plural

• pl., pl (abbreviation)

From Middle English plurelle, from Old French plurel (“plural”), Borrowed from Latin plūrālis (“of or belonging to more than one, belonging to many”, adjective), from plūs, plūris (“more”) + -ālis.

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: plo͝or'-rəl, plô'-rəl, (obsolete) plyo͝or'-rəl, IPA^(key): /ˈplʊəɹ(ə)l/, /ˈplɔːɹ(ə)l/, (obsolete) /ˈpljʊəɹəl/
• (General American) enPR: plo͝oər'-əl, plûr'-əl, IPA^(key): /ˈplʊ(ə)ɹəl/, /ˈplɜɹəl/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈpluːɹəl/
• (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈplʉːɹəl/
• Rhymes: -ʊəɹəl
• Hyphenation: plur‧al

plural (comparative more plural, superlative most plural)

1. Consisting of or containing more than one of something.

   Synonyms: manifold, multiple, morefold, several

   The notion of culture is one whose meanings are plural and shifting.

   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona:

     Than plural faith which is too much by one: Thou counterfeit to thy true friend!

2. (grammar) In systems of number, not singular or not singular or dual.

   English nouns usually have singular and plural forms.

3. (comparable) Pluralistic.
   • 1987, Mircea Eliade, Charles J. Adams, editors, The Encyclopedia of religion, volume 3:

     Although the nation was far more plural than Canada in the number of its Christian groups

   • 2006, Suisheng Zhao, Debating political reform in China: rule of law vs. democratization, page 29:

     The Hong Kong and Singapore markets are way more "plural" than most Western economies, but they have not led to pluralistic politics.

   • 2007, Lachelle Renee Hannickel, From cultural transgressions to literary transformations: ..., page 195:

     History is perhaps more plural than traditionally imagined, leaving room for more groups to express their story.

   • 2009, Pille Valk, Teenagers' perspectives on the role of religion in their lives, ..., page 281:

     Generally the girls tend to perceive their social world as somewhat more plural than boys do. Several of these questions reveal that there are more boys (61%) than girls (39%) who 'do not know' about the religion of others

   • 2011, Harald E. Braun with Edward Vallance, The Renaissance Conscience, page 50:

     Yet More's conscience was responding to a world just a little more plural than the world he was born in

4. (multiplicity, not comparable, of a person) Having some form of multiplicity, especially dissociative identity disorder.

• singular

plural (plural plurals)

1. (grammar, uncountable) The plural number. In English, referring to more or less than one of something.
   • 1895, William W. Goodwin, A Greek Grammar. Revised and enlarged., page 34:

     "There are three numbers; the singular, the dual, and the plural. [...] The dual is sometimes used to denote two objects, but even here the plural is more common."

2. (grammar, countable) A word in the form in which it potentially refers to something other than one person or thing; and other than two things if the language has a dual form.

   The plural of 'cat' is 'cats', but the plural of 'child' is 'children'.

3. (multiplicity, countable) A person with some form of multiplicity, particularly dissociative identity disorder.

   Synonyms: multiple, system

   • 2016, Lori F. Clarke, “Embracing Polyphony: Voices, Improvisation, and the Hearing Voices Network”, in Intersectionalities: A Global Journal of Social Work Analysis, Research, Polity, and Practice, volume 5, number 2, page 6:

     Singlet and monocultural identity is so normalized that many voice hearers and plurals don’t share their experiences with anyone, living in isolation (and sometimes in poverty) and spending considerable inner resources to manage postures and performances of ‘mental health’.

   • 2020, Elizabeth Schechter, “What we can learn about respect and identity from plurals”, in JPCA Mag, number 1, page 38:

     More strongly, respect might require that singlets themselves accept, in the context of interacting with plurals, that people are truly distinct people.

   • 2020, Tynan Drake, "Intersectional Representation: LGBTQ+ and neurodiverse voices in transmedia fiction", paper submitted to Ball State University, page 14:

     Autistics, plurals, and gender nonconforming individuals are all stigmatized as not being capable of understanding their own experiences and are repeatedly attacked with narratives intended to make them doubt their own emotions, memories, and sense of self.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:plural.

• Many languages have singular for one item and plural for more than one item. Some languages also have a dual form for two, a trial form for three, or a paucal form for several (e.g. Fijian). Other languages do not distinguish any of these categories.
• While the plural form generally refers to two or more persons or things, that is not always the case. The plural form is often used for zero persons or things, for fractional things in a quantity that is not equal to one, and for people or things when the quantity is unknown.

• plurale tantum

• singular

• (grammatical numbers) grammatical number; singular, dual, trial, quadral, quintal, paucal, plural ^{(Category: en:Grammar)}

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [pluˈɾal]

• Audio:

  (file)

plural m or f (masculine and feminine plural plurals)

1. plural

   Antonym: singular

plural m (plural plurals)

1. plural

   Antonym: singular

• pluralisme
• pluralista

• pluralitat

• “plural”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “plural”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “plural” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “plural” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

• IPA^(key): /ply.ʁal/

• Audio:

  (file)

plural (feminine plurale, masculine plural pluraux, feminine plural plurales)

1. plural, large

• pluralisme
• pluraliste
• pluralité
• pluri-
• pluriel

• “plural”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Learned borrowing from Latin plūrālis.

• IPA^(key): /pluˈɾal/ [pluˈɾɑɫ]
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: plu‧ral

plural m or f (plural plurais)

1. plural

   Antonym: singular

• pluralismo
• pluralista

• pluralidade

• “plural”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025
• “plural” in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (2014).

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

• IPA^(key): /pluˈʁaːl/

plural (strong nominative masculine singular pluraler, not comparable)

1. pluralistic

   Synonym: pluralistisch

• “plural” in Duden online
• “plural” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

From English plural.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈplural/ [ˈplu.ral]
• Syllabification: plu‧ral

plural (comparative lebih plural, superlative paling plural)

1. plural (more than one)

   Synonyms: jamak, majemuk

• “plural” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Borrowed from Italian plurale.

• IPA^(key): /pluˈraːl/

plural m (plural plurali)

1. (grammar) plural

   plural sħiħ ― sound plural

   plural miksur ― broken plural

plural

1. alternative form of plurelle

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

• Audio (Languedoc):

  (file)

plural m (plural plurals)

1. plural

Learned borrowing from Latin plūrālis.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: plu‧ral

plural m or f (plural plurais)

1. plural (consisting of more than one things)

   Antonym: singular

plural m (plural plurais)

1. (grammar) plural (word referring to multiple things)

   Antonym: singular

• pluralismo
• pluralista

• pluralidade

• “plural”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

• плурал (plural) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling

Borrowed from Latin pluralis.

• IPA^(key): /pluˈral/
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: plu‧ral

plural n (plural plurali)

1. plural

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

• IPA^(key): /plǔraːl/
• Hyphenation: plu‧ral

plùrāl m inan (Cyrillic spelling плу̀ра̄л)

1. (uncountable) plural

   Synonym: množìna

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

• IPA^(key): /pluˈɾal/ [pluˈɾal]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: plu‧ral

plural m or f (masculine and feminine plural plurales)

1. plural, multiple

   Antonym: singular

plural m (plural plurales)

1. (grammar) plural

   Antonym: singular

• “plural”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024