What does "multifactorial" mean?

A generalization of a factorial in which each element to be multiplied differs from the next by an integer (e.g. n(n-3)(n-6)(n-9)...).

What is a synonym for "multifactorial"?

Common synonyms include: complex, plurifactorial.

Multifactorial

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A generalization of a factorial in which each element to be multiplied differs from the next by an integer (e.g. n(n-3)(n-6)(n-9)...).

Adjective

1
Involving, or controlled by multiple factors. not-comparable
"[…] a pattern in medical research on infectious and degenerative diseases in the United States. That pattern shows three main built-in biases: 1) towards a single-agent theory of disease, as opposed to a multi-factorial analysis; 2) […]"
2
Involving multiple genetic or environmental factors. not-comparable

Adjective

1
involving or depending on several factors or causes (especially pertaining to a condition or disease resulting from the interaction of many genes) wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

complex plurifactorial

Example

More examples

"[…] a pattern in medical research on infectious and degenerative diseases in the United States. That pattern shows three main built-in biases: 1) towards a single-agent theory of disease, as opposed to a multi-factorial analysis; 2) […]"

Etymology

From multi- + factorial.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.