Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Constituting a very large, indefinite number; innumerable.
  • adjective Composed of numerous diverse elements or facets.
  • noun A large, indefinite number.
  • noun Archaic Ten thousand.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The number of ten thousand.
  • noun An indefinitely great number.
  • Numberless; innumerable; multitudinous; manifold.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things.
  • noun An immense number; a very great many; an indefinitely large number.
  • adjective Consisting of a very great, but indefinite, number.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a large indefinite number
  • noun the cardinal number that is the product of ten and one thousand
  • adjective too numerous to be counted

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek mūrias, mūriad-, ten thousand, from mūrios, countless.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French myriade, from Late Latin myrias (genitive of myriadis), from Ancient Greek μυριάδος (myriados), genitive of μυριάς (myrias, "number of 10,000"), from μύριος (myrios, "numberless, countless, infinite").

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Examples

Comments

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  • "myriad" is not a noun and should not be used as: "A myriad of folks who misuse this word." The proper use is: "Myriad folks misuse this word."

    December 2, 2006

  • Dictionaries are linguistically descriptive. Many wordies are prescriptivist.

    December 2, 2006

  • http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?gwp=13&s=myriad

    Read the usage note. Myriad was originally a noun.

    December 2, 2006

  • I can't see this word and not think of the default Adobe font.

    December 19, 2006

  • I can't see this word and not think of "Heathers."

    September 26, 2008

  • These properties enable us to process amorphous carbons into a myriad of industrial

    products including chemical-reducing agents, carbide-forming reagents,

    metallurgical products, cathodic protection.

    March 19, 2011

  • I use myriad almost exclusively as a noun, and can't help but feel I'm in the minority on this. Hearing it as an adjective has always felt strange to me..

    June 26, 2012

  • "The noun myriad has appeared in the works of such writers as Milton (plural myriads) and Thoreau (a myriad of)..."

    December 9, 2012

  • Greek number for 10,000 - Wolfram Alpha.

    March 28, 2013

  • googology

    noun

    A number equal to equal to:

    10^4

    10,000

    ten thousand

    November 29, 2017

  • ADJECTIVE

    February 7, 2018