multiple

From French multiple, itself from Late Latin multiplus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmʌltɪpl̩/, /ˈml̩tɪpl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

multiple

1. More than one (followed by plural).

   My Swiss Army knife has multiple blades.

   • 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:

     Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. […] A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale.

multiple (not comparable)

1. Having more than one element, part, component, or function, having more than one instance, occurring more than once, usually contrary to expectations (can be followed by a singular).

   Some states do explicitly prohibit multiple citizenship.

   It was a multiple pregnancy: the woman had triplets.

   Multiple registrations are an increasing problem for many social networking sites.

   • 2012, Dino Esposito, Architecting Mobile Solutions for the Enterprise:

     Now, let's briefly explore two different approaches for creating sites for a multiple audience: multiserving and responsive design.

   1. (multiplicity) Of a person: displaying or experiencing two or more distinct personalities or selves in one body.
      • 2024, Zarah Eve, “Expert-by-experience intrapersonal findings” (chapter 6), in Exploring emerging multiplicity and psychosocial functioning: A constructivist grounded theory study (PhD thesis), Manchester Metropolitan University, page 145:

        While being multiple can cause complexity to people’s lives, as will be highlighted below, all respondents noted that they would not want to change their experiences of being multiple.

• (more than one): manifold, many, morefold, several; see also Thesaurus:manifold
• plural

• (antonym(s) of “many”): paucal (rare)

multiple (plural multiples)

2. (mathematics) A whole number that can be divided by another number with no remainder.

   14, 21 and 70 are multiples of 7

3. (finance) Price-earnings ratio.
4. One of a set of the same thing; a duplicate.
   • 1996, Southeastern College Art Conference Review:

     One might view this attempt to ensure the scarcity of a multiple as both a marketing ploy and form of elitism.

5. (multiplicity) A single individual who displays or experiences multiple personalities or selves.

   Synonym: system

   • 2010, Ann M. Garvey, Ann's Multiple World of Personality: Regular No Cream, No Sugar:

     I had seen its first show when it was a freebie, but I thought it made multiples in general look silly – no one changes clothes THAT much!

   • 2000, Henk Driessen, Ton Otto, Perplexities of identification, page 115:

     Non-abused multiples have no need of doctors, and they have carved out a foothold of their own from where they speak confidently about their utopian vision of a multiple world.

6. One of a set of siblings produced by a multiple birth.
7. A chain store.
   • 1979, Management Today, page 96:

     The big advantage such multiples can offer over a purely catalogue operation is that winners can be given shopping vouchers enabling them to choose from goods on display in the multiples' many outlets (Woolworths, for example, has 1,000).

8. A discovery resulting from the work of many people throughout history, not merely the work of the person who makes the final connection.
   • 2016, Thomas Söderqvist, The History and Poetics of Scientific Biography, page 99:

     Merton's argument that all scientific discoveries are multiples would seem to contradict the theory of genius […]

9. More than one piercing in a single ear.
   • 1976, Jewelers' Circular/Keystone, volume 147, numbers 1-6, page 40:

     First of all, the 'greenhorn' stigma of piercing has worn off. The older woman sees her daughter wearing multiples. So she's confident enough to have her ears pierced at least once.

• pull time

Learned borrowing from Latin multiplex.

• IPA^(key): /myl.tipl/

• Audio:

  (file)

multiple (plural multiples)

1. multiple

• héritage multiple
• orgasme multiple

• multiplicité

multiple m (plural multiples)

1. (mathematics) multiple

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

multiple

1. feminine plural of multiplo

multiple

1. vocative masculine singular of multiplus

multiple

1. definite natural masculine singular of multipel

• multipel