plural

See also: Plural and plurál

English

Alternative forms

  • (abbreviation, grammar): pl.

Etymology

From Middle English plurelle, from Old French plurel (“plural”), borrowed from Latin pluralis (“of or belonging to more than one, belonging to many”, adjective), from plus, pluris (“more”) + -alis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈplʊə.ɹəl/, /ˈplɔː.ɹəl/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Homophone: pleural

Adjective

plural (comparative more plural, superlative most plural)

  1. Consisting of or containing more than one of something.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Shakespeare, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      Plural faith, which is too much by one.
  2. (comparable) Pluralistic.
    • 1987, Mircea Eliade, Charles J. Adams, editor, The Encyclopedia of religion, volume 3:
      Although the nation was far more plural than Canada in the number of its Christian groups
    • 2006, Suisheng Zhao, Debating political reform in China: rule of law vs. democratization, page 29:
      The Hong Kong and Singapore markets are way more "plural" than most Western economies, but they have not led to pluralistic politics.
    • 2007, Lachelle Renee Hannickel, From cultural transgressions to literary transformations: ..., page 195:
      History is perhaps more plural than traditionally imagined, leaving room for more groups to express their story.
    • 2009, Pille Valk, Teenagers' perspectives on the role of religion in their lives, ..., page 281:
      Generally the girls tend to perceive their social world as somewhat more plural than boys do. Several of these questions reveal that there are more boys (61%) than girls (39%) who 'do not know' about the religion of others
    • 2011, Harald E. Braun; Edward Vallance, The Renaissance Conscience, page 50:
      Yet More's conscience was responding to a world just a little more plural than the world he was born in

Synonyms

Antonyms

Translations

Noun

plural (plural plurals)

  1. (grammar, uncountable) The plural number.
    • 1895, William W. Goodwin, A Greek Grammar. Revised and enlarged., page 34:
      "There are three numbers; the singular, the dual, and the plural. [...] The dual is sometimes used to denote two objects, but even here the plural is more common."
  2. (grammar, countable) A word in the form in which it potentially refers to something other than one person or thing; and other than two things if the language has a dual form.

Usage notes

  • Many languages have singular for one item and plural for more than one item. Some languages also have a dual form for two, a trial form for three, or a paucal form for several (e.g. Fijian). Other languages do not distinguish any of these categories.
  • While the plural form generally refers to two or more persons or things, that is not always the case. The plural form is often used for zero persons or things, for fractional things in a quantity greater than one, and for people or things when the quantity is unknown.
  • In English, the plural is most often formed simply by adding the letter "s" to the end of a noun, e.g. apple/apples. There are many exceptions, however, such as echo/echoes, mouse/mice, child/children, deer/deer (same word), etc.

Antonyms

Translations

See also

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

Adjective

plural (masculine and feminine plural plurals)

  1. plural

Noun

plural m (plural plurals)

  1. plural

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ply.ʁal/

Adjective

plural (feminine singular plurale, masculine plural pluraux, feminine plural plurales)

  1. plural, large

Further reading

Galician

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Noun

plural m, f (plural plurais)

  1. plural

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pluˈʁaːl/

Adjective

plural (not comparable)

  1. pluralistic

Declension

Synonyms

References

Maltese

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /plʊˈrɐːl/

Noun

plural m

  1. (grammar) plural

Middle English

Adjective

plural

  1. Alternative form of plurelle

Occitan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Noun

plural m (plural plurals)

  1. plural

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

Adjective

plural m, f (plural plurais, comparable)

  1. plural (consisting of more than one things)

Noun

plural m (plural plurais)

  1. (grammar) plural (word referring to multiple things)

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /plǔraːl/
  • Hyphenation: plu‧ral

Noun

plùrāl m (Cyrillic spelling плу̀ра̄л)

  1. (uncountable) plural

Declension

Synonyms

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plūrālis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pluˈɾal/

Adjective

plural (plural plurales)

  1. plural, multiple

Noun

plural m (plural plurales)

  1. (grammar) plural
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