How to Use multiply in a Sentence

multiply

1 of 3 verb
  • The teacher taught the children how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.
  • Complaints about the new procedure soon multiplied.
  • The bacteria multiply rapidly in warm, moist conditions.
  • Her responsibilities were multiplied by the promotion.
  • Her responsibilities multiplied when she was promoted.
  • Clothes moths swarm your linens and wardrobe and pantry moths multiply in the kitchen.
    — Caroline Picard, Good Housekeeping, 13 Mar. 2019
  • Feel free to multiply this recipe to batch this cocktail for a crowd.
    — Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 16 July 2023
  • This dip is easy to multiply to make large batches.
    — Nellah Bailey McGough, Southern Living, 30 Dec. 2025
  • When a storm knocks out the power, the threat multiplies.
    — Jesse Pines, Forbes.com, 23 Jan. 2026
  • Five minutes saved per task, multiplied across your team, adds up fast.
    — Louis Mosca, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
  • That magnified and multiplied and went up and up and up and up from there.
    — Ryan Gajewski, HollywoodReporter, 4 Feb. 2026
  • Closing the door will trap moisture and cause mold to multiply.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 26 Feb. 2026
  • Measure the square feet of the room’s floor and multiply that by 20.
    — Joseph Truini, Popular Mechanics, 15 Apr. 2023
  • During the active phase, the virus multiplies and spreads through the body.
    — Anju Goel, Verywell Health, 25 Mar. 2024
  • This pays off even more when there’s traffic in front of him, which multiplies in the playoffs.
    — Jesse Granger, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2026
  • Now multiply that by a million.
    — Literary Hub, 31 Jan. 2026
  • These failures are poised to multiply.
    — Carol Rose Little, The Conversation, 12 June 2026
  • These pathogens can thrive in moist, protein-rich foods and multiply quickly.
    — Aliss Higham, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 Sep. 2025
  • Nightly rates were multiplied by six.
    — Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 6 Jan. 2026
  • When combined, their forces will multiply.
    — Chi Chen, IEEE Spectrum, 2 Mar. 2026
  • Prices at a specific point are multiplied by their weights to get a sum of spending.
    — Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 19 Apr. 2026
  • By then, options have narrowed and costs have multiplied.
    — Jonathan I. Shenkman, Forbes.com, 18 June 2026
  • But imagine that multiplied across many workforces right now.
    — Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 3 Apr. 2026
  • The number of victims in shootouts seemed to multiply on the back end of telegrams.
    — Wil Haygood, Washington Post, 2 Nov. 2023
  • The brake booster multiplies the force applied by your foot on the brake pedal.
    — Ray Magliozzi, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Apr. 2023
  • And habits have a multiplying effect as well.
    — Christopher Marquis, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
  • By then Zero had multiplied — there were now eight puppies in a box.
    — Erin Moriarty, CBS News, 17 May 2026
  • The bacterium was found to multiply in biofilms – slimes that grow on wet surfaces.
    — Robert Promisloff, The Conversation, 19 June 2026
  • Now multiply that by every baby on the schedule that day.
    — Washington Post, 9 Jan. 2026
  • The award can be multiplied for each Olympics an athlete competes in.
    — Preston Fore, Fortune, 4 Feb. 2026

multiply

2 of 3 adverb
  • The strong, wild birds were then left to go forth and multiply.
    — Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 7 Aug. 2021
  • Bed bugs multiply at a rapid rate and can hide from many home remedies.
    — Washington Post, 30 Apr. 2021
  • Pass it on — good vibes only multiply when shared.
    — Ronnie Li, USA Today, 25 Sep. 2025
  • The scam jobs multiply so fast that few recruits stick to one beyond a few months.
    — Snigdha Poonam, The Atlantic, 16 Jan. 2021
  • If these three numbers multiply to 0, then one of them must be zero.
    — Quanta Magazine, 23 Sep. 2021
  • This water is needed for the algae to move about and multiply.
    — Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 19 Nov. 2020
  • This means the virus can gain entry more easily and multiply faster.
    — Prafulla Shriyan, Quartz, 6 Apr. 2021
  • As the plant matures, rhizomes multiply and spread.
    — Barbara Gillette, The Spruce, 8 Feb. 2026
  • As the questions multiply, the mourning does, too.
    — Wcco Staff, CBS News, 13 Jan. 2026
  • God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and master it.
    — Alexa Tucker, Woman's Day, 1 June 2022
  • Do not add up your expenses, multiply by six and fixate on that number.
    — Jessica Roy, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2022
  • As your team and users grow, memory-clogging tasks multiply.
    — Aytekin Tank, Forbes.com, 18 June 2026
  • And multiply that by all the people at your company who need to be asking the same questions.
    — Ellevate, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2021
  • Asian carp have few predators and multiply like crazy, devouring huge amounts of plankton, plants, and snails.
    — Mallory Arnold, Outside Online, 21 Sep. 2022
  • Give yourself permission to work less and watch your results multiply.
    — Jodie Cook, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
  • One guy does a technical thing, another guy improves on it; multiply by decades and the world is changed.
    — Wired Staff, Wired, 2 July 2020
  • The 30-year-old has seen attendance multiply at classes this month.
    — Star Tribune, 19 June 2021
  • The microbes multiply as the dirt warms, processing nutrients for the trees to use.
    — WIRED, 24 Aug. 2022
  • For families with more than one child, the disruptions multiply.
    — Betsy Morris, WSJ, 17 Aug. 2021
  • These good bacteria then multiply and begin to crowd out bad bacteria.
    — The Salt Lake Tribune, 31 May 2022
  • As their heirs multiply, each is given an interest in the property.
    — Dasia Moore, Quartz, 3 Sep. 2020
  • Lead gently, and watch respect multiply around your efforts today.
    — Tarot.com, Hartford Courant, 11 June 2026
  • Permissions multiply until no one can say exactly who can touch what.
    — Jagadeesh Kunda, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
  • But as people get older, those repeats multiply in neurons and other cells, like a record skipping for longer and longer.
    — Andrew Joseph, STAT, 13 Apr. 2021
  • That gap gets more expensive as framework layers multiply.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026
  • The backlogs in arms sales are getting worse because the demand is growing as threats around the world multiply, experts said.
    — Ellen Nakashima, Anchorage Daily News, 2 Sep. 2022
  • That’s when things happen that can seem as small as a paper cut (or insignificant) but over time, those cuts multiply and cause a lot of pain.
    — Womensmedia, Forbes, 2 Sep. 2021
  • Those bulbs spread and multiply by forming little bulblets called offsets, and those grow into larger bulbs.
    — Andy Wilcox, Better Homes & Gardens, 29 Apr. 2026
  • Put money and faith into a community, and watch them multiply.
    — Victor Luckerson, Wired, 5 Oct. 2021
  • Bulbs multiply, spread easily, and should be divided every few years.
    — Barbara Gillette, The Spruce, 27 Feb. 2026

multi-ply

3 of 3 adjective
  • Avoid thick, multi-ply, or quilted toilet paper, which takes longer to break down and can clog the system.
    — Timothy Dale, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Aug. 2025
  • Avoid thick, multi-ply, or quilted toilet paper, which takes longer to break down and can clog the system.
    — Timothy Dale, Better Homes & Gardens, 26 Dec. 2025
  • Typically, the type of toilet paper that creates these problems is thick, multi-ply, or quilted toilet paper.
    — Timothy Dale, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Aug. 2025
  • Typically, the type of toilet paper that creates these problems is thick, multi-ply, or quilted toilet paper.
    — Timothy Dale, Better Homes & Gardens, 26 Dec. 2025
  • Pima, Egyptian cotton, linen, and bamboo fabrics are the best materials, and even at lower thread counts can outperform multi-ply blends.
    — Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 May 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'multiply.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: