0
Electrum Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary

Multiple

Lately I've noticed a tendency for people to substitute "multiple" for "many" or "several":

I told him multiple times...

He has multiple friends...

He ate multiple cheeseburgers...

This article has multiple issues...

Is this quite right?
  

Top answer

Language flows. Some of those sound a bit pompous or a bit off to me, but I can well imagine that some native speakers choose them. There is no grammatical or lexical problem.

— Mister Micawber

  • Language flows.
  • Some of those sound a bit pompous or a bit off to me, but I can well imagine that some native speakers choose them.
  • There is no grammatical or lexical problem.
  • Although 'multiple' usually refers to parts of some greater whole ( Cerberus has multiple heads ), at least one online dictionary offers simply this: 1 : consisting of, including, or involving more than one< multiple births>
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

1 Answers
0
Language flows. Some of those sound a bit pompous or a bit off to me, but I can well imagine that some native speakers choose them. There is no grammatical or lexical problem. Although 'multiple' usually refers to parts of some greater whole (Cerberus has multiple heads), at least one online dictionary offers simply this:

1 :
0

Related Questions