multiverse
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmʌltɪˌvɜːs/
ipa: /ˈmʌltiːˌvɜ(ɹ)s/
ipa: /ˈmʌltəˌvɝs/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)s
Forms: form: multiverses
Etymology: First appears c. 1895. Blend of multiple + universe, coined by American philosopher William James. By surface analysis, multi- + -verse.
Senses: examples: text: Visible nature is all plasticity and indifference, a multiverse, as one might call it, and not a universe.
ref: 1895 October, William James, “Is Life Worth Living?”, in International Journal of Ethics, page 10:
text: I've never gone through a place like Racine without thinking which house with the rubber-tire swing for kids and piano-practicing inside was like Stiva Lausch's, who had two daughters brought up with every refinement, including piano lessons, and how such little-speaking Odessa-bred sons had gotten on a track like this through the multiverse.
ref: 1953 September 18, Saul Bellow, chapter VI, in The Adventures of Augie March […], New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC, pages 94–95:
topics: human-sciences
philosophy
sciences
glosses: The world, considered as lacking in purpose, design, or predictability.
examples: text: Our universe is a very small part of the multiverse.
text: And, it must be remembered, that in the great multiverse they were a mere scattering of seeds; seeds that must survive many elements if they were to grow.
ref: 1963 May, Michael Moorcock, “The Blood Red Game”, in Science Fiction Adventures, volume 6, number 32, London: Nova Publications:
text: I have been describing show us that the multiverse exists and that it contains many counterparts of each particle in the tangible universe. To reach the further conclusion that the multiverse is roughly partitioned into parallel universes, we must consider interference phenomena involving more than one tangible particle.
ref: 1998 [1997], David Deutsch, The Fabric of Reality, New York: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 46:
text: I can’t help feeling that in the closest arm of the multiverse, there is a version of me that is fatter and happier.
ref: 2020, Raven Leilani, Luster, Picador, published 2021, page 26:
topics: astronomy
cosmology
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
synonyms: maniverse
meta-universe
metaverse
pluriverse
superverse
meronyms: monoverse
parallel universe
glosses: The hypothetical group of all the possible universes in existence.
examples: text: In the DC multiverse, our reality is called "Earth-33". But in the Marvel multiverse, it's "Earth-1218".
text: What’s better than a Marvel Cinematic Universe? A Marvel Cinematic Multiverse. Once limited to theoretical physics and comic-book plot conveniences, the notion of a multiverse has been an essential tool for Hollywood. Whether it’s a role that’s been cast and recast, a franchise character that gets a spin-off when the larger story ends, or simply a reboot telling a new story without upending its origins, the answer to any big movie problem is often: multiverse.
ref: 2022 April 23, Kevin Townsend, Shirley Li, David Sims, Spencer Kornhaber, “Everything Everywhere All at Once Is Multiverse Storytelling at Its Best”, in The Atlantic:
topics: fiction
literature
media
publishing
glosses: The different canons, continuities or timelines of a fictional property, considered as a whole.
Synonyms: maniverse
Derived terms: multiversal
quantum multiverse
Related terms: universe
nulliverse