Wiktionary

plural

See also: Plural and plurál

English

edit
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

edit

Etymology

edit

From Middle English plurelle, from Old French plurel (“plural”), Borrowed from Latin plūrālis (“of or belonging to more than one, belonging to many”, adjective), from plūs, plūris (“more”) + -ālis.

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

plural (comparative more plural, superlative most plural)

  1. Consisting of or containing more than one of something.
    Synonyms: manifold, multiple, morefold, several
    The notion of culture is one whose meanings are plural and shifting.
    • 1594, William Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona:
      Than plural faith which is too much by one: Thou counterfeit to thy true friend!
  2. (grammar) In systems of number, not singular or not singular or dual.
    English nouns usually have singular and plural forms.
  3. (comparable) Pluralistic.
    • 1987, Mircea Eliade, Charles J. Adams, editors, The Encyclopedia of religion, volume 3:
      Although the nation was far more plural than Canada in the number of its Christian groups
    • 2006, Suisheng Zhao, Debating political reform in China: rule of law vs. democratization, page 29:
      The Hong Kong and Singapore markets are way more "plural" than most Western economies, but they have not led to pluralistic politics.
    • 2007, Lachelle Renee Hannickel, From cultural transgressions to literary transformations: ..., page 195:
      History is perhaps more plural than traditionally imagined, leaving room for more groups to express their story.
    • 2009, Pille Valk, Teenagers' perspectives on the role of religion in their lives, ..., page 281:
      Generally the girls tend to perceive their social world as somewhat more plural than boys do. Several of these questions reveal that there are more boys (61%) than girls (39%) who 'do not know' about the religion of others
    • 2011, Harald E. Braun with Edward Vallance, The Renaissance Conscience, page 50:
      Yet More's conscience was responding to a world just a little more plural than the world he was born in
  4. (multiplicity, not comparable, of a person) Having some form of multiplicity, especially dissociative identity disorder.

Derived terms

edit
edit

Translations

edit

Noun

edit

plural (plural plurals)

  1. (grammar, uncountable) The plural number. In English, referring to more or less than one of something.
    • 1895, William W. Goodwin, A Greek Grammar. Revised and enlarged., page 34:
      "There are three numbers; the singular, the dual, and the plural. [...] The dual is sometimes used to denote two objects, but even here the plural is more common."
  2. (grammar, countable) A word in the form in which it potentially refers to something other than one person or thing; and other than two things if the language has a dual form.
    The plural of 'cat' is 'cats', but the plural of 'child' is 'children'.
  3. (multiplicity, countable) A person with some form of multiplicity, particularly dissociative identity disorder.
    Synonyms: multiple, system
    • 2016, Lori F. Clarke, “Embracing Polyphony: Voices, Improvisation, and the Hearing Voices Network”, in Intersectionalities: A Global Journal of Social Work Analysis, Research, Polity, and Practice, volume 5, number 2, page 6:
      Singlet and monocultural identity is so normalized that many voice hearers and plurals don’t share their experiences with anyone, living in isolation (and sometimes in poverty) and spending considerable inner resources to manage postures and performances of ‘mental health’.
    • 2020, Elizabeth Schechter, “What we can learn about respect and identity from plurals”, in JPCA Mag, number 1, page 38:
      More strongly, respect might require that singlets themselves accept, in the context of interacting with plurals, that people are truly distinct people.
    • 2020, Tynan Drake, "Intersectional Representation: LGBTQ+ and neurodiverse voices in transmedia fiction", paper submitted to Ball State University, page 14:
      Autistics, plurals, and gender nonconforming individuals are all stigmatized as not being capable of understanding their own experiences and are repeatedly attacked with narratives intended to make them doubt their own emotions, memories, and sense of self.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:plural.

Usage notes

edit
  • Many languages have singular for one item and plural for more than one item. Some languages also have a dual form for two, a trial form for three, or a paucal form for several (e.g. Fijian). Other languages do not distinguish any of these categories.
  • While the plural form generally refers to two or more persons or things, that is not always the case. The plural form is often used for zero persons or things, for fractional things in a quantity that is not equal to one, and for people or things when the quantity is unknown.

Derived terms

edit
edit

Translations

edit

See also

edit

Catalan

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

plural m or f (masculine and feminine plural plurals)

  1. plural
    Antonym: singular

Noun

edit

plural m (plural plurals)

  1. plural
    Antonym: singular

Derived terms

edit
edit

Further reading

edit

French

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

plural (feminine plurale, masculine plural pluraux, feminine plural plurales)

  1. plural, large
edit

Further reading

edit

Galician

edit

Etymology

edit

Learned borrowing from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /pluˈɾal/ [pluˈɾɑɫ]
  • Rhymes: -al
  • Hyphenation: plu‧ral

Adjective

edit

plural m or f (plural plurais)

  1. plural
    Antonym: singular

Derived terms

edit
edit

Further reading

edit

German

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

plural (strong nominative masculine singular pluraler, not comparable)

  1. pluralistic
    Synonym: pluralistisch

Declension

edit
Positive forms of plural (uncomparable)
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist plural sie ist plural es ist plural sie sind plural
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative pluraler plurale plurales plurale
genitive pluralen pluraler pluralen pluraler
dative pluralem pluraler pluralem pluralen
accusative pluralen plurale plurales plurale
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der plurale die plurale das plurale die pluralen
genitive des pluralen der pluralen des pluralen der pluralen
dative dem pluralen der pluralen dem pluralen den pluralen
accusative den pluralen die plurale das plurale die pluralen
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein pluraler eine plurale ein plurales (keine) pluralen
genitive eines pluralen einer pluralen eines pluralen (keiner) pluralen
dative einem pluralen einer pluralen einem pluralen (keinen) pluralen
accusative einen pluralen eine plurale ein plurales (keine) pluralen

References

edit
  • “plural” in Duden online
  • “plural” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Indonesian

edit

Etymology

edit

From English plural.

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

plural (comparative lebih plural, superlative paling plural)

  1. plural (more than one)
    Synonyms: jamak, majemuk
edit

Further reading

edit

Maltese

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Italian plurale.

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

plural m (plural plurali)

  1. (grammar) plural
    plural sħiħ ― sound plural
    plural miksur ― broken plural
edit

Middle English

edit

Adjective

edit

plural

  1. Alternative form of plurelle

Occitan

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

plural m (plural plurals)

  1. plural

Portuguese

edit

Etymology

edit

Learned borrowing from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

edit
 

  • Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
  • Hyphenation: plu‧ral

Adjective

edit

plural m or f (plural plurais)

  1. plural (consisting of more than one things)
    Antonym: singular

Noun

edit

plural m (plural plurais)

  1. (grammar) plural (word referring to multiple things)
    Antonym: singular

Derived terms

edit
edit

Further reading

edit

Romanian

edit

Alternative forms

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Latin pluralis.

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /pluˈral/
  • Rhymes: -al
  • Hyphenation: plu‧ral

Noun

edit

plural n (plural plurali)

  1. plural

Declension

edit
Declension of plural
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative plural pluralul plurali pluralile
genitive-dative plural pluralului plurali pluralilor
vocative pluralule pluralilor

Serbo-Croatian

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /plǔraːl/
  • Hyphenation: plu‧ral

Noun

edit

plùrāl m (Cyrillic spelling плу̀ра̄л)

  1. (uncountable) plural
    Synonym: množìna

Declension

edit
Declension of plural
singular plural
nominative plùrāl plurali
genitive plurála plurala
dative pluralu pluralima
accusative plural plurale
vocative plurale plurali
locative pluralu pluralima
instrumental pluralom pluralima

Spanish

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

plural m or f (masculine and feminine plural plurales)

  1. plural, multiple
    Antonym: singular

Noun

edit

plural m (plural plurales)

  1. (grammar) plural
    Antonym: singular

Derived terms

edit
edit

Further reading

edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=plural&oldid=84824946"