multidisciplinary

adjective

mul·​ti·​dis·​ci·​plin·​ary ˌməl-tē-ˈdi-sə-plə-ˌner-ē 

-ˌtī-,

 especially British  -ˌdi-sə-ˈpli-nə-rē

: combining or involving more than one discipline or field of study : interdisciplinary

Treatment requires a multidisciplinary approach involving physicians, nutritionists, psychologists, trainers, and gynecologists …

—Michelle L. Cameron Donaldson

However, the task of interpreting such spectra … will take a multidisciplinary team of astrophysicists, Earth scientists, climate scientists, and biologists.

—Sarah Scoles

Indeed, nanotechnology may change the way we think about mechanical engineering altogether, making it a more multidisciplinary field, one as concerned with atomic-level effects as electrical engineering or chemistry is.

—Stephen L. Girshick and Arun Majumdar

Did you know?

A discipline is a field of study. So a multidisciplinary (or interdisciplinary) course is a team-taught course in which students are asked to understand a single subject as it's seen by two or more traditional disciplines. Multidisciplinary teaching can open students' eyes to different views of a subject that they had never considered before. A multidisciplinary panel discussion, on the other hand, presents views from scholars in different fields but may leave any merging of the information to the audience.

Examples of multidisciplinary in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Adidas Shanghai Creative Center, and the activation will feature collaborations with musicians, dancers, multidisciplinary artists and top models. —Tianwei Zhang, Footwear News, 23 Sep. 2025

Best known for his monumental laminated glass sculptures embedded with layered imagery and paint to create intricate three-dimensional collages, Dustin Yellin’s Werner’s Crater (2025), a collage and acrylic on canvas, unveils a new perspective into his multidisciplinary practice. —Natasha Gural, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025

The doc, which delves into man’s relationship with technology, was co-written by the director with multidisciplinary artist Vikki Bardot. —Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 12 Sep. 2025

In a recent essay appearing in the publication Dirt, writer Nicholas Russell argued that A24 has become not just a film studio but a savvy, multidisciplinary tastemaker. —Zach Schonfeld, Vulture, 11 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1944, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for multidisciplinary

• cardiopulmonary
• interdisciplinary
• postrevolutionary
• prerevolutionary
• accessary
• adversary
• ancillary
• arbitrary
• aviary
• axillary
• beriberi
• breviary