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🔢 To increase ✖️ To do times 🔁 In many ways
to multiply

to multiply

65 2.3
To add a number to itself many times
  • verb
  • /ˈmʌltɪˌplaɪ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : multiplicar
  • To find the area of a rectangle, you need to multiply its length by its width.
  • multiply numbers
  • multiply by 100
  • add and multiply

And as you might have already guessed, you're going to multiply by either this or this.

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Examples

  • Now I'm going to add, multiply, and add.

  • OK, now multiply that times our arm length.

  • OK, so, so these two things, when you multiply them, look like this.

  • What we can do is multiply everything by two.

  • However, one trouble comes in when you multiply these two terms.

  • How do we multiply rather than add?

  • Now we have to make sure we multiply this times both terms.

  • You take a number, multiply it by something, add six, and the result is always three?

    The Tall Man (2012)

  • You remove the debt and multiply your investments.

  • Multiply it by 10.

    Tower Heist (2011)

Antonyms

to divide
  • Specialized
143 1.5

To find how many times one number goes into another

Surface Forms

multiply infinitive
multiplied past
multiplied past participle
multiplying present participle
multiplies third person singular

Morphology

multiply = ply (opaque) = multi + ply

The form suggests 'many-fold', but the mathematical operation is a specialized conventional meaning rather than a meaning B1 learners can straightforwardly derive from the parts.

Etymology

Multiply comes from old Latin parts multus ('many') and plicare ('to fold'), the same root you see in multiple. So in math to multiply is to make a number 'many times' bigger.