Definitions

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

  • noun The state of being various or manifold.
  • noun A large number.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being multiplex or manifold or various; the condition of being numerous.
  • noun Many of the same kind; a large number.
  • noun In mathematics, the number of times an object ought to be counted for the sake of regularity. Thus, a zero of a function has a multiplicity of two, if it ought to be regarded as a union of two zeros. This will be shown on a conform representation by the whole circuit of longitude being twice traversed in going round such a point once.

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

  • noun The quality of being multiple, manifold, or various; a state of being many; a multitude.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the state of being made of multiple diverse elements
  • noun mathematics the number of values for which a given condition holds
  • noun a large indeterminate number
  • noun software engineering, UML The number of instances that can occur on a given end of a relationship, including 0..1, 1, 0..* or *, and 1..*.

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

  • noun the property of being multiple
  • noun a large number

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old French multiplicite, from Late Latin multiplicitās, from multiplex, various; see multiplex.]

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Examples

  • It gives us almost everything the imagination craves – irony, heroism, vastness, unity in multiplicity, and a tragic close.

    C.S. Lewis on Evolutionism (the Myth) 2009

  • When your personal multiplicity is printed on your face, in an almost too obviously thematic manner, in your DNA, in your hair and in the neither this nor that beige of your skin — well, anyone can see you come from Dream City.

    Liminality | clusterflock 2009

  • This exaggeration of the function of education expressed by the word multiplicity deserves a little consideration, for it would appear that our educationists overlook the fact that the organism with which they have to deal is going through the most critical period of its existence.

    The Art of Living in Australia 2004

  • The thought was developed more clearly in the seventeenth century by Robert Boyle; according to him, all bodies consist of one and the same primitive material; their varying multiplicity is due to the different size and shape of the small parts or corpuscles, to their different states of rest or movement.

    Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1922 - Presentation Speech 1966

  • This exaggeration of the function of education expressed by the word multiplicity deserves a little consideration, for it would appear that our educationists overlook the fact that the organism with which they have to deal is going through the most critical period of its existence.

    The Art of Living in Australia ; together with three hundred Australian cookery recipes and accessory kitchen information by Mrs. H. Wicken Philip E. Muskett

  • It’s just amazing how readily we’ll tear each other down for doing whatever works for our families; it’s like multiplicity is a completely unheard-of concept in parenting.

    oh, it’s going to be like that. « Love | Peace | Ohana 2009

  • Cocksworth (1991) and Douglas (2006) argue that Anglican eucharistic theology is characterized by multiformity, that is, a multiplicity of views with many voices actually competing against each other.

    Archive 2007-04-01 2007

  • Cocksworth (1991) and Douglas (2006) argue that Anglican eucharistic theology is characterized by multiformity, that is, a multiplicity of views with many voices actually competing against each other.

    Lovat & Douglas: Habermas and Eucharistic Theology 2007

  • The stories which selected in this series with the idea of multiplicity reflected in this way.

    Untouchable Spring .... అంటరాని వసంతం kesav 2006

  • The stories which selected in this series with the idea of multiplicity reflected in this way.

    Archive 2006-11-01 kesav 2006

  • I looked at the 20 top-grossing movies going all the way back to 1977 (source), and I coded whether each was part of what film scholars call a “multiplicity”—sequels, prequels, franchises, spin-offs, cinematic universe expansions, etc.

    Pop Culture Has Become an Oligopoly Adam Mastroianni 2022

Comments

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  • Superlative of duplicity.

    May 16, 2009

  • Wouldn't the superlative be "infiniplicity?" :)

    May 16, 2009

  • I found this word in a surfer mag. by Ian Hardy. The multiplicity of the young surfers in Hawaii was huge.

    October 28, 2010