proliferate
verb
Did you know?
Proliferate is a back-formation of proliferation. That means that proliferation came first (we borrowed it from French in the 1700s), and was later shortened to form the verb. Proliferation originally referred to the botanical phenomenon of some plants having buds, flowers, or other parts that are adventitious—that is, that arise or occur sporadically or in other than the usual location (e.g. pitch pines’ ability to sprout new trees directly from their stumps after a fire). With advances in the study of biology in the 1800s, proliferation came to be used to refer to the rapid and repeated production of cells by division. That sense in turn begat the verb proliferate, which eventually came to be used when anything—whether living (such as yeast) or nonliving (such as data)—quickly increases or multiplies.
Examples of proliferate in a Sentence
Ascend Agency, Chicago Tribune, 13 May 2026
As fans get more sophisticated about visual effects, and AI clips proliferate online, spotting VFX errors have become a bit of a online pastime (and, sometimes, a fake VFX shot turns out to be real after all).
—James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 13 May 2026
CFOs will likely want assurance that, as agents proliferate, companies have strong controls over identities, permissions, policy enforcement, lifecycle management, monitoring, and auditability.
—Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 11 May 2026
But few creatures seem to be proliferating in more annoying fashion these days than the Florida bro-flake.
—Scott Maxwell, Sun Sentinel, 9 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for proliferate
Cite this Entry
“Proliferate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proliferate. Accessed 15 May. 2026.
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proliferate
verb
Medical Definition
proliferate
verb
