Meaning & use
multiplication
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Meanings
noununcountablemathematics
The arithmetic operation of finding the total when a number is added to itself a stated number of times.
Grammar: Uncountable: we learn multiplication, not a multiplication.
Patterns
- multiplication of something by something
- a multiplication table
Children memorize multiplication tables in primary school.
Multiplication of three by four gives twelve.
Calculators handle multiplication much faster than we can.
nounusually singularformal
A rapid increase in number or amount, such as the spread of new things.
Grammar: Often followed by of: the multiplication of problems.
Patterns
- multiplication of something
The multiplication of apps made choosing one difficult.
Experts warned of the multiplication of small rules.
The city saw a multiplication of cafes along the river.
noununcountablebiology
The process by which living things reproduce and grow in number.
Grammar: Used in biology: cell multiplication.
Patterns
- cell multiplication
Bacterial multiplication is rapid in warm conditions.
Cell multiplication slows in older tissue.
The plant's multiplication happens through runners.
Common combinations
- multiplication table
- The multiplication table hung on the classroom wall.
- simple multiplication
- Simple multiplication can be done in your head.
- long multiplication
- Long multiplication needs paper.
- multiplication sign
- The multiplication sign looks like a small cross.
- rapid multiplication
- Rapid multiplication of germs made the infection spread.
Synonyms and how they differ
- times
- Times is the spoken form (three times four) while multiplication names the operation itself.
- increase
- Increase is general growth, while multiplication suggests growth by large steps or exact factors.
- proliferation
- Proliferation suggests uncontrolled rapid spread, often of unwelcome things.
- reproduction
- Reproduction refers to living things producing offspring, not numbers.
Opposites
Word family
- multiply verb
- to find a product or to increase greatly
- multiplier noun
- a number by which another is multiplied
- multiplicand noun
- the number being multiplied
- multiple noun
- a number that another divides into evenly
Commonly confused: multiplication or addition? multiplication or multiplexing?
multiplication vs addition
Addition combines numbers by adding; multiplication repeats addition in a shortcut.
multiplication vs multiplexing
Multiplexing is a signal technique, not arithmetic.
Practice
Which operation is the inverse of multiplication?
Choose one answer.
Division undoes multiplication, since 12 divided by 4 gives back 3. Subtraction is the opposite of addition.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “multiplication”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.