Meanings
plural multitudes
- A great amount or number, often of people; abundance, myriad, profusion.
Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes.)
1892, Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC, stanza 51, page 784 more examples
A torrential rain poured down from the floodgates of the angry heavens upon the bared heads of the assembled multitude which numbered at the lowest computation five hundred thousand persons.
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLCOn the other hand, to arrive after dusk, when the multitude of garish little public-houses are lit up, giving glimpses of crowded jostling bars and taprooms, is an introduction to a fine city well calculated to affect even the most nonchalant.
1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 703We found Pop Glossop in his pantry polishing silver, and put in our order. He seemed a little surprised at the inrush of such a multitude, but on learning that our tongues were hanging out obliged with a bottle of the best […]
1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIV, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLCEver since El Martinez started asking to be called by the gender-neutral pronouns “they/them” in the ninth grade, they have fielded skepticism in a variety of forms and from a multitude of sources about what it means to identify as nonbinary.
2019 May 29, Amy Harmon, “Which Box Do You Check? Some States Are Offering a Nonbinary Option”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 08 Jun 2019Synonyms: hantel, hantle, legion
- The mass of ordinary people; the masses, the populace.
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil
1599, “Exodus 23:2”, in Geneva Bible, Tolle Lege Press, →ISBN, page 831 more example
Along with its natural protectors and guardians, learning will be caſt into the mire and trodden down under the hoofs of a ſwiniſh multitude.
1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 117Synonyms: crowd
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA great amount or number, often of people; abundance, myriad, profusion.
nounThe mass of ordinary people; the masses, the populace.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna large indefinite quantity
nounthe common people generally
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinmultitūdō“great amount or number of people or things”
- Old Frenchmultitude“crowd of people; diversity, wide range”
- Middle Englishmultitude
- Englishmultitude
From Middle English multitude, multitud, multytude (“(great) amount or number of people or things; multitudinous”), borrowed from Old French multitude (“crowd of people; diversity, wide range”), or directly from its etymon Latin multitūdō (“great amount or number of people or things”), from multus (“many; much”) + -tūdō (suffix forming abstract nouns indicating a state or condition). The English word is analysable as multi- + -itude.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek πλῆθος, πλῆθος
- πλῆθος (plêthos)great amount or number, often of people
- πλῆθος (plêthos)mass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
Bulgarian маса
- маса (masa)mass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
Catalan ramat
- ramatgreat amount or number, often of people
Esperanto amaso, popolanaro
- amasogreat amount or number, often of people
- popolanaromass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
Finnish joukko, kansa
- joukkogreat amount or number, often of people
- kansamass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
- rahvasmass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
French multitude, multitude
- multitudegreat amount or number, often of people
- multitudemass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
German Vielzahl, Menge
- Vielzahlgreat amount or number, often of people
- Mengegreat amount or number, often of people
- Menschenmengemass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
- Mengemass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
- Volkmass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
Greek πλήθος, πλήθος
- πλήθος (plíthos)great amount or number, often of people
- πλήθος (plíthos)mass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
- μάζα (máza)mass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
Hebrew המון, המון
- המון (hamón)great amount or number, often of people
- המון (hamón)mass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
- ערב רב (érev rav)mass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
Irish mórshlua, mórshlua
- mórshluagreat amount or number, often of people
- mórshluamass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
Italian moltitudine, folla
- moltitudinegreat amount or number, often of people
- follamass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
Latin multitudo, multitudo
- multitudogreat amount or number, often of people
- multitudomass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
Māori nuipuku, mātinitini
- nuipukugreat amount or number, often of people
- mātinitinigreat amount or number, often of people
- ngerogreat amount or number, often of people
- ngerongerogreat amount or number, often of people
- tini ngerongerogreat amount or number, often of people
- mareamass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
- hākerekeremass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
Norwegian mengde, menneskemengde, den gemene hop
- mengdegreat amount or number, often of people
- menneskemengde, den gemene hopmass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
Polish mnóstwo, multum
- mnóstwogreat amount or number, often of people
- multumgreat amount or number, often of people
- bezlikgreat amount or number, often of people
Portuguese multidão, massa
- multidãogreat amount or number, often of people
- massagreat amount or number, often of people
- povogreat amount or number, often of people
Russian мно́жество, ма́сса
- мно́жество (mnóžestvo)great amount or number, often of people
- ма́сса (mássa)great amount or number, often of people
Scottish Gaelic mòr-sluagh, mòr-sluagh
- mòr-sluaghgreat amount or number, often of people
- mòr-sluaghmass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
Spanish multitud, multitud
- multitudgreat amount or number, often of people
- multitudmass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
Turkish kalabalık, millet
- kalabalıkgreat amount or number, often of people
- milletmass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
- kalabalıkmass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
Cite this entry
multitude. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/multitude
“multitude.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/multitude. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “multitude,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/multitude.
Source: multitude on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.