proliferatepro‧lif‧e‧rate /prəˈlɪfəreɪt/ verb [intransitive] 
Word Origin Examples
Computer courses continue to proliferate.
Word OriginWORD ORIGINproliferate
Verb TableOrigin:
1800-1900 proliferationVERB TABLE
proliferate
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | proliferate |
| he, she, it | proliferates | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | proliferated |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have proliferated |
| he, she, it | has proliferated | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had proliferated |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will proliferate |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have proliferated |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am proliferating |
| he, she, it | is proliferating | |
| you, we, they | are proliferating | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was proliferating |
| you, we, they | were proliferating | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been proliferating |
| he, she, it | has been proliferating | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been proliferating |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be proliferating |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been proliferating |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- Child pornography is proliferating due to the increased use of computer chat rooms.
- Fast-food restaurants have proliferated in the area.
- The HIV virus is able to proliferate at an astonishing rate.
- As with the Casket Letters, conflicting theories concerning the event have proliferated ever since.
- But unless I am much mistaken, the ingestion of strange materials really is proliferating.
- By the 1970s, such names were proliferating.
- Fears of mortgage defaults are adding pressure to an already depressed property market, while reports of industry feeling the squeeze proliferated.
- The algae consumed waste products from the reef and under the intense artificial sunlight they proliferated in stringy green mats.
- Towns proliferate in civilizations: in cultures they remain embryonic.
- Yet the idea of a post-apocalyptic city captivates the contemporary mind and its images continue to proliferate.
Longman Language Activatorto increase a lot► multiply
Collocations to increase greatly in number: · Since they started borrowing money, their problems have multiplied.· The number of settlements multiplied enormously.· The insects multiply rapidly during hot, dry summers.
► double to become twice as much or twice as many: · Welfare spending will nearly double by the year 2002.double to: · The number of female bank managers doubled from 104 to 208.double in size/value: · In those thirty years, San Francisco doubled in size.
► triple also treble British to become three times as much or three times as many: · The number of senior citizens living in poverty has trebled in the last three years. · The party's majority in Congress tripled as a result of the election.triple in size/value: · The shares have trebled in value since trading resumed on Wednesday.
► quadruple to become four times as much or four times as many: · In ten years, homicide rates tripled and suicide rates quadrupled.quadruple to: · By the end of 1973, the price of oil had quadrupled to $11.65 a gallon.
► proliferate formal if something proliferates , it increases very quickly, and becomes more common: · The HIV virus is able to proliferate at an astonishing rate.· Child pornography is proliferating due to the increased use of computer chat rooms.
► snowball to increase in number, at first slowly and then faster and faster: · Unemployment snowballed at the beginning of the 1980s.· Things hadn't exactly been going our way, but after the first defeat, everything sort of snowballed.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSVERB► continue
if something proliferates, it increases quickly and spreads to many different places: · Yet the idea of a post-apocalyptic city captivates the contemporary mind and its images continue to proliferate.· Such cultures retain viability and continue to proliferate for approximately I week but changing the medium may extend this period.· Since then, the work has continued to proliferate.· These broader, qualitative questions must be raised and examined as courses for unemployed people continue to proliferate.
Computer courses continue to proliferate.