multitude means A great amount or number, often of people; abundance, myriad, profusion. It carries an Arena rating of 1476, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, multitude ranks #2,592 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words, #7,100 of 14,440 for Most Satisfying to Say, #7,127 of 14,431 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #7,143 of 14,322 for Scariest Words.
multitude is pronounced /ˈmʌltɪtjuːd/.
Why “multitude” is a great word
A very great number of people or things, or the mass of ordinary people. From Latin multitūdō ("great number"), from multus ("many, much") + the suffix -tūdō (forming abstract nouns indicating a state or condition). Unlike "plethora," which carries a scent of glut and excess, or "crowd," which requires physical congregation, "multitude" is the neutral, encompassing fact of plenitude itself. It is the stars pricking through the evening's first gloom, the anonymous rustle of leaves in a vast wood, the low and ceaseless murmur of a city heard from a distance—the quiet awe of confronting a scale that diminishes the single life to a necessary speck.
Etymology
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.
noun
- 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.)”
- The mass of ordinary people; the masses, the populace.“Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil”
Words closest in meaning
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