different between multitudinous vs various

English

Etymology

From (the stem of) Latin multit?d? +? -ous.

Adjective

multitudinous (comparative more multitudinous, superlative most multitudinous)

1. Existing in great numbers; innumerable. [from 17th c.]
   • 1876, John Quincy Adams, Diary entry dated 9 September, 1833 in Charles Francis Adams (editor), Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, Volume 9, p. 14,^[1]

     In the multitudinous whimseys of a disabled mind and body, the thick-coming fancies often occur to me that the events which affect my life and adventures are specially shaped to disappoint my purposes.

   • 1934, George Orwell, Burmese Days, Chapter 14,^[2]

     Whichever way one looked one’s view was shut in by the multitudinous ranks of trees, and the tangled bushes and creepers that struggled round their bases like the sea round the piles of a pier.

2. Comprising a large number of parts.
   • 1625, Peter Heylin, Mikrokosmos: A Little Description of the Great World, Augmented and revised, Oxford, “The Grecian Iles,” p. 424,^[3]

     […] he feared no enemies but the Sea and the Earth; the one yeelding no safe harbour for such a Navie; the other not yeelding sufficient sustenance for so multitudinous an Armie.

   • 1882, Walt Whitman, Specimen Days & Collect, Philadelphia: Rees Welsh & Co., entry dated 26 August, 1879, p. 138,^[]

     […] looking up a long while at the grand high roof with its graceful and multitudinous work of iron rods, angles, gray colors, plays of light and shade, receding into dim outlines […]

   • 1916, Carl Sandburg, “Monotone” in Chicago Poems, New York: Henry Holt & Co., p. 118,^[4]

     The monotone of the rain is beautiful,

     And the sudden rise and slow relapse

     Of the long multitudinous rain.

3. Crowded with many people.
   • 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam, London: C. & J. Ollier, Canto 12, Stanza I, p. 250,^[5]

     The transport of a fierce and monstrous gladness

     Spread thro’ the multitudinous streets, fast flying

     Upon the winds of fear […]

   • 1919, Max Beerbohm, “A. V. Laider” in Seven Men, London: William Heinemann, p. 142,^[6]

     In multitudinous London the memory of A. V. Laider and his trouble had soon passed from my mind.

4. Coming from or produced by a large number of beings or objects.
   • 1898, H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, Book One, Chapter 16,^[7]

     The multitudinous shouting confused his ears.

   • 1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast, New York: Ballantine, 1968, Chapter 36, p. 261,^[8]

     […] she paused before she opened the doors of the salon, for a loud and confused noise came from within. It was of a kind that she had never heard before, so happy it was, so multitudinous, so abandoned—the sound of voices at play.

5. (obsolete) Of or relating to the multitude, of the common people.
   • c. 1607, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act III, Scene 1,^[9]

     [you] that prefer

     A noble life before a long, and wish

     To jump a body with a dangerous physic

     That’s sure of death without it, at once pluck out

     The multitudinous tongue; let them not lick

     The sweet which is their poison […]

Synonyms

• myriad
• See also Thesaurus:manifold, Thesaurus:innumerable

Derived terms

• multitudinously

Related terms

• multitude

Translations

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French varieux, from Latin varius (“manifold, diverse, various, parti-colored, variegated, also changing, changeable, fickle, etc.”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?v??.?i.?s/
• (US, Mary–marry–merry distinction) IPA^(key): /?v???.i.?s/, (in some speakers) /?væ?.i.?s/
• (US, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /?v??.i.?s/
• , (Mary–marry–merry distinction)
• (Mary–marry–merry merger)
• Rhymes: -??ri?s

Determiner

various

1. More than one (of an indeterminate set of things).

   Various books have been taken.

   There are various ways to fix the problem.

   You have broken various of the rules.

Adjective

various (not comparable)

1. Having a broad range (of different elements).

   The reasons are various.

2. (dated) That varies or differs from others; variant; different.

   a various reading of a Biblical text

Synonyms

• diverse, manifold, miscellaneous, motley, multifarious, sundry; See also Thesaurus:heterogeneous

Antonyms

• monotonous

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• various in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• various in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Saviour, saviour