multipolar

comparative more multipolar · superlative most multipolar · alternative multi-polar

1. biologyHaving more than two poles.First known use 19th c.
2. governmentOf or relating to an international system in which a number of states wield most of the cultural, economic, and political influence.First known use 20th c.

   Mr. Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, like to claim that we now live in a multipolar world.

   2022 February 23, Madeleine Albright, “Putin Is Making a Historic Mistake”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   2 more examples

   If we are mainly concerned, on the contrary, with preventing any rapid escalation of the two-power arms competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, a shift toward a multi-polar world may appear preferable.

   1964 April, Karl W. Deutsch and J. David Singer, “Multipolar Power Systems and International Stability”, in World Politics, volume 16, number 3, →DOI, page 403

   The first diagram reveals a multi-polar system, in which a plurality of forces and interests balance each other in precarious equilibrium.

   2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin, published 2013, page 121

plural multipolars · alternative multi-polar

1. An electromagnetic machine in which several magnetic poles exist.