Meaning & use
multiply
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Meanings
verbtransitivemathematics
To find the result of adding a number to itself a stated number of times, or to calculate a product.
Grammar: Takes an object and often by: multiply six by four. Without a stated object it can be used on its own: she can multiply quickly.
Patterns
- multiply something by something
- multiply something and something
- multiply something together
If you multiply six by four, you get twenty-four.
Multiply the length by the width to find the area of the room.
The children learned to multiply two-digit numbers in class today.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To become much greater in number or amount, or to make something do so.
Grammar: Used without an object when things increase: problems multiplied. With an object it means make more: the pandemic multiplied costs.
Patterns
- multiply rapidly
- multiply something
- multiply tenfold
Once the rain started, the mosquitoes multiplied quickly around the pond.
Small mistakes can multiply when nobody checks the work.
Social media can multiply the reach of a single post many times over.
verbintransitivebiology
To increase in number by producing offspring or by dividing into new cells, as living things do.
Grammar: Has no object: the bacteria multiply. It is often used with rapidly or fast.
Patterns
- multiply rapidly
- multiply in something
Bacteria multiply fastest in warm, moist conditions.
Rabbits introduced to the island multiplied until they covered the hills.
Cancer cells multiply without the normal checks that control growth.
Word forms
| third person singular | multiplies |
|---|---|
| past tense | multiplied |
| past participle | multiplied |
| -ing form | multiplying |
Common combinations
- multiply by
- Multiply the price by three to see the cost for the whole group.
- multiply rapidly
- Weeds multiply rapidly in a neglected garden.
- multiply tenfold
- The company's profits multiplied tenfold in five years.
- multiply the effect
- Wind multiplies the effect of the cold on exposed skin.
- multiply out
- Multiply out the brackets before you simplify the expression.
- multiplying problems
- The council faced multiplying problems after the floods.
Synonyms and how they differ
- increase
- Increase is a general word for getting bigger, whereas multiply suggests growth by repeated or compounding steps.
- proliferate
- Proliferate is more formal and is used for things spreading quickly in number, such as ideas, rules or cells.
- breed
- Breed refers only to animals producing young, while multiply can also describe bacteria, problems or numbers.
- grow
- Grow is a milder word for getting bigger and does not suggest the fast acceleration that multiply does.
Opposites
Word family
- multiplication noun
- the process of multiplying numbers, or of increasing greatly
- multiplier noun
- a number by which another is multiplied
- multiple noun
- a number that can be divided by another number without a remainder
- multiplicity noun
- a large number or variety of things
- multiplicative adjective
- relating to or involving multiplication
Commonly confused: multiply or multiple?
multiply vs multiple
Multiple is a noun or adjective meaning more than one or a number that another divides into evenly, while multiply is the verb for the action.
Practice
Choose the correct word to complete the sentence: The population of the invasive insect began to ___ quickly after the warm spring.
Choose one answer.
Multiply fits because the insect numbers are growing rapidly through reproduction. Subtract and reduce mean the opposite, and divide by needs a number.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “multiply”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.