multitudinous

English

WOTD – 11 July 2025

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin multitūdin- (the oblique stem of multitūdō (“great number (of people), multitude”)) + English -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting the presence of a quality in any degree (typically an abundance)).[1] Multitūdō is derived from multus (“many; much”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“to be late; to worry”)) + -tūdō (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition or state). By surface analysis, multitude +‎ -in- (interfix used before Latinate suffixes appended to nouns ending with -itude or -tude) +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌmʌltɪˈtjuːdɪnəs/, /-ˈt͡ʃuː-/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˌmʌltəˈt(j)udn̩əs/
  • Audio (General American):(file)
  • Hyphenation: mul‧ti‧tu‧din‧ous

Adjective

multitudinous (comparative more multitudinous, superlative most multitudinous)

  1. Existing in multitudes or great numbers; very numerous; innumerable. [from early 17th c.]
    Synonyms: myriad; see also Thesaurus:innumerable
    Antonyms: few, sparse
    • 1603, [Thomas Dekker], 1603. The Wonderfull Yeare. […], London: […] by [J. Browne, Nicholas Ling, and John Smethwick for?] Thomas Creede, […], →OCLC, signature B3, recto:
      The great impoſtume of the realme vvas dravvne / Euen to a head: the multitudinous ſpavvne / VVas the corruption, vvhich did make it ſvvell / VVith hop'd ſedition (the burnt ſeed of hell.)
    • 1603 July 5 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), B[en] Jon[son], “A Particular Entertainment of the Queene and Prince Their Highnesse to Althrope, at the Right Honourable the Lord Spencers, on Saterday being the 25. of Iune 1603. as They Came First into the Kingdome; […]”, in B. Jon: His Part of King James His Royall and Magnificent Entertainement through His Honorable Cittie of London, Thurseday the 15. of March. 1603. […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] [and George Eld] for Edward Blount, published 1604, →OCLC, page 12:
      There vvas alſo another parting ſpeach, vvhich vvas to haue been preſented in the perſon of a youth, and accompanied vvith diuerſe Gentlemens yonger ſonnes of the Countrey, but by reaſon of the Multitudinous preſſe, vvas alſo hindred.
    • 1629 April (date delivered), John Donne, “Sermon XXVIII. Preached to the King [Charles I of England], at the Court in April, 1629.”, in Fifty Sermons, Preached by that Learned and Reverend Divine, John Donne, […] The Second Volume, London: […] Ja. Flesher for M[iles] F[lesher] J[ohn] Marriot, and R[ichard] Royston, published 1649, →OCLC, page 242:
      [T]he foundation of all, the Trinity, undermined by thoſe numerous, thoſe multitudinous Anthills of Socinians, that overflovv ſome parts of the Chriſtian vvorld, and multiply every vvhere.
    • 1658, P[eter] H[eylyn], “That the Three Estates of Every Kingdom whereof Calvin Speaks, have No Authority either to Regulate the Power, or Controll the Actions of the Soveraign Prince”, in The Stumbling-block of Disobedience and Rebellion, Cunningly Laid by [John] Calvin in the Subjects Way, Discovered, Censured, and Removed, London: […] E[llen] Cotes for Henry Seile […], →OCLC, page 275:
      For certainly it is as true in making our approaches and petitions to our Lord the king, as in the pouring out of our prayers and ſupplications to the Lord our God: the more multitudinous and united the Petitioners are, the more like to ſpeed.
    • a. 1663 (date written), P[eter] Heylyn, “Lib[er] I. Extending from the Time of His Birth, till His Being Made Bishop of St. Davids.”, in Cyprianus Anglicus: Or, The History of the Life and Death, of the Most Reverend and Renowned Prelate William by Divine Providence, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, […], London: […] E[llen] Cotes for A[nne] Seile, published 1668, →OCLC, part I (Octob. 7. 1573. – August 6. 1633.), page 70:
      The City [was] at that time much peſtered vvith the Puritan Faction, vvhich vvas grovvn multitudinous and ſtrong by reaſon of the ſmall abode vvhich the Dean and Prebendaries made amongſt them, the dull connivance of their Biſhop, and the remiſs Government of their Metropolitan, […]
    • 1768 (first performance), Samuel Foote, edited by [George] Colman, The Devil upon Two Sticks; a Comedy, […], London: […] T. Sherlock, for T[homas] Cadell, […], published 1778, →OCLC, Act I, page 16:
      Inv[oice]. […] [I]s your family pretty large and extenſive? / Devil. Multitudinous as the ſands on the beach, or the moats in a ſun-beam: Hovv the deuce elſe do you think vve could do all the buſineſs belovv?
    • 1805, Robert Southey, “Canto XXV”, in Madoc, London: […] [F]or Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and A[rchibald] Constable and Co, […], by James Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, part II (Madoc in Aztlan), page 408:
      The lesser fowls / Flock multitudinous in heaven, and fly / Before the Eagle's coming.
    • 1833 September 9 (date written), John Quincy Adams, “The Twenty-third Congress”, in Charles Francis Adams [Sr.], editor, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams. […], volume IX, Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co., published 1876, →OCLC, page 14:
      In the multitudinous whimseys of a disabled mind and body, the thick-coming fancies often occur to me that the events which affect my life and adventures are specially shaped to disappoint my purposes.
      An extract from Adams’ diary.
    • 1837–1839, Henry Hallam, “History of Theological Literature in Europe from 1520 to 1550”, in Introduction to the Literature of Europe, in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, paragraph 35, page 524:
      The schism of the Lutheran and Helvetic protestants did injury enough to their cause; a more multitudinous brood of sectaries would, in the temper of those times, have been such a disgrace as it could not have overcome.
    • 1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC; republished as chapter 14, in Burmese Days (ebook no. 0200051h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, November 2015:
      Whichever way one looked one's view was shut in by the multitudinous ranks of trees, and the tangled bushes and creepers that struggled round their bases like the sea round the piles of a pier.
  2. Comprising a large number of features or parts; manifold, multiple; also, having a large number of forms.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:manifold
    • 1606, Tho[mas] Dekker, “Lying. Or, The Second Dayes Triumph.”, in The Seuen Deadly Sinnes of London: […], London: […] E[dward] A[llde] for Nathaniel Butter, […], →OCLC, page 14:
      [I]n a State ſo multitudinous, where ſo many flocks of people muſt be fed, it is impoſſible to haue ſome Trades to ſtand, if they ſhould not Lye.
    • 1625, Peter Heylyn, “Of the World: And First of Europe. The Grecian Iles.”, in Μικρόκοσμος [Mikrókosmos]. A Little Description of the Great World. […], revised edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Iohn Litchfield and William Turner, and are to be sold by W. Turner and T. Huggins, →OCLC, page 424:
      VVhen all the Perſians ſoothed the King in the vnconquerableneſſe of his forces, Artabanus told him, that he feared no enemies but the Sea and the Earth; the one yeelding no ſafe harbour for ſuch a Navie; the other not yeelding ſufficient ſuſtenance for ſo multitudinous an Armie.
    • 1820 February 23, Leigh Hunt, “Ronald of the Perfect Hand”, in The Indicator, volume I, number XX, London: […] Joseph Appleyard, […], published 1820, →OCLC, page 155:
      It was the rocks of an isle beyond Inistore, which made that multitudinous roaring of the wind.
    • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “An Interview”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 211:
      Ethel knew that further remonstrance was useless; and, therefore, quietly offered her services to arrange the multitudinous wardrobe which was being unpacked.
    • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Custom House. Introductory to ‘The Scarlet Letter’”, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 4:
      The pavement […] has grass enough growing in its chinks to show that it has not, of late days, been worn by any multitudinous resort of business.
    • 1879 August 26 (date written), Walt Whitman, “[Specimen Days.] Exposition Building—New City Hall—River Trip.”, in Specimen Days & Collect, Philadelphia, Pa.: Rees Welsh & Co., […], published 1882–1883, →OCLC, page 138:
      [T]o getting off aside, resting in an arm-chair and looking up a long while at the grand high roof with its graceful and multitudinous work of iron rods, angles, gray colors, plays of light and shade, receding into dim outlines— […] —I abandon'd myself for over an hour.
    • 1916 April, Carl Sandburg, “Monotone”, in Chicago Poems, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 118:
      The monotone of the rain is beautiful, / And the sudden rise and slow relapse / Of the long multitudinous rain.
    1. Of a sound: made by many people.
  3. (chiefly literary and poetic) Of a body of water, the sea, etc.: huge, vast; also, having innumerable ripples.
  4. (obsolete)
    1. (poetic) Followed by with: crowded with many people or things.
    2. (rare) Of or relating to the multitude (“common people; masses”).
      • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 15, column 2:
        You […] That preferre / A Noble life, before a Long, and VViſh / To iumpe a Body vvith a dangerous Phyſicke, / That's ſure of death vvithout it: at once plucke out / The Multitudinous Tongue, let them not licke / The ſvveet vvhich is their poyſon.
    3. (figurative, rare) Very fruitful or productive; prolific.

Derived terms

Translations

of a body of water, the sea, etc.: huge, vast — see huge,‎ vast
of a body of water, the sea, etc.: having innumerable ripples

References

  1. ^ “multitudinous, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024; “multitudinous, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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