multivalent

adjective

mul·​ti·​va·​lent ˌməl-tē-ˈvā-lənt  -ˌtī- 

especially in sense 3

ˌməl-ˈti-və- 

1

: polyvalent

2

: represented more than twice in the somatic chromosome number

multivalent chromosomes

3

: having many values, meanings, or appeals

multivalent noun

Examples of multivalent in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This collection of memories — snapshots of a year in many lives — also serves as a multivalent gay history from almost a decade before Stonewall to the day before yesterday. —Nicole Acheampong, New York Times, 26 June 2024

Taormina’s fondly multivalent, Millennial-Norman-Rockwell perspective incorporates a child’s experience of the holiday, overlaid with a teen’s and a parent’s and a grandparent’s and so on. —Jessica Kiang, Variety, 17 May 2024

Though Ruscha’s multivalent work was the subject of a mid-career survey at LACMA in 1982, his retrospective — eight years in the making, partly because of COVID — has arrived at a peak moment. —Michael Slenske, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Apr. 2024

Despite the multivalent talents of Ives and Mantello, though, the piece, finished without Sondheim, cannot mend the ragged edge torn by his absence. —Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2023

Word History

Etymology

International Scientific Vocabulary

First Known Use

1863, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

multivalent

1 of 2 adjective

mul·​ti·​va·​lent ˌməl-ti-ˈvā-lənt  -ˌtī- 

1

: polyvalent

2

: represented more than twice in the somatic chromosome number

multivalent chromosomes

multivalent

2 of 2 noun

: a multivalent group of chromosomes