multitudinous

adjective

mul·​ti·​tu·​di·​nous ˌməl-tə-ˈtüd-nəs 

-ˈtyüd-;

-ˈtü-dᵊn-əs, 

-ˈtyü-

1

: including a multitude of individuals : populous

the multitudinous city

2

: existing in a great multitude

multitudinous opportunities

3

: existing in or consisting of innumerable elements or aspects

multitudinous applause

multitudinously adverb

multitudinousness noun

Did you know?

“I am large, I contain multitudes.” So wrote Walt Whitman in his most celebrated poem, “Song of Myself.” He was expressing his ability to hold within himself contradictory statements, facets, opinions, beliefs, etc. Another, if less poetic, way of saying “I contain multitudes” might be “I am multitudinous,” using the sense of that five-syllable word meaning “existing in or consisting of innumerable elements or aspects.” Multitudinous doesn’t have a lot of meanings—three to be exact—but each one concerns, well, a lot. In addition to serving Whitmanesque purposes as noted above, multitudinous is the kind of highly expressive word that you can rely upon when you want something a little more emphatic than plain old numerous, as in “multitudinous possibilities.” Lastly, its original sense—still in use today—is a synonym of populous meaning “including a multitude of individuals,” as in “the multitudinous city.”

Synonyms of multitudinous

• numerous
• many
• multiple

Examples of multitudinous in a Sentence

Their lives have changed in multitudinous ways.

the multitudinous questions that seem to be an inevitable part of opening day at school

Recent Examples on the Web

How could food from India’s 23 states — with multitudinous subregions and over a thousand dialects — ever be distilled into the generic naan, dal, butter chicken, dosa and sambar? —Kalpana Mohan, Mercury News, 4 Mar. 2026

The meaning of consciousness is immersion in multitudinous flowing tastes, olfactory rumors, vibrations, racing to understand before the ocean washes them away, these sensations like spherical and syncopated waves crashing against her hundred tentacles. —Literary Hub, 23 Feb. 2026

But maybe the best example of the multitudinous worlds Ellery both crafts and inhabits is happening at Powerhouse Arts in Gowanus, Brooklyn. —Elyssa Goodman, Them., 23 Dec. 2025

From their external-frame origins, modern hiking backpacks have branched out into forms multitudinous. —Adam Roy, Outside, 31 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1603, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

multitudinous

adjective

mul·​ti·​tu·​di·​nous ˌməl-tə-ˈt(y)üd-nəs 

-ᵊn-əs

: consisting of a multitude

multitudinous questions