multitude
Americannoun
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a great number; host.
a multitude of friends.
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a great number of people gathered together; crowd; throng.
- Synonyms:
- mass
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the state or character of being many; numerousness.
-
the multitude, the common people; the masses.
noun
-
a large gathering of people
-
the common people
-
a large number
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the state or quality of being numerous
Related Words
See crowd 1.
Etymology
Origin of multitude
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English word from Latin word multitūdō. See multi-, -tude
Explanation
A multitude is a very large number or a huge crowd. If you see a multitude of zombies approaching, you're in trouble. Sometimes the word multitude refers to the common people, or the masses — that is, everyone in a society apart from the political elite. There are a lot of words and phrases for this, like hoi polloi, which is Greek for "the many," and "the great unwashed." Those last two terms are usually used in a disapproving way, but multitudes is generally a positive term. If you were to say that a leader inspired the multitudes to rise up against their oppressor, we'd assume that you sympathized with the multitudes.
Vocabulary lists containing multitude
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
So what is the name of this dish to which I so lavishly extol this multitude of virtues?
From Salon • Apr. 13, 2026
Responsibility also fell to the "immense multitude" that rejects war, Leo said, urging them to build a "Kingdom of peace... in our homes, schools, neighbourhoods, and civil and religious communities."
From Barron's • Apr. 11, 2026
The company is addressing an age-old problem in enterprise technology: the multitude of siloed systems and data sources that don’t communicate with one another in a fluid way.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
A high-intensity fire every 200 or 300 years releases a multitude of seeds from the dying giants.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026
What strange fate had brought me so near him, I wondered, in all this multitude of humans?
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
