multitudinous

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English

Etymology

From multitude +‎ -in- +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

Adjective

multitudinous (comparative more multitudinous, superlative most multitudinous)

  1. Existing in great numbers; innumerable. [from 17th c.]
    • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 137, column 1:
      Will all great Neptunes ocean waſh this blood / Cleane from my Hand? no: this my Hand will rather / The multitudinous Seas incarnardine, / Making the Greene one, Red.
    • 1876, John Quincy Adams, Diary entry dated 9 September, 1833 in Charles Francis Adams (editor), Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, Volume 9, p. 14,[1]
      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.
    • 1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC:
      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 parts.
    • 1625, Peter Heylin, Mikrokosmos: A Little Description of the Great World, Augmented and revised, Oxford, “The Grecian Iles,” p. 424,[2]
      […] 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.
    • 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.
    • 1882, Walt Whitman, Specimen Days & Collect, Philadelphia: Rees Welsh & Co., entry dated 26 August, 1879, p. 138:
      […] 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 […]
    • 1916, Carl Sandburg, “Monotone”, in Chicago Poems‎[3], New York: Henry Holt & Co, page 118:
      The monotone of the rain is beautiful, / And the sudden rise and slow relapse / Of the long multitudinous rain.
  3. Crowded with many people.
    • 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam‎[4], London: C. & J. Ollier, Canto 12, Stanza I, p. 250:
      The transport of a fierce and monstrous gladness / Spread thro’ the multitudinous streets, fast flying / Upon the winds of fear […]
    • 1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 19:
      [R]egard this Earth / Made multitudinous with thy slaves, whom thou / Requitest for knee-worship, prayer, and praise, / And toil, and hecatombs of broken hearts, / With fear and self-contempt and barren hope.
    • 1919, Max Beerbohm, “A. V. Laider”, in Seven Men‎[5], London: William Heinemann, page 142:
      In multitudinous London the memory of A. V. Laider and his trouble had soon passed from my mind.
  4. Coming from or produced by a large number of beings or objects.
    • 1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 1, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book I (The Coming of the Martians), page 16:
      The multitudinous shouting confused his ears.
    • 1950, Mervyn Peake, chapter 36, in Gormenghast‎[6], New York: Ballantine, published 1968, page 261:
      […] she paused before she opened the doors of the salon, for a loud and confused noise came from within. It was of a kind that she had never heard before, so happy it was, so multitudinous, so abandoned—the sound of voices at play.
  5. (obsolete) Of or relating to the multitude, of the common people.
    • 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]:
      [you] that prefer / A noble life before a long, and wish / To jump a body with a dangerous physic / That’s sure of death without it, at once pluck out / The multitudinous tongue; let them not lick / The sweet which is their poison […]

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

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