Definition

1. Verb (Transitive):

   • To make a word plural in form; to express or mark a word as referring to more than one. This typically involves adding a suffix (like -s or -es in English) or changing the word's form.
   • To express or describe in a plural form or with reference to more than one.

2. Verb (Intransitive):

   • To take a plural form; to become plural.
   • (Archaic/Religious) To hold more than one ecclesiastical benefice at the same time.

Usage and Examples

• Transitive Verb:

  • Most English nouns are pluralized by adding "-s" or "-es".
  • The software can automatically pluralize user-inputted words.
  • How do you pluralize the word "cactus"?

• Intransitive Verb:

  • Some nouns, like "sheep," do not pluralize in the standard way.
  • (Archaic) In historical contexts, a clergyman might *pluralize* by holding multiple parishes.*

Advanced Usage

• In Linguistics: The term is used to describe the grammatical process of inflection for number.
  • Linguists study how children learn to pluralize irregular nouns.
• In Computing/NLP: Refers to the algorithmic process of generating the plural form of a given singular word.
  • The function pluralize() handles edge cases like "mouse" to "mice".

Variants and Related Words

• Pluralization (noun): The act or process of making plural.
  • The pluralization of "child" to "children" is irregular.
• Pluralise (verb): The British English spelling variant of "pluralize".
• Plural (adjective/noun): The form of a word used to refer to more than one.
  • The plural of "ox" is "oxen".

Synonyms

• Make plural
• Inflect for plural number (technical)

Antonyms

• Singularize: To make a word singular in form.

Notes on Usage

• The primary and most common use of "pluralize" is as a transitive verb in grammatical contexts (e.g., ).
• The intransitive use (e.g., ) is also correct but less frequent.
• The archaic religious meaning ("to hold multiple benefices") is very rarely used in modern English and is primarily of historical interest.

Verb

1. mark with a grammatical morpheme that indicates plural
   • How do speakers pluralize nouns in Japanese?