old French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin multitūdō (“great amount or number of people or things”), from multus (“many; much”) + -tūdō (suffix forming abstract nouns indicating a state or condition).
Noun
multitude oblique singular, f (oblique plural multitudes, nominative singular multitude, nominative plural multitudes)
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