proliferate
English
Etymology
From Latin proles (“offspring”) + ferre (“to bear”) + -ate.
Pronunciation
Verb
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- (transitive, intransitive) To increase in number or spread rapidly; to multiply.
- The flowers proliferated rapidly all spring.
- 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion[1]:
- But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries. By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal.
Related terms
Translations
to increase in number or spread
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Further reading
- “proliferate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “proliferate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Italian
Verb
proliferate
- inflection of proliferare:
- feminine plural of proliferato