proliferation
/pɹəˌlɪf.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.61 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
5
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The process by which an organism produces others of its kind; breeding, propagation, procreation, reproduction.
Uncountable
noun
The act of increasing, rising, or proliferating; augmentation, amplification, enlargement, escalation, aggrandizement.
Countable
noun
The act of increasing, rising, or proliferating; augmentation, amplification, enlargement, escalation, aggrandizement.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "One particularly damaging, but often ignored, effect of conflict on education is the proliferation of attacks on schools[…]as children, teachers or school buildings become the targets of attacks. Parents fear sending their children to school. Girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence."
- "But unlike the flow of capital, this virus seeks proliferation, not profit, and has, therefore, inadvertently, to some extent, reversed the direction of the flow."
- "Internationally, the shipping container had already proven its worth, and by the early 1960s battles were being fought over what their standardised dimensions would be (their expected proliferation was not in question)."
- "... to combat proliferation by assisting them in gaining and assuring greater control over their dual-use equipment and technology. States that gain weapons of mass destruction are able to pose a significant military threat to the[…]"
- "[Efforts] to fight proliferation will require more than just new targets for collection; intelligence analysis will also have to change. In particular, to support policymakers looking for opportunities to disrupt, slow, or stop a[…]"
Etymology
Etymology tree French proliférer Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin -ātiōlbor. Old French -ation Middle French -ation French -ation French proliférationbor. English proliferation Borrowed from French prolifération.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pɹəˌlɪf.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
- British English: /pɹəˌlɪf.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/