multifactorial en · ADJ
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *mel-der. Proto-Indo-European *ml̥tós? Proto-Italic *moltos Latin multus Latin multīder. Middle English multi- English multi- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁k- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁kyéti Proto-Italic *θakjō Proto-Italic *fakjō Latin faciō Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Proto-Italic *-tōr Latin -tor Latin factorbor. Middle French facteurbor. ▲ Latin factorbor. Anglo-Norman factourbor. Middle English factour English factor Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālisder. Old French -ialder. Middle English -ial English -ial English factorial English multifactorial From multi- + factorial.
Meanings
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(not-comparable) Involving, or controlled by multiple factors.
“Neurodevelopmental disorders, in particular, are multifactorial and very difficult to associate with a singular cause. Pregnant patients should not be frightened away from the many benefits of acetaminophen, which is safe and one of the few options pregnant people have for pain relief.”
2025 September 12, Jacqueline Howard, Deidre McPhillips, “In meeting with RFK Jr., CEO of Tylenol maker stresses there is no clear link between medication and autism, WSJ reports”, in CNN, archived from the original on 02 Oct 2025:One of the under-reported dynamics during the coronavirus pandemic has been the collapse of One Nation’s vote. The reasons for this are likely multi-factorial.
2021 February 2, Katharine Murphy, The Guardian, archived from the original on 25 Apr 2022:[…] a pattern in medical research on infectious and degenerative diseases in the United States. That pattern shows three main built-in biases: 1) towards a single-agent theory of disease, as opposed to a multi-factorial analysis; 2) […]
1989 August 19, Bob Lederer, “Hiding Behind HIV”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 6, page 8:
- (not-comparable, of a trait) Involving multiple genetic or environmental factors.
Deriveds
multifactorially · multifactoriality
Translations (2)
es multifactorial (Translations) · ru многофа́кторный (Translations)