Meanings
plural multisets
- mathematicsA generalized type of set in which multiple occurrences of an element are permitted.
Two words are anagrams if they are made up of the same multiset of letters.
3 more examples
Membrane computing essentially deals with multisets, which are sets with multiplicities associated with their elements.
2002, Gheorghe Pǎun, Membrane Computing: An Introduction, Springer, page 492006, Xin Chen, Lan Liu, Zheng Liu, Tao Jiang, On the Minimum Common Integer Partition Problem, Tiziana Calamoneri, Irene Finocchi, Giuseppe F. Italiano (editors), Algorithms and Complexity: 6th Italian Conference CIAC 2006, Proceedings, Springer, LNCS 3998, page 236, A partition of a positive integer n is a multiset of positive integers that add up to exactly n, and an integer partition of a multiset S of integers is defined as the multiset union of partitions of integers in S.
2012, Edward A. Scheinerman, Mathematics: A Discrete Introduction Brooks/Cole (Cengage Learning), page 102, Two multisets are the same provided they contain the same elements with the same multiplicities. For example, {1, 2, 3, 3} = {3, 1, 3, 2}, but {1, 2, 3, 3} ≠ {1, 2, 3, 3, 3}.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA generalized type of set in which multiple occurrences of an element are permitted.
Origin
Coined by Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn, multi- + set.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 多重集, 多重集合
- 多重集 (duōchóngjí)generalized type of set that may contain multiple occurrences of elements
- 多重集合 (duōchóngjíhé)generalized type of set that may contain multiple occurrences of elements
Czech multimnožina
- multimnožinageneralized type of set that may contain multiple occurrences of elements
Finnish monijoukko
- monijoukkogeneralized type of set that may contain multiple occurrences of elements
French multiensemble
- multiensemblegeneralized type of set that may contain multiple occurrences of elements
German Multimenge
- Multimengegeneralized type of set that may contain multiple occurrences of elements
Italian multiinsieme
- multiinsiemegeneralized type of set that may contain multiple occurrences of elements
Japanese 多重集合
- 多重集合 (tajūshūgō)generalized type of set that may contain multiple occurrences of elements
Polish multizbiór, wielozbiór
- multizbiórgeneralized type of set that may contain multiple occurrences of elements
- wielozbiórgeneralized type of set that may contain multiple occurrences of elements
Russian мультимно́жество
- мультимно́жество (mulʹtimnóžestvo)generalized type of set that may contain multiple occurrences of elements
Swedish multimängd
- multimängdgeneralized type of set that may contain multiple occurrences of elements
Cite this entry
multiset. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/multiset
“multiset.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/multiset. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “multiset,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/multiset.
Source: multiset on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.