- "The congressman's behavior included multiple instances of tickle fights." (Wash. Post, 3/11/10)
- Jimmy's homework consisted of multiple worksheets.
- You have had multiple opportunities to clean up your act.
As an appropriate usage, for example, "multiple birth" refers to the phenomenon of more than one child being born at the same time--presumably, several copies of the same kid, but applicable to non-identical womb-sharers as well.
Livia has corrected multiple instances of the misuse of multiple, and she fears that it is multiplying exponentially. Stop already! Plenty of accurate, concise, and descriptive words exist to describe a profusion of
1 comment:
Multiple means many, as any decent dictionary will attest.
Further, it and "multi-" have the same origin. "Multi-use" should be contradictory, according to your argument. So should "multifaceted" and "multi-talented." That prefix rarely refers to an exact copy. It's the type of thing that must be replicated, so we can have multiple worksheets even if they're not the same.
"Be fruitful and multiply" does not command people to have the same child repeatedly.
We can have multiple instances of swearing as long as the instances are numerous, but if someone uses the same expletive repeatedly, we don't have multiple swearwords. It seems you are confusing this.
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