multitude
Contents
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowing from Old French multitude, from Latin multitūdō.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
multitude (plural multitudes)
- A great amount or number, often of people; myriad; profusion; abundance.
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1855, Whitman, Walt, “Song of Myself”, in Leaves of Grass, book III, section 51:
- Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes.)
- 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, Episode 12, The Cyclops
- 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.
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1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “chapter XIV”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855:
- “Well, let's hope you're right, darling. In the meantime,” said Kipper, “if I don't get that whisky-and-soda soon, I shall disintegrate. Would you mind if I went in search of it, Mrs Travers?” “It's the very thing I was about to suggest myself. Dash along and drink your fill, my unhappy young stag at eve.” “I'm feeling rather like a restorative, too,” said Bobbie. “Me also,” I said, swept along on the tide of the popular movement. “Though I would advise,” I said, when we were outside, “making it port. More authority. We'll look in on Swordfish. He will provide.” 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 [...]
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- The mass of ordinary people; the populous or the masses
- Pilate, wishing to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them.
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
great amount or number, often of people
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mass of ordinary people; the populous or the masses
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old French multitude, a borrowing from Latin multitudo.
PronunciationEdit
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audio (file)
NounEdit
multitude f (plural multitudes)
Further readingEdit
- “multitude” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).