proliferate
verb
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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
Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 26 Sep. 2025
Job interviews are getting complicated in the age of AI, as ways to cheat the process proliferate.
—Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 26 Sep. 2025
And slang used to denigrate women—such as bop or for the streets—has proliferated.
—Molly Langmuir, The Atlantic, 25 Sep. 2025
As violence in schools proliferates in the United States, so too has the marketplace for products designed to protect students.
—Tonya Simpson, ABC News, 24 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for proliferate
Cite this Entry
“Proliferate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proliferate. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.
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proliferate
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proliferate
verb
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