multitude

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Large number

Nouns

1. multitude, numerousness, multiplicity, profusion, plurality. See quantity.

2. legion, host, horde, crowd, [great] numbers, quite a few, quite a number, good or great many, array, army, sea, galaxy, scores, peck, bushel, swarm, bevy, cloud, flock, herd, drove, flight, covey, hive, brood, litter, farrow. Informal, lots, gobs, stacks, heaps, scads, oodles, barrels, rafts, piles, millions, passel, any number. See populace.

3. greater number, majority; infinity; multiplication. See increase.

Verbs

1. be numerous, swarm, teem, crowd; outnumber, multiply, proliferate, swarm like locusts.

2. produce in multitudes, churn out.

Adjectives — many, several, sundry, divers, various, not a few, many a; plural; ever so many, numerous, endless, countless, numberless, myriad, legion, profuse, manifold, multiplied, multitudinous, multiple, teeming, swarming, pullulating, populous, crowded, thick, studded; a world of, no end of, thick as fleas, infinite, untold. Slang, lousy with, alive with.

Adverbs — galore; in force, en masse; by the dozen, hundreds, or thousands; countlessly, numberlessly, infinitely, etc. Informal, hand over foot.

Phrases — the more the merrier; there is safety in numbers; too many cooks spoil the broth; two is company, but three is none or a crowd.

Quotations — I am large, I contain multitudes (Walt Whitman), There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men (Henry Thoreau), The people are a many-headed beast (Horace).

Antonyms, see rarity, unity.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [The state of being numerous]

Syn. aggregation, plenitude, abundance; see number 1 .

2. [A Great crowd]

Syn. throng, drove, mob; see crowd 1 , gathering , people 3 .

See Synonym Study at crowd .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

mass, throng, bunch, horde, legion, flock, mob, crowd, swarm.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. An enormous number of persons gathered together: crowd, crush, drove, flock, horde, mass, mob, press, ruck1, swarm, throng. See BIG, GROUP. 2. A very large number of things grouped together: army, cloud, crowd, drove, flock, horde, host, legion, mass, mob, ruck1, score (used in plural), swarm, throng. See BIG, GROUP.