Plural

//ˈplʊə.ɹəl// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The plural number. In English, referring to more or less than one of something. uncountable

    ""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. 2
    the form of a word that is used to denote more than one wordnet
  3. 3
    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. countable

    "The plural of 'cat' is 'cats', but the plural of 'child' is 'children'."

  4. 4
    A person with some form of multiplicity, particularly dissociative identity disorder. countable

    "Singlet and monocultural identity is so normalized that many voice hearers and plurals don’t share their experiences with anyone, living in isolation (and sometimes in poverty) and spending considerable inner resources to manage postures and performances of ‘mental health’."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Consisting of or containing more than one of something.

    "The notion of culture is one whose meanings are plural and shifting."

  2. 2
    In systems of number, not singular or not singular or dual.

    "English nouns usually have singular and plural forms."

  3. 3
    Pluralistic. comparable

    "Although the nation was far more plural than Canada in the number of its Christian groups"

  4. 4
    Having some form of multiplicity, especially dissociative identity disorder. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    grammatical number category referring to two or more items or units wordnet
  2. 2
    composed of more than one member, set, or kind wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
dualseveralmultiplea certain numbera fewcertain

Example

More examples

"With horse racing and such, these are called "stakes". For this meaning the plural form is often used."

Etymology

From Middle English plurelle, from Old French plurel (“plural”), Borrowed from Latin plūrālis (“of or belonging to more than one, belonging to many”, adjective), from plūs, plūris (“more”) + -ālis.

Related phrases

additive pluralassociative pluralauthor's pluralbroken pluralcelestial plural marriagecohort pluralcount pluraldouble pluralfirst-person pluralmajestic pluralplural intensiveplural marriage

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