Dictionary
Find
in
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Translations

Click to move up the list of words
prolapse
prolate
prole
proleg
prolegomenon
prolepsis
proletarian
proletariat
proliferate
proliferous
prolific
proline
prolix
prolocutor
Prolog
prologue
prologuize
Click to move down the list of words
Print Preview
See pronunciation key
Search for "prolifer..." in all of MSN Encarta
E-mail this entry
Blog about this entry on MSN Spaces
Download the MSN Encarta Right-Click Dictionary

proliferate

pro·lif·er·ate [ prə líffə ràyt ] (past and past participle pro·lif·er·at·ed, present participle pro·lif·er·at·ing, 3rd person present singular pro·lif·er·ates)


verb 
Definition:
 
1. intransitive verb increase greatly: to increase greatly in number

2. transitive and intransitive verb reproduce rapidly: to multiply cells in the process of reproducing new cells, offspring, or parts, as in the budding of plants, or be multiplied in this way

[Late 19th century. Back-formation < proliferation< French prolifération< medieval Latin prolifer (see proliferous)]

pro·lif·er·a·tion [ prə lìffə ráysh'n ] noun
pro·lif·er·a·tive adjective
pro·lif·er·a·tor noun
Advertisement

Also on Encarta
Englishtown: Learn English online
Also on MSN
Encarta Message Boards (© Rubberball/Jupiterimages)
MSN Shopping
Upgrade your Encarta experience
Encarta RSS Feeds
© 2008 Microsoft