multiversal

English

Etymology

multiverse +‎ -al

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌmʌltɪˈvɜːsl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌmʌltɪˈvɝsl̩/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)səl

Adjective

multiversal (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to the multiverse.
   • 1927, Paul Carus, The Open Court‎^[1], Open Court Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 43:

     If the Universe is a true multiversal continuum, in contradistinction to the synechistic continuum) then it is not homogeneous of any one particular conceptual or biological series thruout; it would be heterogeneous, to be sure, but not necessarily discordant or conflicting, it would be knowable severally rather than wholly, each to each rather than all to all.

   • 1963 May, Michael Moorcock, “The Blood Red Game”, in Science Fiction Adventures, volume 6, number 32, London: Nova Publications:

     The Originators, creators of the multiversal seeding ground for their successors.

   • 1980, TSR, Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition‎^[2], page 52:

     The edge appears as a boundary of razor-sharp obsidian glass with a hazy gray area of nothingness extending a few feet beyond it. This gray, a strain on the eyes, should look familiar to any player character accustomed to multiversal travel; this is the nothingness between the planes of reality.

   • 1981, Jack Williamson, Brother to Demons, Brother to Gods‎^[3], Sphere Books, →ISBN, page 22:

     ‘Not by such a name.” Buglet shook her head. ‘She was trying to design a new sort of being, greater than the stargods, with a better control of the multiversal environment and a stronger love for all the older races. But she had to rush her work, because she was afraid the jealous young gods would try to wreck it, to defend their own supremacy.

   • 1984, Michael Moorcock, The Open Court‎^[4], Panther, →ISBN, page 392:

     How many fashions in insanity, do you think, have been set by mentally disturbed temporal adventures? We shall never know! ’ She laughed. ‘Captain Bastable, for instance, was an inadvertent traveller (it sometimes happens), and was on the borders of madness before we were able to rescue him. First one finds it is the future which does not correspond, and this is frightening enough, if you are not expecting it. But it is worse when you return - to discover that your past has changed. You two, I take it, are fixed to a single band. Count yourselves lucky, if you do not know what to expect of multiversal time-travelling.’

References

• Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “multiversal, adj.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.